08.25.2014 06:40 AM

Ten reasons why no one should weep if Tim Horton’s is sold

I’m aware I’m committing treason, but the truth must prevail. To wit:

1. The food is lousy.
2. The service ain’t so hot, either.
3. The food isn’t “always fresh.” It’s frozen.
4. The coffee is better elsewhere.
5. It stopped being Canadian owned in 1995.
6. The cups aren’t recyclable.
7. They don’t support local farmers.
8. The Conservative Party loves it.
9. They treat employees terribly: most are minimum wage part-timers with no benefits or security.
10. The kicked out a gay couple. Wouldn’t let kid having asthma attack call 911. They wouldn’t let employees show support for troops. Kicked out a paraplegic for using a wheelchair. They fired a worker for giving a kid a free Timbit.

And so on and so on.

Check the Internet, folks. Timmies is Terrible.

Oh, and Burger King? Here’s hoping your whopper of a deal goes through!

.

44 Comments

  1. Kyle says:

    To be fair you should probably provide some more information or explanation for some of your points. Numbers 1,2 & 4 are pure opinion. I’m not saying I disagree but considering the market share they have in their industry, compared to their competitors (more than the next 3 combined) there would be many people that would disagree with you.

    Numbers 5 & 6 are not correct as the cups are recyclable in many regions though not all and Tim’s is a wholly publicly traded company based in Canada not unlike RIM or Canadian Tire.

    Number 9 & 10 are situational and generally come down to individual franchisees or a member of their staff making brutally stupid decisions. These are likely the actions of short sighted people and not all franchisees or corporate, necessarily.

      • Kyle says:

        My apologies.

      • Floyd says:

        Of course you would know that 3G Capital out of Brazil is the major owner of Burger King, so I would expect that Tim’s will now obtain their coffee beans at a much preferred price. They needed something like that to defend themselves from a Starbucks takeover. Anyway both Tim and BK stocks took a big jump immediately and Warren Buffet made a large profit as well as he always does when there is a major deal in the works. – As for myself and my wife, we both love Tim’s coffee and the other items that we purchase, plus the service is top notch at most of their Stores. As for Starbucks, we only tried their coffee once, took one sip and threw the rest away, the most horrible brew imaginable. Of course with their ‘Blonde Roast’ (for Canadians that hate Starbucks) they may now have something somewhat better but ain’t going to ever check it out.

    • TrueNorthist says:

      Regardless, it certainly means fewer Canadian jobs and that is nothing to be happy about. Just like most free trade deals it will not necessarily lead to any positive changes for ordinary Canadians. At best a relative few shareholders will see a slight bump in their portfolio. The overall thrust of Warren’s comment remains: There is nothing here to cheer about. Quite the contrary really.

      • Matt says:

        Fewer Canadian jobs? How so? Burger King would be moving their head office to Canada should the deal happen.

        • JH says:

          Unless Obama says no. Apparently he pledged to stop companies moving head offices to take advantage of tax rates. I’m not sure how he can do that in a country pledged to a free marketplace etc. but at any rate doesn’t sound much like something that should happen in a democracy.

        • TrueNorthist says:

          Do you really think the new company would keep both a Burger King and a Tim Hortons open if they are right next to each other? Give your head a shake. Anywhere that the two restaurants are in the same mall/lot/corner one of them will close. Expect hundreds to thousands to lose their jobs in Canada. Albeit part time, awful “jobs”, but jobs.

          • Matt says:

            Wendy’s did.

          • doconnor says:

            When Wendy’s owned Tim Hortons they purposely opened locations with both Wendy’s and Tim Hortons. Most of them still exists even though they have split up. I except Burger King will do the same.

          • JH says:

            No need to get all pissy and ‘head shaking’ about it. There’s a number of examples where two different franchises operate out of the same location and do well. Just because you haven’t seen it with all your vast experience doesn’t mean it can’t happen.

          • TrueNorthist says:

            JH, Thou dost project too much.

            Everybody else: I guess time will tell with this, but Berkshire-Hathaway is not known for wasting money, as the folks in Leamington found out all too well. The Wendys/Timmys arrangement was a bust, as is the KFC/Taco Bell pairing. It’s just rearranging deck-chairs on the Titanic.

  2. smelter rat says:

    11. They routinely mis-use the TFW program

    • Kyle says:

      Similar to my response to warren’s points 9 & 10, this has been done by the very few. It’s situational and not indicative of all franchisees. A few bad franchisees being moronic amongst the thousands of franchisees that don’t use or have ever considered using the TFW program indicates there isn’t a systemic problem. That doesn’t excuse those who have abused it. There’s no excuse for the few that have.

      • davie says:

        Sometimes it looks to me that when a individual franchise or branch of anything is nailed for unethical or illegal actions, one response by that industry’s pr section is to claim that the breach is an anomaly…to claim that there are just two or three bad apples.

    • socks clinton says:

      12. The endless lineups of SUVs and pickup trucks at the Timmys’ drive-throughs contributes immensely to global warming and tie up traffic in the local grid.

      • Kyle says:

        Are lineups the fault of Tim Hortons who saw an opportunity to create convenience, the fault of municipalities who give permission for Tim Hortons to build restaurants with drive-throughs or the fault of consumer for choosing the drive-through over in-store?

  3. Other Hockey Dad says:

    The hidden inflation at Tim’s is driving us crazy. Every product has shrunk and the prices stay the same or go up – muffins, bagels, donuts, sandwiches are all smaller and you barely get any cream cheese now. Yogurts are half full. They run patriotic commercials then turn around and rip Canadians off at the counter. These guys are going the way of Nortel and RIM…

  4. sezme says:

    I don’t go there often. I think their coffee is okay; at least it’s more dependable than the coffee in many restaurants and hotels. But they do serve a really terrible grilled cheese sandwich (who knew such a thing was even possible?), and for that they deserve to go down.

    And more seriously, the TFW abuse was disgusting.

  5. Dennis Prouse says:

    I’ll start by concurring entirely about the quality of their food and coffee. I am truly a man without a country as a Tory who likes Starbucks. 🙂 With that disclaimer, I think this is a strategic mistake for both sides. For the Tim’s brand, being a Canadian icon is an invaluable asset. Being owned by Burger King flushes that away instantly. As you know as a public affairs guy, stuff like this something you never live down. For Burger King, history continues to show that brands are not always instantly transferable to other countries – just look at the struggles Tim Horton’s has had breaking into the United States, and Target into Canada. Changing ownership doesn’t instantly fix that problem. This just seems like an odd pairing, sort of like Kanye and whatever Kardashian sister he is with…

  6. Domenico says:

    The coffee is crap. The food is crap. End of story.

  7. Patrice Boivin says:

    I am wondering what this will do to all the Wendy’s — Tim Horton’s combo sites across the country, LOL

    Unless BK already owns Wendy’s?

    • Matt says:

      Wendy’s spun off Tim Horton’s in 2006.

      So my guess would be nothing will happen with those locations.

      • Patrice Boivin says:

        I didn’t know… some here in Maritimes share physical locations.

        thanks

        • Reality.Bites says:

          Some in Ontario do as well.

          But there’s nothing in the news articles about a BK/Tims merger at the unit level anyway.

          • Matt says:

            Not in Canada anyway.

            I suspect Tim’s will use this as a way of getting into Burger King locations in the USA to attempt to get a bigger market foothold against Dunkin’ Donuts.

  8. smelter rat says:

    It’s all about a tax dodge for BK. Nothing for anyone to be proud of.

  9. TimL says:

    I was stuck in an endless Tims lineup in Minden on Sunday. You just want to rage at how slow and inefficient they are sometimes (they could all learn from the downtown TO locations), but then you realize you’re venting at people making minimum wage to serve impatient assholes all day long.

  10. EB says:

    The real joke is that Canadians love their Timmies, “Double-Double”. The truth, though, is that unless you dilute the coffee with double cream and double sugar, it is virtually undrinkable.

    • Lavar says:

      Agreed. I’ve always taken coffee black but for Tim Horton’s you need a sugar to take off the edge and a cream to flatten out the overarching taste of burn.

  11. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    Isn’t it always supposed to be about synergies and market placement? I wonder if McD wull get in to shake things up — and deny Burger King the prize?

  12. Brian says:

    #9 is probably the reason for #8.

  13. doris says:

    The start of the usual corporate shuffle. Big company buys another big company for a premium on the share price. Shareholders rejoice. A little bit down the road Timmies is spun off as a new entity – more shares issued for the game to start again. What a ponzi scheme

  14. gord moose gemmell says:

    Tim’s coffee is by far the best.The taste of their competitors’coffee
    ranges from dishwater to cricket pea.4MFE

  15. The Doctor says:

    I don’t like their coffee much at all, but trying to link them to the Conservative Party in any substantial way is just douchey, I’m sorry. Talk about overreach. As for service/speed, it seems to vary drastically from location to location. Often the drive-through is way faster than going into the actual store.

  16. Joe says:

    I ate at Burger King once. I didn’t like it and have never gone back. When Tim Hortons opened its first store in Edmonton people would drive from Red Deer for their doughnuts. The chain then had the brilliant idea of making all their goodies in Ontario and shipping the frozen-par-baked doughnuts to the stores. About a week later I ordered an apple fritter and it dribbled down my arm when I tried to eat it. I’ve never gone back. Should these two merge I hope it raises the tax base in Canada because it won’t be my money going to pay the taxes. I won’t be eating there.

  17. Reim says:

    Time flies

    I recall my first year Uni (30 yrs ago) and in one of the courses I (we) had a project to do and one of the scenarios was a TH in Nova Scotia. It laid out the wages etc., and the question was how or what could be done to motivate the employees to stay.

    My answer, being young and naïve to the ‘real working world’ was simply ‘raise the wages and give them Full Time Status which of course would come with benefits’.

    I quickly realized I was in the wrong course when my marks came back……….

    I have never eaten at a Burger King nor Wendy’s or Rotten Ronnies. Actually the closest thing to Fast Food I have eaten in 25 years would be once at a Quiznos and once a year or so KFC…….

    1. The food is lousy.

    I have never eaten any of their food offerings save for a few Donuts or Muffins at least 10 years ago so this is a ‘no comment’ for me.

    2. The service ain’t so hot, either.

    I go for coffee 2-3 times a day at various TH’s across the GTAA and the service is getting dismal at many of them but then again, ‘no inspiration, no motivation’…….

    3. The food isn’t “always fresh.” It’s frozen.

    Wouldn’t know……

    4. The coffee is better elsewhere.

    I like their coffee……

    5. It stopped being Canadian owned in 1995.

    This I did not know…….

    6. The cups aren’t recyclable.

    I’d hear because of the ‘coating’ inside the cup to prevent leaks, this is true, unless they have found a way around that. They do have a ‘recycle’ bin for cups but that may be just a feel good ………

    7. They don’t support local farmers.

    Not sure…..

    8. The Conservative Party loves it.

    I bet Fantino doesn’t go there………

    9. They treat employees terribly: most are minimum wage part-timers with no benefits or security.

    Agreed…….

    10. The kicked out a gay couple. Wouldn’t let kid having asthma attack call 911. They wouldn’t let employees show support for troops. Kicked out a paraplegic for using a wheelchair. They fired a worker for giving a kid a free Timbit. –

    And a Toronto store wanted people to work through their breaks to compensate for the new min wage rate.

    I know 2 different people who own TH stores and they have for a long time (20 plus years each) and they do very well. There is room to increase employee stability through wage increases, full time status, benefits, etcetera……

  18. Danny Aldham says:

    So Burger King is going to buy or merge with Tim Hortons and make Canada their home. After a hundred years of Canadian businesses packing up and moving to the States, this is a welcome change. I suppose it is a credit to the current Conservative Government and their policies of reducing corporate taxes. Let them take the kudos. But it wont last.
    Just as Canada had to plug a tax hole a couple of years ago, the US will plug this. In Canada we had many businesses lining up to become Trusts because of the lower tax treatment. When TELUS announced plans to become a trust, the government called a halt to it. They were bleeding too much corporate tax income to allow it to continue. We can expect the same thing south of the border.

  19. Gobo Jon says:

    The food is crap. The coffee is crap. End of story!

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