Things are better, these days, at Tim Horton’s – at least that’s what corporate head office says. Earlier this week, Tim’s announced its best sales figures in two years and shuffled its upper management, replacing CEO Daniel Schwartz who has held the role since Horton’s was bought out by Restaurant Brands International (RBI)…
Outgoing Tim Horton’s CEO Daniel Schwartz, left, and incoming
boss José Cil visit a Horton’s outlet earlier this week
on announcement of better financials…
Schwartz has been replaced by José Cil, formerly President of Burger King (a sister company of Tim’s under RBI), and kicked up the ladder in the RBI organization. He will become the company’s Executive Chairman and Co-Chairman of its Board of Directors. That unusual title has all the hallmarks of a job where he can still ‘be a Chairman’ but do no any further harm. Responsibility without power: the prerogative of the eunuch throughout the ages.
It was on Schwartz’s watch that all the trouble at Tim’s started, alienating franchisees and customers alike. But Tim’s corporate launched a consultation process and a major overhaul of its image about a year ago and Cil says it’s paid off.
“If we get happy guests and happy franchisees, we are able to grow and grow exponentially,” Cil told the Financial Post Wednesday. “That’s the formula, that’s the focus.”
Franchisees still not happy…
Horton’s franchise operators will be happy that sales are up, but they haven’t come out in agreement with Cil that the company is universally on the mend. There’s been no comment from them on the Horton’s quarterly report or the change in upper management. If I was them, I’d be waiting so see if I could work more comfortably and productively with Cil than I had been with Schwartz, before I made any public pronouncements.
My take…
RBI has finally knuckled under to the customers and the franchisees, and admitted quietly, in a tangential sort of way, that it was wrong to come in and make so many operational and cultural changes when it took over the brand a few years back. No apologies, but no blame smeared on the little people, either. That alone marks a significant change from the Schwartz administration and its adversarial attitude toward management.
Let’s hope that management is right, and that Tim Horton’s is back on the road to restoring the iconic status it once enjoyed as ‘Canada’s National Coffee Shop’…
~ Maggie J.