Dunkin’ corporate abandoned the Canadian market in 2018, feeling it couldn’t compete with Canadian ‘treasure’ Tim Horton’s. Now, Horton’s is in decline… And sensing a rare opportunity for a recoup, Dunkin’ is coming back to Canada…
Dunkin’ lost the last round… But Tim’s looks to be the underdog this time…
“Bringing Dunkin’ back to Canada is a significant growth opportunity for Foodtastic and our franchise partners across the country,” Peter Mammas, Foodtastic Founder and CEO said in a statement.
Dunkin’ is planning to open ‘hundreds’ of new locations in Canada starting later this year. The com-pany sees an opportunity in the recent flood of social media moaning and complaining about Tim Horton’s coffee, food quality and ‘fading’ Canadian identity.
The Dunkin’ Donuts ‘Resto of the Future’ design… Set to pop
up all over Canada like mushrooms after the rain…
Where it’s at…
The FFB actually contributed to the flood just last week, posting about one food writer’s unofficial survey of the top 5 Canadian fast Food Coffee brands. Narcity contributor Lauren DiBenedetto ranked Tim’s 4th out of 5. “While I applaud the way they’ve stepped up their game, the truth I wish I could conceal from you all is that their coffee just isn’t that good,” she summed up. And gave the coffee legend a mere 2.5/5 overall rating.
A Yahoo! News story tells the tale… “The U.S. coffee giant [Dunkin’] once operated over 200 locations in Canada, with a strong presence in Quebec during the 90s, but lost ground as Tim Hortons tight-ened its grip on the country’s coffee market. By 2018, the last location shuttered after years of shrinking store counts.”
That was in Tim’s heyday, when the Canadian-founded chain was ‘going international’ under the ownership of a holding company. That’s Restaurant Brands International (RBI), which also owns Burger King, Popeye’s and Firehouse Subs in Canada. But RBI is under the control of its majority shareholder, Brazillian-American 3G Capital. And that’s where the criticism and conspiracy theories about Tim’s decline come in…
The storyline
Since Tim’s was acquired by RBI/3G, the usual online voices of suspicion and gloom have been saying Tim’s would lose its Canadian identity. I’ve seen nothing to support that contention. In fact, Tim’s has expanded it’s decades-old community support commitments since the end of the COVID era. In fact, the brand has actually extended some of its charitable endeavours below the border.
As for the food (and coffee) quality… Tim’s has been caught in a never-productive spiral of cost-cutting to preserve shareholders’ profits. At the same time, the brand has not streamlined its rela-tively large menu to help get costs under control.
The fan consensus…
“Real Canadians know how horrible and disgusting Tim Hortons is,” one X user commented.
“Tim Hortons quality has dropped so much lately that Dunkin’ doesn’t even have to be good to win they just have to be consistent,” another opined.
“Tim Hortons died in 2004 when they merged with Burger King. It was then that they also stopped baking fresh daily and switched to the current par-baked trash,” a slightly more-thoughtful com-menter offered.
A few folks were more positive…
“Going head-to-head with Tim Hortons in Canada is like challenging McDonald’s in America…”
“The US mogs Canada but any serious person knows that Tim’s is way better than Dunkin’.”
And my fave comment of all…
“That’s the last thing Canada needs right now. A bunch of sugar jacked people dunking donuts in maple syrup [and] riding a moose around town!” Not a totally unfounded point of view…
My take
Perhaps the most cogent comment came from a straight-talking, hard-hating former Tim’s lover: “Tim Hortons quality has turned to dog s**t. They need competition.” I agree wholeheartedly: Tim’s needs the competition! Therein lies Horton’s road to salvation…
I hasten to mention that the guy who talked about ‘sugar-jacked people’ obviously missed my post in which the old wives’ tale, about the legendary ‘sugar rush’, thoroughly debunked by science…
~ Maggie J.