PukeGreen
Active Member
Also consider that Tim Horton's sells processed meats and "bakes" on-site, while Starbucks just makes coffees and drinks and has only fully-prepared foods onsite. Timmy's likely does well because the bar for entry (a high franchise entry cost and a high demand amongst potential franchisees) is so high. Second Cup is a surprise, as they don't deal with much more than Starbucks food-wise, even Timothy's is high. Perhaps it is the tight, corporate-owned nature of Starbucks that keeps it so low?
Yeah, I starting thinking about the "whys" as well and then I came to the conclusion that regardless of your business model, you should operate in a way that consistently follows the health codes.
Price-point was my first thought (perhaps those who charge more would be more able to afford resources to carefully monitor their health processes?) but this theory fell apart when I noticed that Starbucks has a great record, but Second Cup in a similar price range does not. Likewise, Tim Horton's has a great record but Coffee Time in a similar price range does not. I agree that the amount of leeway the individual franchise owners have might be the real factor.