[Richard White]

Found this on Youtube and thought you may yet find it interesting. It is a video of two British 20 something tourists trying Tims for the first time in August 2019.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Tim Hortons owner locks out and replaces workers over a 10 cent raise

From link.

A Tim Hortons franchise owner in Winnipeg is being criticized after shutting out his own workers. His fifteen employees had been negotiating for a wage raise. The unionized workers were asking for a $0.30 increase to their hourly pay. Their boss, JP Shearer, thought that was too much.

His final offer was 10 cents less than what they had asked for, equivalent to an $11.95 per hour wage. The estimated living wage for a family living in Winnipeg is $14.54 an hour (That’s with two adults working full-time).

The disagreement over the ten cent raise led Shearer to lock out his workers and replace them.

This case is just one of many incidents involving Tim Hortons franchisees. Back in 2018, Tim Hortons franchise owners in Ontario eliminated paid breaks and some benefits when faced with minimum wage increases. Jeri-Lynn Horton-Joyce and her husband, heirs to a billion-dollar fortune were among them.

The hypocrisy of billionaires telling minimum wage workers that they are asking for too much did not go unnoticed by Canadians. Franchise owners were faced with protests and public outcry.

Cases like this one in Manitoba shed a light on the precarious conditions that low-wage workers face. What’s more, they lay bare the outrageous state of inequality that is present in this country.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Ganache, despite being quite good when done properly is exceedingly simple to make, and not expensive either. At $1.99 per doughnut they can afford the real thing.

It will almost certainly be prepared in a commissary and shipped. That's actually do-able, though the sheen is hard to maintain over time.

I'd be far more leery of 'whipped chocolate' as the normal way in which one would create that does not hold up well in transit; and likely means a variety of additives, but I can't say that for sure.

I understand the product at the 'innovation cafe' isn't half bad; haven't been myself, as I refuse to stand in line for that; perhaps the novelty has subsided by now and I may investigate.

Regardless, the biggest problem w/Tim's Doughnuts is that they are par-baked and frozen off-site and then shipped to stores and finished there.

That move more than any other damned the quality of their product.

It also meant they chopped all the trained bakers from Tim's locations, eons ago now, and that reflected a migration towards greater variety of increasingly cheap food that's re-heat and assemble in stores.

It's ok, pretty soon they'd forget even par-baking - and sell pre-boxed Timbits.

AoD

 

[Richard White]

It's ok, pretty soon they'd forget even par-baking - and sell pre-boxed Timbits.

AoD

This reminds me alot of Licks. They were a great little homemade burger place and thrived until they went commercial selling boxed burgers, guk sauce etc at Metro. Once they went commercial they lost their customer base and the stores went tits up.

It's a lesson Tims parent company needs to learn

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

This reminds me alot of Licks. They were a great little homemade burger place and thrived until they went commercial selling boxed burgers, guk sauce etc at Metro. Once they went commercial they lost their customer base and the stores went tits up.

It's a lesson Tims parent company needs to learn

The loss of focus certainly is a cause - but a more fundamental level Lick's had some issues common among smaller chains (uneven franchise store operator quality, general quality issues, relatively poor locations, poor marketing, etc) that Tim Horton's doesn't suffer from. In any case, the food quality at Tim's is quite standardized and predictable - it is just universally bad.

AoD

 

[Northern Light]

Found this on Youtube and thought you may yet find it interesting. It is a video of two British 20 something tourists trying Tims for the first time in August 2019.

On the upside they have the good sense to realize the pastry is crap; on the downside, they seem to like the hot food at Tim's...........this suggests to me that British cuisine is still....ummmm....in need of help.

Also, the girl implied the vegan sausage was spicy. I haven't tried it, but I'd be shocked if anything Tim's sells fits that description unless one finds rice pudding spicy.

 

[Admiral Beez]

This reminds me alot of Licks. They were a great little homemade burger place and thrived until they went commercial selling boxed burgers, guk sauce etc at Metro. Once they went commercial they lost their customer base and the stores went tits up.

The original veggie burger. I always bought their Nature Burger, with cheese when in the Beach(es). No vegan here, but I like to reduce my red meat intact.

Is Lick's totally closed down? Is there only one location left?

Lick’s Homeburgers & Ice Cream
900 Warden Avenue
Toronto, ON

 

[Admiral Beez]

On the upside they have the good sense to realize the pastry is crap; on the downside, they seem to like the hot food at Tim's...........this suggests to me that British cuisine is still....ummmm....in need of help.

Little Chef has nothing on Timmies.

 

[Richard White]

The original veggie burger. I always bought their Nature Burger, with cheese when in the Beach(es). No vegan here, but I like to reduce my red meat intact.

Is Lick's totally closed down? Is there only one location left?

Lick’s Homeburgers & Ice Cream
900 Warden Avenue
Toronto, ON

That location is still open but it is a dive. The service is lousy and the quality is not good

 

[lenaitch]

The loss of focus certainly is a cause - but a more fundamental level Lick's had some issues common among smaller chains (uneven franchise store operator quality, general quality issues, relatively poor locations, poor marketing, etc) that Tim Horton's doesn't suffer from. In any case, the food quality at Tim's is quite standardized and predictable - it is just universally bad.

AoD

You have a future in corporate branding! 'We're not good, but we're predictable'.

The original veggie burger. I always bought their Nature Burger, with cheese when in the Beach(es). No vegan here, but I like to reduce my red meat intact.

Is Lick's totally closed down? Is there only one location left?

Lick’s Homeburgers & Ice Cream
900 Warden Avenue
Toronto, ON

There's one at the Hwy 400 service centre just south of Parry Sound. I remember going to one in the '80s (Kingston Rd.?) - I had never heard of them before. The product was good and the whole 'sing-song' ordering schtik, reminiscent of old greasy spoon diners, was kinda cool.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

You have a future in corporate branding! 'We're not good, but we're predictable'.

Isn't that why fast food is so popular in general anyways? It's the consistency of experience over excellence (I mean, obviously you can't drop below a certain floor - but even then I have questions as to where that floor actually lies).

AoD

 

[lenaitch]

It's ok, pretty soon they'd forget even par-baking - and sell pre-boxed Timbits.

AoD

Might already be happening. The missus ordered a box last week and the staff handed over a box rather than picking from the rack. Might have been day olds.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Might already be happening. The missus ordered a box last week and the staff handed over a box rather than picking from the rack. Might have been day olds.

Time to have a conversation with the missus, I think.

AoD

 

[lenaitch]

Isn't that why fast food is so popular in general anyways? It's the consistency of experience over excellence (I mean, obviously you can't drop below a certain floor - but even then I have questions as to where that floor actually lies).

AoD

Clearly, 'excellence' and 'fast food' don't belong in the same sentence. For travellers, the consistency of places like Tim's and McD were an advantage, certainly in the time before mobile data where you could look up Trip Advisor, etc. When in an unknown town or area, they were a known quantity, when the alternative might have been bad. In slow seasons, some mom-and-pops might leave the coffee pot on for an hour or two (been there). Savvy travellers used to know that picking the place to truckers or cops were parked at was, not necessarily a guarantee, but a good indicator.
Even for repeat route travellers like cottagers, the old days of sitting down at the Sundial or Haugens fell out of favour over a quick in-and-out.

 

[ShonTron]

The original Tim Hortons on Ottawa Street in Hamilton was torn down almost a decade ago, and replaced by a two storey location. The second floor – where most of the seating is – is a miniature Tim Hortons museum with displays of old advertising, coffee cups, and other promotional materials.

The highlight is the mockup original counter, with products long gone: the cake display, eclairs, dutchies, sugar twists, and so on. (Not included: the second hand smoke.)

Back when the chain began, thanks to three things: a decent and consistent product, a cleaner and friendlier store (compared to most of the competition at the time) and incredible marketing.