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Admiral Beez

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What happened to Tim Hortons? The downfall of Canada's brand
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/09/tim-hortons-canada-coffee-brand-popularity-downfall

Umm.... this is Canada you Brazilian f#cks. We have winter, and in the past winter drove us into Timmies, not away. Tim Horton and Ron Joyce must be turning in their graves. Blaming winter......

Tim Hortons says cold weather, lukewarm Roll Up the Rim contest led to lower sales
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tim-hortons-earnings-1.5115190

Tim Hortons drops from 4th to 50th place in Canadian brand reputation survey
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/tim-hortons-canadian-brand-reputation-survey

Fighting with their franchisees, fighting minimum wage pay for their employees, canceling the "always fresh" doughnuts, tiny/dingy bathrooms and, my biggie, delisting the Dutchie. And in this era of recycling and plastic pollution, Tim Horton's cups remain unrecyclable and they continue to use single-use plastics, even for eat-in orders (remember the ceramic cups and real silverware back in the day?). Any look at the roadside rubbish will show Timmies is the #1 recognizable brand of litter.

And the fix is easy! Run a deposit program, charge everyone $0.05 for their cups, and refund $0.05 when the cups are returned. Yes, you're going to need to serve those oft-time muttering vagrants with shopping carts full of hundreds of cups. Or, just make the cups recyclable or even better, biodegradable.

This place is messed.
 
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Horton's was never really all that good.

That said, back when, they used to actually bake doughnuts in the stores, they did that reasonably well.

When they abandoned that......they really lost what redeeming value they had.

Its amusing to me that this chain has actually improved the look of their stores substantially from the 80's/early 90's by moving from then yellow/brown colour scheme and foodcourt grade chairs.......to free chairs, some even comfy, pendant lights/recessed lights and a more civil and contemporary colour scheme.

Yet, the less offensive their shops are to look at, the less redeemable what they pass off as food becomes.

I can't imagine they will ever revert to their original concept.

Though the few real remaining 'doughnut' shops still seem to manage to bake on premise and sell for a similar price to Tim's.

****

To attract my business, they would have to:

1) Bring back freshly baked, baked goods.
2) Get rid of drive-thrus
3) Bring back mugs as the default way of serving coffee unless its requested as 'to go'.
4)Slim down their ever growing non-baked goods menu in favour of doing a few items well.
5) Ensure their staff are treated/compensated decently (impose this on franchisees)
6) Oh....and improve the bloody coffee!
 
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And the fix is easy! Run a deposit program, charge everyone $0.05 for their cups, and refund $0.05 when the cups are returned. Yes, you're going to need to serve those oft-time muttering vagrants with shopping carts full of hundreds of cups. Or, just make the cups recyclable or even better, biodegradable.

This place is messed.

Yes, They could use cup/glass/can/bottle return machines that print out store credit or cash. Why Ontario doesn't do deposits on non alcoholic bottles/cans..etc like the rest of the modern world is beyond me.



 
I live in Hamilton, where the faucet pours Timmies, but I think it's a combination of many factors that have been mentioned:

- 3G cost-cutting and efficiencies
- McDonalds offering a superior coffee for the same price
- Proliferation of independent coffee houses; not a direct factor per-se, but I think it's making people more mindful of coffee tastes and quality
- Keurig, Tassimo and Nespresso making brewing coffee at home easier than ever
- The numerous failed attempts to bring in people in "off-peak" hours, including the misguided Cold Stone Creamery partnership
 
McDonald's has to be a big reason. You can add me to the chorus that prefers their coffee over Tim's.

During the last Roll Up the Rim McDonald's ran their $1 coffee any size promo. I think during that time I probably only purchased 2 or 3 Tim's coffees.

I just don't get what Tim's is doing with their food. Its all pre-processed, salty and gross.

They have lost their way and survive totally on inertia now.
 
McDonald's has to be a big reason. You can add me to the chorus that prefers their coffee over Tim's.

During the last Roll Up the Rim McDonald's ran their $1 coffee any size promo. I think during that time I probably only purchased 2 or 3 Tim's coffees.

I just don't get what Tim's is doing with their food. Its all pre-processed, salty and gross.

They have lost their way and survive totally on inertia now.

For me - I drink Tim's only when there is no easy choice around (which is rare, now that McCafe is proliferating). It's slowly getting to becoming the Coffee Time of coffee.

AoD
 
I don't get why Tim's is so busy? In place like downtown Toronto you don't have to travel far to get a decent coffee, yet the this morning various Tim's i walked by they are lined up to the door.

Second Cup is my go to spot for coffee, Starbucks second, McCafe i like, but if it's busy, forget it! It takes them way too long to pour a cup of coffee.

I go to Tim's in small town Ontario because i have no choice. They pretty much got the coffee chain monopoly.
 
I think the answer can be put down to the usual suspects:

1) Force of habit/change is hard.
2) Ubiquity
3) Price

Really its the same explanation for McDs which makes just about the most abysmal hamburger one can manage. It says something awful about you when Burger King is a trade up.
 

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