For decades, Tim Hortons was one of the strongest symbols of Canadian culture, but over the years, many Canadians have started feeling that it has lost the qualities that once made people proud of it.
Canadian identity
The largest shift came in 2014 when Tim Hortons merged with Burger King to form Restaurant Brands International (RBI). Headquartered in Miami, RBI is majority-owned by Brazilian investment company 3G Capital.
Tim Hortons continues to brand itself as Canadian, but after the merger, many customers felt that Tim Hortons was no longer Canadian. To some customers, particularly older generations, it felt like a Canadian icon had been sold to another heartless multinational fast food chain whose priorities were profits and expansion.
Corporate battles
The corporate office battled publicly (and embarrassingly) with the restaurant operators themselves (the franchisees) who are in charge of running the restaurants. They mandated rigid corporate policies, expensive kitchen renovations and made owners sell promotional items that cut into their profits.
The very public and acrimonious courtroom fights tarnished Tim Hortons’ image of being community oriented and humble, revealing it to be rigidly corporate controlled.
Quality decline
Longtime customers often feel the quality of Tim Hortons products has declined. They stopped baking fresh doughnuts and pastries in each location, moving to factory-made frozen products that each location reheats.
Their coffee became another huge problem after changing suppliers. Other companies like McDonald’s started gaining customers by serving coffee that was much smoother and tasted better to most.
Menu identity
Tim Hortons started off successfully by offering the basics: coffee, doughnuts, pastries, and quick breakfasts. But later, they’ve jumped on every food trend: flatbread pizzas, burgers, loaded bowls, specialty coffees, and an endless list of seasonal items.
The bigger menu also complicated kitchen operations, and often made going through the drive-thru slower. Rather than being known for excelling at a few items, Tim Hortons began to feel scattered. Longtime customers felt the brand lost its identity.
Labor issues
Tim Hortons suffered significant brand damage related to its treatment of employees. Some time ago, many famous franchisees came under fierce public criticism for reducing employee paid time off and benefits to compensate for an increase in the minimum wage.
More recently, there has been public outrage and scrutiny over the company using so many temporary foreign workers instead of hiring and paying Canadian youth. Although the company has made commitments in recent years to hold large initiatives to hire thousands of Canadians, years of bad press surrounding their labour practices have eroded the perception that the brand is made up of fair Canadian values.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.