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The seemingly terminal decline of Tim Hortons

The thing that drives me nuts about Tim's et al (beyond their now-mediocre offerings) is they can no longer claim 'quick' or 'fast'. In days of yore, their products needed to be merely served; coffee poured, donuts placed in bag. Now, much of it has to be created (sandwiches, fancy coffees). If you've ever been caught behind somebody who obviously lost the toss at the factory or office and pulls out the dreaded list knows what I mean.
 
Back when I was growing up in the '60s and '70s in North York, there was no where near the number of what we would call 'fast food joints' like there is now. I recall a McDonalds, some independent burger shops; our nearest Harvey's was up near Richmond Hill, and the few KFCs that were around were most like restaurants. A&W was around but not that many. Tim's (actually, any kind of coffee/pastry shop) was in its infancy and I don't recall any nearby. The concept of 'drive-thru' was unheard of.
 
lenaitch said:
The thing that drives me nuts about Tim's et al (beyond their now-mediocre offerings) is they can no longer claim 'quick' or 'fast'. In days of yore, their products needed to be merely served; coffee poured, donuts placed in bag. Now, much of it has to be created (sandwiches, fancy coffees). If you've ever been caught behind somebody who obviously lost the toss at the factory or office and pulls out the dreaded list knows what I mean.
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What I have found makes it tolerable is ordering in the app for counter pickup. You skip drivethrough and counter lines.
 
lenaitch said:
Back when I was growing up in the '60s and '70s in North York, there was no where near the number of what we would call 'fast food joints' like there is now. I recall a McDonalds, some independent burger shops; our nearest Harvey's was up near Richmond Hill, and the few KFCs that were around were most like restaurants. A&W was around but not that many. Tim's (actually, any kind of coffee/pastry shop) was in its infancy and I don't recall any nearby. The concept of 'drive-thru' was unheard of.
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These days the drive-thru lane gets priority sadly. Go to any Tim's and you will see all hands on deck working the drive-thru area, and no matter how long the line up is at the counter, they will only have one or two workers, sometimes i will be ignored as the one worker goes to help the window staff. It's so obvious Tim's cares more about drivers than walk in service.
 
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gabe said:
These days the drive-thru lane gets priority sadly. Go to any Tim's and you will see all hands on deck working the drive-thru area, and no matter how long the line up is at the counter, they will only have one or two workers, sometimes i will be ignored as the one workers goes to help the window staff. It's so obvious Tim's cares more about drivers than walk in service.
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It's true for any fast food with a drive through - they consider walk-ins to be captive customers. If you want good counter service, scratch any with drive through out.

AoD
 
Potentially bad news for Tim's.........

A new competitor in the fast food breakfast space, former owner, Wendy's.

Now I'm not sure I place any great faith in Wendy's to execute anything brilliant, doubtless I will not be their customer.
But if they manage a competitive offer, its almost certain to erode Tim's market share somewhat. Though, at ~400 locations across Canada, vs 4300 for Tim's, the latter will still have many markets where this does not represent an issue.

Article here from The Financial Post: https://financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/wendys-takes-on-tim-hortons-at-breakfast

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One thing caught my attention in the article:

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Northern Light said:
Potentially bad news for Tim's.........

A new competitor in the fast food breakfast space, former owner, Wendy's.

Now I'm not sure I place any great faith in Wendy's to execute anything brilliant, doubtless I will not be their customer.
But if they manage a competitive offer, its almost certain to erode Tim's market share somewhat. Though, at ~400 locations across Canada, vs 4300 for Tim's, the latter will still have many markets where this does not represent an issue.

Article here from The Financial Post: https://financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/wendys-takes-on-tim-hortons-at-breakfast

***

One thing caught my attention in the article:

View attachment 381586
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Drinking pop for breakfast? What obscenity is this? Anyways, the problem with serving breakfast is that the margin is low, it complicates the menu and I am really not sure how much of a market there is for it here in the first place.

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Drinking pop for breakfast? What obscenity is this?
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Agreed. I can sort of understand a teenager at home, sipping some on the run.....

But the notion of an adult, going out and getting that, especially when you think of Fast Food pop sizes too.

AlvinofDiaspar said:
Anyways, the problem with serving breakfast is that the margin is low, it complicates the menu and I am really not sure how much of a market there is for it here in the first place.

AoD
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This may surprise you..........from the article:

"But breakfast is still the part of the day that attracts the most traffic at fast-food restaurants"
 
Northern Light said:
Agreed. I can sort of understand a teenager at home, sipping some on the run.....

But the notion of an adult, going out and getting that, especially when you think of Fast Food pop sizes too.



This may surprise you..........from the article:

"But breakfast is still the part of the day that attracts the most traffic at fast-food restaurants"
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It may attract the most traffic - but I have some doubts as to what the actual sales were for (nevermind who they lump into this general category).

AoD
 
Went into Tims for the first time in months. I noticed that they now have huge aluminum coffee urns, instead of the coffee pots on the burners. Does this mean they have ditched their "always fresh" promise?

My plain croissant wasn't half bad.
 
mjl08 said:
Went into Tims for the first time in months. I noticed that they now have huge aluminum coffee urns, instead of the coffee pots on the burners. Does this mean they have ditched their "always fresh" promise?

My plain croissant wasn't half bad.
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Perhaps, I haven't been in one in while either. "Always fresh" might a stretch goal, right up there with 'freshly baked'.
 
mjl08 said:
Went into Tims for the first time in months. I noticed that they now have huge aluminum coffee urns, instead of the coffee pots on the burners. Does this mean they have ditched their "always fresh" promise?
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I believe the 20 minute Always Fresh still stands, however with the new urns being large Thermoses, the "bottom of the pot" coffee cannot get burned like the old traditional pots sitting on a burner to keep warm. If your cup happened to come from a pot that was let's say 16 mins old it's still with in the 20 minutes fresh time, but that bottom of the pot has been sitting on a burner for 16 minutes.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Drinking pop for breakfast? What obscenity is this? Anyways, the problem with serving breakfast is that the margin is low, it complicates the menu and I am really not sure how much of a market there is for it here in the first place.

AoD
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We might be amazed (saddened, revolted, etc.) how they eat. I mean, grits and sausage gravy? In their defence, a lot of their fast food coffee is worse than ours, but I still don't think I could do a pop for breakfast.
 
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