It is as Canadian as the hockey, the maple leaf and the geese of Canada.
Or is it?
In the past, Tim Hortons legitimately won his place as a Canadian icon, starting with an Ontario cafeteria and finally building an empire that made timbits and double double part of the national lexicon.
But after the hamburger company bought the Wendy’s company, and then became part of a Holding company backed by a Brazilian investment firm, did you lose your Canadian identity claim?
The issue has been very discussed online, and probably in coffee shops throughout the country, following the patriotic fervor whipped by tariffs and annexation threats of the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
A recent publication on the company’s social networks declares that it is “proudly Canadian”, but many of the 2,500 comments below dispute the statement, insisting that it is not Canadian, but rather American or Brazilian. Publications on the subject in “Buy Canadian” groups at social media sites have become the same debate.
So where is the truth? What makes a Canadian company? Is the property? The supply chain? The franchise locations? Employees? The headquarters? Or is it something more intangible: a reflection of our values, history or traditions?
Origin and property
First, let’s see the hard facts.
Tim Hortons was founded in 1964 by the former Toronto player Maple Leafs, Tim Horton, and was then assumed by Ron Joyce, born in Nueva Scotia, after Horton’s death in 1974.
In 1995, the business was bought by the American hamburger chain Wendy’s, but the two companies separated in 2006.
In 2014, Tim Hortons became part of Restaurant Brands International. From here comes the idea that Tim is Brazil. The largest shareholder of Restaurant Brands International was the Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital.
In 2014, at the time of acquisition, 3G had 47 percent of the vote power in Restaurant Brands International, but that has slowly decreased over time to 26 percent as of December 31, 2024.
Today, Canadian banks such as Toronto Dominion, Bank of Montreal, National Bank and Royal Bank, as well as Canadian institutional investors such as the CPP Investment Board, have a cumulative participation comparable to 3G, according to Michael Oliveira, Tim Hortons Communications Director.
“We understand how this narrative of ‘Brazilian property’ evolved over time, but it is simply not precise,” he said in an email.
The financial documents of Restaurant Brands International show that Capital World Investors based in the US.
Identity goes beyond property
Florian Munkel, an assistant professor of finance at the Sobey School of Business at the University of Saint Mary in Halifax, says that where the shareholders are does not have a great impact on the perception of the nationality of a company.
He says that consumers probably associate Chrysler, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati and Peugeot with certain countries, but all are part of Stellantis, a multinational company based in the Netherlands.
“I think we are anthropomorphicing a company here,” says Muenkel. “A company is not a human being for which you can basically assign something like a citizenship.”
Of the 6,043 Tim Hortans stores worldwide, 64 percent are in Canada. More than 100,000 people are employed in Canadian stores, which are owned by 1,500 franchisees. 400 additional people work for the corporate office, which has its headquarters in Toronto.
The actions of international trade trademarks in the Toronto Stock Exchange, as well as in the New York Stock Exchange, and the company is regulated under the Canada Business Corporations Law.
In terms of its supply chain, Tim Hortons Asa most of the coffee for its restaurants and combines beans for coffee to take home in two roasted facilities: its flagship toaster in Ancaster, Ontario, and another in Rochester, NY
The company has five distribution centers in Canada and uses third -party partners for another four in the country, and operates a manufacturing plant in Oakville, Ontario, which produces fondants, cubes and fillings.
Muenkel says that someone who decides if a company is Canadian might consider where their sales come from, where they produce their goods, where they use people and, to some extent, who possesses it.
So, in your opinion, Tim Hortons Canadian? He doubts, reluctant. Then: “As an economist, I would say yes.”
‘Canadian in spirit’
Douglas Hunter is the author of a book about Tim Hortons called Double Double: how Tim Hortons became a Canadian way of life, one cup at the same time. He has also written a book about Tim Horton, the man who started everything.
Hunter says that in the early days of the company, its pure ubiquity was what made it popular among Canadians.
“You want coffee … you just point your car on one of the main roads and you’re going to hit a Tim.”
And there was simply much competition at that time. Hunter says that for people who wanted to direct any type of restaurant, coffee and baked products franchise were on the desirability list, under hamburgers, ice cream and pancakes.
“It was the only show in the city … Ron Joyce with Horton discovered that they had a very strong niche in which no one else was.”
The restaurants also became a meeting point in the communities. If I needed to meet a stranger or sign divorce roles, a cafeteria was the place to do it, says Hunter.
Despite the company’s multinational status today, Hunter says that the fact that the franchises are directed by local people who know their customers and the market “better than bean counters in the central office” balanced their opinion in favor of Tim Hortons’s identity as Canadian.
“I think it’s Canadian in spirit,” he says. “Someone in Sao Paulo is not sitting on a computer desk that decides, you know, how many crumbers are we going to ask.”
‘A community place’
The person who, in fact, decides how many crumbers order, at least in the case of his own Tim Hortons franchises, is Tanya Doucette and his staff.
Doucette lives in Lake Sylvan, Alta., And has eight Tim Hortons locations in the Alberta center.
She says she listens to the debates about whether Tim Hortons is Canadian, and understands why Canadians want clarity during this moment of change and agitation.
But in his mind, there is no doubt: “Tim Hortons is Canadian.”
Beyond the issues of shareholders and supply chains, Doucette says that it is the role that Tim Hortons plays in the life of the common people who earn their status as a Canadian.
She thinks of the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, when customers were not allowed to enter the restaurants.
“Our guests would bring garden chairs and sit down, even though it was winter … and although Alberta can remain quite cold until it came to May, our guests gathered outside. They maintained the space that was required, but they gathered outside because they needed that place to meet. And this is a place of community for them.”
The restaurant is so essential for the life of some daily customers that report the staff if they go on vacation and tell them not to worry if they are not close.
Doucette says that when communities celebrate something or deal with the tragedy: “We are one of the first calls: Can you bring coffee? Can you provide hot timbits or chocolate?” She says.
“It’s Bonspiels, they are intermediate school orientations, they are readings, they are all the small ways in which we try to support our communities.”
Oliveira, director of communications at Tim Hortons, said the company is deeply integrated in Canadian communities.
Tim Hortons’ beneficial programs raised $ 44.1 million in 2024 to support local causes through campaigns such as Cookie Smile, Camp Day, Orange Sprinkle Donuts and special Olympics donuts. He also directs seven youth camps of low -income houses, and supports programs such as Soccer and Hockey Timbits.
“We not only serve the Canadians, we return to the big,” says Oliveira.
