To many Canadians, there is nothing that defines our country more than stopping off for a coffee (and donut) at a Tim Hortons location. Tim Hortons is a Canadian, and more recently a North American, success story. Tim Hortons opened its first location in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1964. There were only two items on the menu at that time: coffee and donuts. The chain expanded but, more importantly, as consumers' tastes changed, Tim Horton's adapted its menu. Timbits were added to the menu in 1976, with muffins, cakes, pies, croissants, and cookies all added in the early 1980s. In the 1990s there were bagels, flavoured cappuccino, and later iced cappuccino. Today, there are flavoured teas, soup, fresh sandwiches, croissants, and pastries. The company does not stand still and is launching the Tassimo brand of single serve coffee as well. However, despite the growth of its menu, Tim Hortons stayed true to its focus of offering good coffee (that must be served within 20 minutes of being brewed, otherwise it is not served) in convenient locations. This "convenience factor means that most locations are open 24 hours a day (a long-standing tradition), but more recently the company has expanded into drive-thru locations, as well as locations in nonconventional locations such as shopping malls, hospitals, and university campuses. Today there are almost 4,600 locations across Canada, the United States, and the Gulf Cooperation Council. It serves more coffee than any restaurant chain except Starbucks, boasting that it serves 8 out of 10 cups of coffee sold in Canada to 5.3 million customers daily. It is one of the largest publicly traded, quick-service restaurant chains in Canada, and the fourth largest in North America. The company connects to all communities in Canada and is active in fostering a lifetime relationship with its customers through sponsorship of youth camps and sports programs and its partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities. For many years, some analysts have said that the Canadian market is nearly fully saturated with Tim Hortons locations, and the company has proven them to be wrong with continued Canadian growth through innovative business decisions: entered the retail market of coffee with Keurig and Tassimo cups, mobile payment and cobranded Visa with CIBC. Nonetheless, expansion into the United States seems to be a natural next step for the company, and indeed there are currently 869 restaurants in the United States. But the U.S. market has been a difficult fit for Tim Hortons in the past, and the Canadian market has also been tough for U.S. chains to enter. One example is Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and their failed attempt to break into the Canadian market. This company was founded in 1937 and is headquartered in North Carolina. Krispy Kreme became known for its freshly baked donuts, with each location lighting a sign in its window when a batch of hot, fresh donuts had been produced. Yet until early 2001 and for much of its history, the company was only located in the southeastern United States. That changed in the late 1990s. The company opened its first store in New York City in 1996 and later its first location in California in 1999. This was followed by very fast growth. In April 2000, the company's stock went public on the New York Stock Exchange. And then it all began to fall apart for Krispy Kreme. The company was hit by an accounting scandal that called into question the company's overall profitability during its period of fantastic growth and was affected by the Great Recession of 2008, as well as changes in customer eating trends. Numerous vice-presidents were removed from the company and lawsuits from angry shareholders forced the company into a massive restructuring. Despite these past drawbacks, the company managed to establish operations in Canada with restaurants and cafes opened in Ontario (5 locations), Quebec (4 locations), and British Columbia (1 location). On 29 September 2019 the company offered free donuts across Canada, a promotion strategy that worked well in the United States. In addition, as of 2019 the company has opened several locations in the Midwest, West, and Northwest United States. The United States has proven to be a tough market for Tim Hortons. Much of the company's U.S. expansion came through its purchase, in 1995, by Wendy's International. Through the late 1990s, as Wendy's struggled with profitability and closed some of its locations, the Tim Hortons unit (and its success in Canada) drove much of Wendy's growth. Wendy's was never able to develop outstanding synergies between its brand and Tim Hortons. In 2005, major company shareholders applied pressure on Wendy's to spin off Tim Hortons back into a separate company. In March 2006 Tim Hortons was partially spun-off from Wendy's and was a completely separate company as of September 2006. This independence lasted for less than a decade. In December 2014, the company was bought by Burger King, with both restaurants operating under the name Restaurant Brands Inc. This new company, now including Popeyes, became the third-largest fast-food chain on the planet, with 26,000 locations in more than 100 countries and U.S.$32 billion in sales. The deal, valued at $12 billion and an example of FDI, has laid out plans to open many more restaurants "at a significantly greater pace" than what Tim Hortons had previously planned, according to a press release issued when the companies merged. Time will tell whether access to greater synergies and capital will result in greater fortunes for this global company, which is still headquartered in Canada. Will the company be able to continue its international expansion? What countries will it target? Answers to these questions may be the key to maintaining industry leadership 1. How can a company like Tim Hortons maintain its quality when it is operating in different markets around the globe? 2. Is there anything wrong with a company like Tim Hortons sticking to a marketplace that it knows well? 3. Can a company grow too quickly? 4. What are the problems associated with fast growth? 5. What markets do you see as a good fit for Tim Hortons' future expansion?