The New York Times ran an article today about Tim Horton’s, the extremely popular Canadian donut franchise, and it’s plans/attempts to expand into the US market. The problem, apparently, is that Timmy’s has pretty much saturated the Canadian market: there’s one Tim Horton’s restaurant for every 12,700 Canadians, vs 1 MacDonald’s for every 21,000 Americans and one Dunkin’ Donuts for every 56,000 Americans. That’s a lot of donuts.

Tim Horton's logo

In the town where I grew up, there were about 40,000 people and I think at least 7 Tims. This is in addition to several other donut shops (both franchised and independent). But donuts make up only 10% of Tim’s current sales–which also include soups, sandwiches, and coffee. Oh, the coffee.

Here’s the thing: It’s not really that good. But if you drink 2 or 3 cups of it you will become addicted. I think there’s something in the actual coffee that does this. Plus, there’s the added incentive of being able to order a “double, double” (for my US friends, that’s two creams, two sugars).

The other major appeal of Tim’s is that it is everywhere. You literally cannot drive anywhere in Southern Ontario without seeing one at least every half hour (if you are on the highway) or every 10 minutes (in a city.)  The ubiquity topos functions spatially and temporally as well as rhetorically. When you see the first Timmy’s, you might think, “Hmm, a double double and a sour-cream glazed would be pretty good right about now…. but maybe I’ll wait…” By the second or third Timmy’s, you start to think it is a sign from God and that you are destined to drink a double double and eat a sour-cream glazed (by far the best Timmy’s donut offering, IMO) at that particular moment.

Finally, there’s a big patriotic investment in Timmy’s. Even more so than Canadian Tire, it has come to represent national pride. The main reason is that Tim Horton, the co-founder, played 24 seasons in the National Hockey League. Hockey players pretty much represent the epitome of Canadianness. So Timmy’s has a rhetorical and cultural resonance that other places (Country Style Donuts, Starbucks, Second Cup) can’t really hope to match.

Finally, unlike the “gourmet” coffee places, Tim’s keeps it pretty simple and is relatively cheap. As the NYT pointed out, it’s appeal spans generations. While you would never in a million years see my dad stop at a Starbucks, he’s almost always the one to stop in and buy the family a round of coffees if we’re driving somewhere together.

At any rate, when I was little I had a MacDonald’s play set for my Barbies, but I’m wondering if they ever thought to produce a Barbie Tim Horton’s set for the Canadian market. I bet it would’ve sold really well in the pre-Bratz/Princess days.