A Tim Hortons in Toronto on Thursday. The chain’s parent company plans to build 80 new locations by the end of this year.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
For many Canadians, it may seem as though their communities are already filled to the brim with Tim Hortons locations. But the chain’s parent company, Restaurant Brands International Inc. QSR-T, believes there is room for more.
The Toronto- and Miami-based company plans to build 80 new locations by the end of this year, and to renovate another 400 in that same period – representing a total investment of $130-million by Restaurant Brands and another $270-million by its franchisees.
The plan accelerates the pace of restaurant openings for Tims, after recent years when the growth in locations slowed in Canada.
“Our restaurant count has been fairly static since 2019, and the Canadian population has grown about 10 per cent since then,” Tim Hortons chief operating officer Naira Saeed said in an interview. “And so we’ve been trying to figure out where the folks are, what are the communities that are currently underserved.”
The company is announcing the plans as the market for coffee, doughnuts and breakfast offerings is heating up. McDonald’s Canada dropped prices on its value menu earlier this year and froze the price of a small coffee at $1, in a bid to woo budget-conscious customers. Last week, Montreal-based Foodtastic Inc. announced plans to revive the Dunkin’ brand in Canada, and to open hundreds of stores in the coming years.
Tims’ plans to build new locations is not a reaction to the Dunkin’ news, Ms. Saeed said, noting that it typically takes one and a half to two years to build a new restaurant, between the time a site is identified and when it opens its doors.
Tim Hortons currently has roughly 4,000 restaurants across the country, a number that has doubled in the past 25 years. But in the past six years – including the height of the pandemic, in which restaurant owners were tightly conserving cash – the number of locations shutting down has sometimes outpaced new openings. Last year leaned more positive, with 54 new store openings and 37 closings.
Renovations have also not kept up their usual pace, which typically sees restaurant owners invest in remodelling once per decade. In 2025, nearly 300 stores were renovated, but this year will see those projects accelerate as well.
Customers wait to order at a Tim Hortons in Toronto on Thursday.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
When it comes to new store openings, the company sees opportunities for growth in Western Canada and in Quebec, Ms. Saeed said. But roughly one-third of the openings this year will be in Ontario, where the brand started and where it is most concentrated.
“As you also look at those communities that have grown, certainly over the last decade and since COVID – whether you’re looking at Cornwall, or Guelph, or outside of Kingston, Kitchener, and Vaughan, and Woodstock – there are a lot of locations there that easily support new stores,” said Restaurant Brands chief corporate officer Duncan Fulton.
Mornings are the busiest time for restaurants, representing 34 per cent of visits and roughly $11-billion in annual sales for fast-food chains in Canada, according to data from research firm Circana.
As Tim Hortons evaluates new locations, it is attempting to put itself in the path of more people on their way to work in the mornings, Ms. Saeed said.
“A lot of it might be in smaller towns, a lot of it might be in new housing developments,” she said. “We are thoughtful. We’re always considerate about cannibalization of existing restaurants. We don’t just want to shift sales from here to there.”