Why do Canadians online seem to hate Tim Hortons?
-
Prior to 2003 for sure, which was they year they switched from fresh baked in house to par-baked frozen donuts. I suspect the rot started earlier than that though. The company was actively shifting away from coffee and donuts, and pursuing aggressive growth way back in the 90s.
I couldn’t remember if that was before or after they went public. Must have been before if it was 2003, because I’m almost positive they went public in 2005.
-
The baked goods taste stale and the coffee is overrated.
The coffee isn’t even overrated, it’s just objectively not good.
-
Man you must’ve visited the best Tim Hortons on a good day and also the worst In-N-Out and Chick-Fil-A if you think Tims is better. I might forgive you if you haven’t tried Tim’s in the past 20 years though, back when everything was made in store.
Went to Tim Horton repeatedly all over BC during a 5 week visit this summer, and while some of their food wasn’t very good, every single thing was edible. That can’t be said for the fast food we’ve were getting in SoCal before we stopped going, and that includes In-N-Out, McDonald’s, Wendy’s and to a lesser degree Carl’s Jr. and Canes. We avoid Chick-Fil-A because we prefer our food without the side of church. I did try Tim Hortons years ago and you are right, it was substantially better, but the quality hasn’t fallen nearly as much as the other restaurants mentioned.
-
Tim Hortons is awful. I can’t imagine how bad your fast food must be.
Much, much worse.
-
Have they switched to TFWs there?
I moved away in 2011, but the few times I’ve been back it seems they still employ locals.
But there has also been an influx of immigrants who’ve been ‘encouraged’ to live there, so it may be 6-of-1 half-a-dozen-of-the-other.
-
Because Tim Hortons is the Burger King of Canada, after all they merge …
At the Beginning Tim Horton (the hockey player) started a pretty decent Dunkin Donuts like restaurant but at some point his actioneers oust him and he died without money for what he build. Now Tim Horton’s at this time was still something okay I guess, in Montreal language watchdogs asked Tim Horton’s to comply with French Language Law which they refuse and transforme the Tim Horton’s to Tim Hortons (because now it’s a name I guess).
Like you can see they always were shitty corporate citizen
Somewhere in the 2010s McDonald Canada tried to stole their market parts with better coffee and donuts. They partially succeeded because Tim Hortons at the time did great pub to bolster patriotic sentiment (they appears in How I met Your Mother after all). Since then they never really tried to be better and after that they merged with Burger King
and he died
like a loser, while under the influence and speeding. Good thing he didn’t kill anyone else on the way out.
without money for what he build
He and his family still had shares when he died. After his death, she sold the shares. Granted, the business partner was probably taking advantage of a grieving widow, but he did have money, and control, of what he built when he died.
-
Went to Tim Horton repeatedly all over BC during a 5 week visit this summer, and while some of their food wasn’t very good, every single thing was edible. That can’t be said for the fast food we’ve were getting in SoCal before we stopped going, and that includes In-N-Out, McDonald’s, Wendy’s and to a lesser degree Carl’s Jr. and Canes. We avoid Chick-Fil-A because we prefer our food without the side of church. I did try Tim Hortons years ago and you are right, it was substantially better, but the quality hasn’t fallen nearly as much as the other restaurants mentioned.
Well, I guess maybe novelty has something to do with it for both of us. I will say though without a doubt, Sonic is by far worse than Tim Hortons and any other fast food I’ve ever tried.
-
They’re not Canadian anymore, they’re not fresh, and the crap they serve is a shallow imitation of what they once were. The business that was started by Tim Horton himself died long ago, another victim of multinational corporations that fuck everything up in the name of profit.
Yeah, it’s owned by Burger King, and the new owners accelerated the reduction in quality that had started a decade before the buyout.
The reason for my particular gripes with Tim Horton’s is their over-the-top Canadian branding of an American company. It should be illegal, as clearly false marketing.
They’re also franchises, and are notorious for most franchise owners being borderline abusive to their largely teenage and immigrant staff, who may not know better or have the resources to fight back against illegal labour practices.
And the food is terrible, and the coffee is the second worst in the Canadian fast food industry (after A&W).
What is there not to hate about Tom Horton’s?
-
Well, I guess maybe novelty has something to do with it for both of us. I will say though without a doubt, Sonic is by far worse than Tim Hortons and any other fast food I’ve ever tried.
Never been to a Sonic. Sounds like I’ve been lucky.
-
Maybe I’m just too chronically online, but people seem to complain a lot more about Tim Hortons than other fast food places. Even though they have a lot of the same issues.
Edit: I guess I have bad taste in fast food. I like Tims
️. I think the prices are reasonable for fast food, and their stuff tastes better than mcDonalds. I don’t drink coffee much so I can’t compare to other places. I can get why people don’t like the company itself though.Eating Tim Hortons is like eating food made from someone describing food to a cardboard printer.
-
Maybe I’m just too chronically online, but people seem to complain a lot more about Tim Hortons than other fast food places. Even though they have a lot of the same issues.
Edit: I guess I have bad taste in fast food. I like Tims
️. I think the prices are reasonable for fast food, and their stuff tastes better than mcDonalds. I don’t drink coffee much so I can’t compare to other places. I can get why people don’t like the company itself though.They keep trying to pretend they’re Canadian and there’s nothing good about it.
-
It sold out to a multinational organization becoming non Canadian owned before changing their coffee, all their baked goods, and rebranding as a bit of a psuedo upscale fast food provider.
What was a chill, decent coffee spot with some in house baked good swapped out for just another resteraunt with coffee that served frozen factory made baked goods that are dry, tasteless, overpriced, and boring.
Quality dropped, nolonger Canadian owned, vibe changed entirely, price went up.
Tims shouldn’t sell pizza, or fifty different lunch items. It shouldn’t be a cheaper upscale caffe, it shouldn’t be in competition with starbucks or McDonalds let alone both. But that’s what it is now.
There’s literally Tim Horton’s in the Middle East
-
To reiterate other points in the thread: they used to be pretty good and Canadian.
But in 2014, they were bought out by Burger King and the quality absolutely plummeted. Their coffee supplier went to McDonalds, and all the baked goods are now frozen rather than fresh; making them stale
They’ve cut enough corners that the brand is now associated with low tier trash. But because they used to be Canadian, and still try to market themselves as Canadian, it’s become offensive. This is not what Canadians want to associate themselves with anymore
I agree with most of your points, but the quality went down wayyy before 2014. My mom worked there in the early 2000s when everything was made in house. By the time I started my first job there in 2008/2009, absolutely nothing was made in house. Around 2010/2011 is when they got rid of the last semi fresh item - the muffins would be made with frozen dough, but they switched to bringing in fully baked frozen muffins that go in a high powered microwave (essentially) for about 3 minutes.
The coffee swap was definitely the last straw though. Their new coffee is worse than garbage.
-
There’s literally Tim Horton’s in the Middle East
I wouldn’t care about this at all if either A) It was a Canadian company that made good coffee/food and actually represented us well.
Or
B) Took that maple leaf off their stand. There is nothing Canadian in this picture to be putting the maple leaf on.
-
Maybe I’m just too chronically online, but people seem to complain a lot more about Tim Hortons than other fast food places. Even though they have a lot of the same issues.
Edit: I guess I have bad taste in fast food. I like Tims
️. I think the prices are reasonable for fast food, and their stuff tastes better than mcDonalds. I don’t drink coffee much so I can’t compare to other places. I can get why people don’t like the company itself though.Well, I cannot write it better than all the comments here… Yes it was good 25 years ago, but selling it to BK, changing coffee beans (they used to be good, years ago they changed it, because of price I guess, and the new one is disgusting. McDo switched to the old TH beans AFAIK this is why the McDo coffee is good), having donuts came frozen and just heating them, capitalism, etc.
In the last 20 years I went to TH less than 10 times.
-
Maybe I’m just too chronically online, but people seem to complain a lot more about Tim Hortons than other fast food places. Even though they have a lot of the same issues.
Edit: I guess I have bad taste in fast food. I like Tims
️. I think the prices are reasonable for fast food, and their stuff tastes better than mcDonalds. I don’t drink coffee much so I can’t compare to other places. I can get why people don’t like the company itself though.Tim’s is about as Canadian as Donald Trump nowadays…
Sold out to a Brazilian mega-corp (Brazil has the some of the worst coffee on the planet). Cut everything down to the bone in terms of quality of product and quality of service to maximise profits, and is just coasting on nostalgia and the good will it built back when it actually WAS good (1990’s… Damn, I miss those cherry sticks!)
-
They’re not Canadian anymore, they’re not fresh, and the crap they serve is a shallow imitation of what they once were. The business that was started by Tim Horton himself died long ago, another victim of multinational corporations that fuck everything up in the name of profit.
They need to cut off quality to afford to give their execs more money.
-
Maybe I’m just too chronically online, but people seem to complain a lot more about Tim Hortons than other fast food places. Even though they have a lot of the same issues.
Edit: I guess I have bad taste in fast food. I like Tims
️. I think the prices are reasonable for fast food, and their stuff tastes better than mcDonalds. I don’t drink coffee much so I can’t compare to other places. I can get why people don’t like the company itself though.It used to smell like fresh baked bread and fresh ground coffee when you walked in.
Their pastries, donuts and buns were fresh baked in house. It was an experience to see a tray of steaming bread rolls coming out of the back while you were waiting for your order.
They switched their ethically sourced coffee bean supplier back when they sold out. If I remember correctly, McDonalds then swooped in and took over the supply contracts, so suddenly McDs had the superior coffee (in my opinion).
-
When was it good? 2005?
It was better then, yes. They still operated as a bakery at that point.
-
2005 was when they went public. That’s when the enshittification started. It all started when they went central with their bakeries and pulled all the baking from in house. Then the prices started going up. 25 cents per fiscal year, almost to the calendar date. Then shit started getting smaller. Less staff. The bagel toasters suddenly sped up a whole lot.
Fast forward to like say 2015, they were probably the biggest users of the TFW plan. Didn’t train anyone properly. Couldn’t keep staff. The toasters went so fast the bagels pretty much shot like a torpedo out of the toaster when someone put one down. Food was never warm. Lids leaked like hell, and no one would do anything about it.
Used to be a multiple times a day tim visitor. Best thing that ever happened to me was when they went to shit. It correlates directly with better health, better financial health and habits and it removed what was pretty much an addiction. I haven’t even been inside one since COVID.
That’s when I tried it and was also impressed I must have just missed the good times like always lol.
