[NA] Timmy H.? What's the deal?

CJones

CJones

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When I was travelling to Columbus, OH for work several years ago, folks up there had an almost Pavlovian response when anyone even said "Tim Horton". They recently opened up a Timmy H. a couple of miles from my house, and I thought "OK.. I've heard good things...." but so far, I've been pretty underwhelmed. Seems like just another Dunkin' (which is another 2 miles down the road from Tim H).

So what am I missing? Their coffee seems bitter to me. Their 'traditional' donut is cake, not yeast, so that's a strike against them. I got a breakfast croissant this morning and the sausage was burnt and eggs seemed microwaved. At this point, I just use them for their Original Iced Capp when I need a sugar boost, but other than that, it's very 'mid' as the kids say.
 
Would that be an actual tim horton or a cheap knockoff?
 
I din’t get the love for Tim Horton’s, which is Canadian by birth. we were just up there six weeks ago and passed a ton of them without even stopping.

Brand loyalty is a thing though.
 
I tried Tim Horton's for coffee once, and it was OK. The Dunkin' Donuts comparison is about right, nothing spectacular.

I'll take either one over Starbucks any day, however.
 
Bob Noel said:
Would that be an actual tim horton or a cheap knockoff?
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It says Tim Horton's on the door - not Tom Horton or Tim Hinton - and they accept the Tim Horton's mobile app, so I assume it's legit?
 
Not being Canadian, I've not found the allure of TH. I snicker when I see them in upstate NY (I guess there are enough expat Canadians to make it worth it to them).
 
If heard that on the set of a TV series in Vancouver, they had to be careful about folks bringing the TH stuff to the set... production would cease with everyone running for the THs.
 
They open pretty early, which is very important if you have hockey kids. But yeah, pretty much Duncan.
 
Lots of brands with sentimental value are based more on sentiment than value.

I remember telling an Australian friend about this amazing American breakfast food called Pop Tarts. She took a few bites and said "sorry, but that is crap." I was 35 and probably hadn't had one myself since high school. I ate part of one and had to agree.
 
Tim's is Canadian. Tim Horton was an NHL hockey player https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Horton

Tim's was popular here in Canada until maybe 40 years ago when they stopped baking the donuts in-store and began producing them in factories, freezing them and shipping them to the stores where they are reheated. The quality suffered, of course. Nothing is as good reheated as it was fresh.

Then, 15 or 20 years ago, they switched coffee suppliers and alienated more customers. The old coffee was snatched up by McDonalds, which is why McD's coffee is good. Saving a few cents on a bag of beans can have serious consequences.

Similar stuff has hurt their traffic. One has to be careful with a winning formula; so easy to screw it up.

A friends of a friend opened a Tim's franchise along a busy highway. He paid off the big mortgage in eight months. It's a license to print money. Or used to be.
 
CJones said:
When I was travelling to Columbus, OH for work several years ago, folks up there had an almost Pavlovian response when anyone even said "Tim Horton". They recently opened up a Timmy H. a couple of miles from my house, and I thought "OK.. I've heard good things...." but so far, I've been pretty underwhelmed. Seems like just another Dunkin' (which is another 2 miles down the road from Tim H).

So what am I missing? Their coffee seems bitter to me. Their 'traditional' donut is cake, not yeast, so that's a strike against them. I got a breakfast croissant this morning and the sausage was burnt and eggs seemed microwaved. At this point, I just use them for their Original Iced Capp when I need a sugar boost, but other than that, it's very 'mid' as the kids say.
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I hear there's a similar cult fandom for Buc-ee's...
 
ArrowFlyer86 said:
I hear there's a similar cult fandom for Buc-ee's...
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I don’t get why people are so fascinated with Bucee’s. It’s an amusement park gift shop with gas pumps. It ought to take a lot more than that to hold someone so rapt that it practically becomes more the highlight of their trip than the destination.
 
ateamer said:
I don’t get why people are so fascinated with Bucee’s. It’s an amusement park gift shop with gas pumps. It ought to take a lot more than that to hold someone so rapt that it practically becomes more the highlight of their trip than the destination.
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Their brisket sammiches are pretty damn good. And the bathrooms are always clean. I would probably even eat said sammich in the bathroom.
 
TCABM said:
Hospital floor clean and there’s never a wait. That’s the attraction/loyalty factor.
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Ha. I zingged off pad tip of my thumb on a table saw a few years back. Wife wasn't home, so wrapped it with paper towels and drove myself to the emergency room. Got admitted to the interior waiting area, and then shock started to hit.

I laid down on the floor and put my feet up on the chair. Someone yelled, "Man down!"

I waved my hand a bit, saying, "It's OK, I'm fine."

The head nurse came over. I said, "I was getting a bit shocky, and just wanted to put my legs higher."

She said: "They scrub those floors every night, but *I* wouldn't lie on them...."

So don't talk to me about "Hospital floor clean".... :)

Ron "Ouch!" Wanttaja
 
TCABM said:
Hospital floor clean and there’s never a wait. That’s the attraction/loyalty factor.
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Also, their paper for the candied nuts is pretty good. When we drove to ATL in the spring (didn't feel like flying through FC+) we stopped, and then had 10th floor at embassy Suites. The paper got made into a paper airplane, and probably made a good 12 large circles on its way from the 10th floor alllllll the way down to the bottom floor in the atrium. I had it weighted and trimmed for max duration.
 
EdFred said:
Their brisket sammiches are pretty damn good. And the bathrooms are always clean. I would probably even eat said sammich in the bathroom.
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Gotta admit, the brisket sammiches are my default go-to if/when we stop there. It will be interesting to see how they (the stores, not the sandwiches) fare after the market is flooded and the novelty of visiting wears off.
 
CJones said:
Gotta admit, the brisket sammiches are my default go-to if/when we stop there. It will be interesting to see how they (the stores, not the sandwiches) fare after the market is flooded and the novelty of visiting wears off.
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They're doing great. They keep opening new stores to smashing success. The billboards that start 100 miles away are the only thing that convinces my kids they can, indeed, wait to go to the bathroom.
 
I'm an American who played hockey and had a number of tourneys in Canada. Then I married a Canadian and finally understood the hype. It's just another Dunkin until you order the right stuff. I love Dunkin, but it doesn't hold a candle to Tim's. HOWEVER, I will say that the US Tim's have been underwhelming compared to Canadian Tim's.

Some things that make Tim Horton's great:
1. The brew their coffee fresh every 15 minutes. No stale coffee. (This could have changed since I learned this fact, but the point stands: no stale coffee.)
2. Roll up the rim. McDonald's Monopoly, step aside.
3. You can go there as a teen and hang out and the next table over will be high level business people having an afternoon meeting. It's a place for everybody.
4. Quality of food. My 15-month-old son got a garlic and herb pastry that looked like it would be too nice for Panera (which I happen to think is a step or two above Dunkin quality-wise). No, he didn't get to pick what he ate, but he ate it happily. Yup, I'm raising a Canadian kid....... ;)
I will say that I was in Ontario on Saturday and ordered my regular, but I'm used to ordering in Québec, so I know my order very well in French. Having to figure out what it was called in English was the worst part of my visit! lol
 
Ex Canadian.
Followed Tim Horton the hockey player from my yout.
Drove through N. Ont. last summer (including near his birthplace) and stopped at a TH twice.
Each time asked for hot tea (an apparently long-ago cultural drink because they no longer know how to make tea) and was presented with lukewarm water into which was placed a white liquid (milk, H&H, powder; who knows) and plopped in a disgusting excuse of a tea bag.
I guess that's my last TH visit.
 
Ed Haywood said:
Lots of brands with sentimental value are based more on sentiment than value.
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My mother in law grew up in Iowa, and she loves... Maid Rite. :vomit: That was enough proof to me that sentimentality beats quality nearly every time.

Ed Haywood said:
I remember telling an Australian friend about this amazing American breakfast food called Pop Tarts. She took a few bites and said "sorry, but that is crap." I was 35 and probably hadn't had one myself since high school. I ate part of one and had to agree.
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The last one you had might have been a lot better. Success tends to make things unsuccessful! You start with a person who makes a great product and starts a small company, then they grow the company, people notice the product and start raving about it, it grows quickly, and then you get a buy-out by some PE company that decides to capitalize on the hype by making the product more profitable, which means cutting costs, which means using cheaper raw materials and production processes, which means the product isn't as good any more and it rides the hype wave until it's widespread and crappy.

ArrowFlyer86 said:
I hear there's a similar cult fandom for Buc-ee's...
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I will not visit Buc-ee's. They have some really questionable business practices that I do not agree with.
 
Piperonca said:
Hint?
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Their MO, at least right now, is to pick a site, buy some land, make a big PR push about how they're going to bring in tons of jobs and make this big awesome thing... And then ask the local government to pay for a significant portion of the construction. One example near me, they asked the town to foot the bill to the tune of well over 100% of the town's entire annual budget.

Sorry, but no. It's a for profit business. Either build it with your own dang money or GTFO. Yes, the business can economically benefit the town, but with that kind of a "deal" it won't pay off in anywhere close to a worthwhile timeframe, and it's not like the town won't also have additional infrastructure and services costs.
 
Piperonca said:
Hint?
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I got a new EV, but my home charger isn't installed yet, So off I went in search of a commercial charger.

First I went to a Tesla charger at a Buccees. $0.56/kwh (or whatever measurement they use)

After a few days I wanted to "top it off" so I went to a Tesla charger at a Target store. $0.26. Less than half the price of Buccees. But I did enjoy the brisket burrito.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I will not visit Buc-ee's. They have some really questionable business practices that I do not agree with.
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But you'll knob slob Apple until the end of time?
As long as your phone/tablet is new younger than the kids that make it, eh? LOL

Then there's FF paying off Garmin to keep everyone else blocked from interacting with Garmin devices. Nothing shady there either. How do they taste?

Ever buy anything from Amazon/Wal-Mart? They do the same thing. Look into how many places get tax breaks and the like and you won't shop anywhere.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Their MO, at least right now, is to pick a site, buy some land, make a big PR push about how they're going to bring in tons of jobs and make this big awesome thing... And then ask the local government to pay for a significant portion of the construction. One example near me, they asked the town to foot the bill to the tune of well over 100% of the town's entire annual budget.

Sorry, but no. It's a for profit business. Either build it with your own dang money or GTFO. Yes, the business can economically benefit the town, but with that kind of a "deal" it won't pay off in anywhere close to a worthwhile timeframe, and it's not like the town won't also have additional infrastructure and services costs.
Click to expand...
What's shady about this? TIF financing and other forms of incentives like this happen literally every day all across the country. What was the outcome in the town you mentioned?
 
flyingcheesehead said:
My mother in law grew up in Iowa, and she loves... Maid Rite. :vomit: That was enough proof to me that sentimentality beats quality nearly every time.
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PREACH!! WTH is up with MaidRite!? Browned, but not seasoned, ground beef on a bun. Had it a few times while chasing crop dusters around in the summers. I learned to order it with cheese just have any semblance of flavor and also to help hold the stupid meat together while eating it. But I agree - there are Iowans who will defend it until they die.
 
flyingpreacher said:
I'm an American who played hockey and had a number of tourneys in Canada. Then I married a Canadian and finally understood the hype. It's just another Dunkin until you order the right stuff. I love Dunkin, but it doesn't hold a candle to Tim's. HOWEVER, I will say that the US Tim's have been underwhelming compared to Canadian Tim's.
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This may be the crux of the whole deal - it's too far from the original source to even know what the original looks/tastes like.
 
FYI, a Buc-ee's usually has at least 300 employees at a store, and they pay quite well on top of their benefit package. The one near me probably contributed more tax revenue within the first two years, than the various rebates and abatements that they got for putting the facility in to start with.
 
EdFred said:
But you'll knob slob Apple until the end of time?
Click to expand...
Hey, shut up, I like Meijer at least. Why you knob slobbin' Buc-ees? :rofl:

EdFred said:
As long as your phone/tablet is new younger than the kids that make it, eh? LOL
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Apple puts no child labor clauses in their contracts and does surprise inspections to enforce it. I'm sure that there are ways around what they do that are being exploited, but it's not like Android smartphones aren't built in the same places with less controls. It's an imperfect world we live in, and on the balance owning an iPhone is a compromise I can make.

EdFred said:
Then there's FF paying off Garmin to keep everyone else blocked from interacting with Garmin devices. Nothing shady there either. How do they taste?
Click to expand...
:rofl: ForeFlight doesn't pay off Garmin. Garmin works with ForeFlight because ForeFlight owns the vast majority of the EFB market so Garmin *has to* work with them so that people keep buying Garmin's hardware.

EdFred said:
Ever buy anything from Amazon/Wal-Mart? They do the same thing. Look into how many places get tax breaks and the like and you won't shop anywhere.
Click to expand...
Sadly true. I avoid Wal-Mart except in the rare instances it's the middle of the night and I need something they sell RIGHT NOW.

Amazon is harder to avoid, unfortunately.

Lindberg said:
What's shady about this? TIF financing and other forms of incentives like this happen literally every day all across the country. What was the outcome in the town you mentioned?
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As I understand it, it's not TIF financing. They have not started construction yet.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
:rofl: ForeFlight doesn't pay off Garmin. Garmin works with ForeFlight because ForeFlight owns the vast majority of the EFB market so Garmin *has to* work with them so that people keep buying Garmin's hardware.
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Yeah that's the reason Garmin tells everyone else to pound sand when they approach them about getting ADSB data. :rolleyes:

No reason they couldn't open broadcast the ADSB data, and odd that ONLY FF is able to use it. So far no one from either company has disputed it.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Their MO, at least right now, is to pick a site, buy some land, make a big PR push about how they're going to bring in tons of jobs and make this big awesome thing... And then ask the local government to pay for a significant portion of the construction. One example near me, they asked the town to foot the bill to the tune of well over 100% of the town's entire annual budget.

Sorry, but no. It's a for profit business. Either build it with your own dang money or GTFO. Yes, the business can economically benefit the town, but with that kind of a "deal" it won't pay off in anywhere close to a worthwhile timeframe, and it's not like the town won't also have additional infrastructure and services costs.
Click to expand...

Can't speak for all of Buc-ee's dealings, but it was very different in my neck of the woods.

I was on the county board when Buc-ee's came to our community. They purchased land adjacent to an existing interstate exit which had the beginnings of an industrial park. The industrial park never gotten off the ground, just a big expanse of land with a little dirt moved but no utility infrastructure.

Buc-ee's paid a lot for utilities to be brought to the area. The only concession they asked was that, if the industrial park came to be, that the county would rebate some of what Buc-ee's had paid to bring utilities in.

There were no asks for construction money or tax credits.

Again, I don't know how they do business elsewhere, but that's how it went down here.
 
I tried a TH in Whitehorse last week. Not bad, not great. Coffee was fair, about like DD. Their version of an Egg McMuffin was a bit better than McDs, but that ain't sayin' much.
 
I'll take "a dozen dunkies an a box a Joe" (in my best Southie accent) any day over Tim Horton's! And what's up with those ketchup flavored potato chips all the Canucks rave about? I can't stand those things either!
 
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