Was the topic of the CBC radio noon talk show yesterday... not to mention it's in the papers as well, etc.
There were a lot of different opinions among the callers...
So, what is your opinion? Are among those who regularly give your money to Tim's shareholders, or not? If so does this change anything in your mind? Is this multibillion deal even on your radar or not at all and you couldn't care less?
Just curious...
Also, this deal highlights some of the advantages of Canadian fiscal treatment of out-of-country profit. The headquarters aren't staying in Miami, but moving to Ontario. For obvious reasons...
Do the people griping about this realize that Tim's was owned by a big American burger chain before, i.e. Wendy's? How does that saying go... you only get to be a virgin once? (And if it's not a saying, then it should be!)
Anyway, people buy into the hokey Canadiana marketing way too much... there is nothing warm and fuzzy about publicly listed corporations.
Yes Tim Hortons is a place frequented by many Canadians, but it's certainly a very bland, mediocre brand. Their coffee is brown water, their donuts are baked in a factory and shipped frozen and their staff is basically mcdonalds level. Yippee for us! Unless they change drastically, they will be history because better competition will come eventually and do what they do, only better.
I don't really care. I'm not a fan of Tim Horton's or Burger King, and this deal seems to be a benefit for Canada, as opposed to a loss as it is for the States. So, have at it.
Now, if it was Tim Horton's taking over Purity, I'd probably lose my mind.
__________________ Note to self: "The plural of anecdote is not evidence."
Virtually nothing will change. They will both operate as basically independent companies except now Burger King will have their corporate HQ as a PO Box in Oakville.
Hasn't Tim Horton's been owned by an American company (Wendys?) at one point in the past too? Edit - Esquire beat me to it.
Yes Tim Hortons is a place frequented by many Canadians, but it's certainly a very bland, mediocre brand.
That's what happens when you rely on Canada's federal identity for your brand. The only thing you can do is focus on the most superficial things - maple, hockey, etc. - or combine the various regions into a somehow even more stereotypical tribute.
The problem with the latter is that you inevitably have to portray one group as normal in relation to the others. So you'll get Newfoundlanders drinking Tim's in a dorey beside an iceberg, B.C. people doing yoga stretches by the sea with a double-double, and Central Canadians represented by some normal guy in a normal Tim's.
Radenska, a Slovenian bottled water, was forced into the same dilemma during the era of Yugoslavia:
• Video Link
(Shows, in chronological order: nice, normal Slovenians with stereotypes of the rest: Croatians, Bosnians, Vojvodinians, Serbians, Kosovar Albanians, Montenegrins, and Macedonians).
Tim's would be better off with an unrelated brand - like McDonald's has done.
President's Choice has done a much better job of it. Canada isn't their brand, they have a more appropriate one (good food, worth switching supermarkets for, all that) - and they still do regional outreach:
At the end of the day, as a Canadian I don't care with regards to Burger King purchasing Tim Horton's what matters is the end of the day, the deal is a net benefit to Canada due to our better taxation system than the US. In fact I would like a few more deals like this if it means an advantage in terms of more taxes paid in Canada and a few more jobs here in Canada.
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SHOFEAR- "The other goalie should have to turn in his man card. What a sorry display that was." - March 24, 2008
What really matters for this forum, is if they're moving headquarters to Ontario, will they need a skyscraper to house them, and how tall need it be?!
It could be shaped like a giant coffee cup... (i.e. a truncated cone with the apex very far away, upside down... with its dark brown circular roof showing some overhang)
It's funny, people (the general public - people seem fairly sane on this forum) are worried that this will erode Tim Hortons' national identity.... the funny thing is that the only reason they have this national identity is that it is an effective marketing strategy. If anything, BK would want them to ramp it up even further (American expansion aside).