In defence of Tim Horton's, sort of:
The "parkbaked" centrally produced frozen donuts that the franchisees are forced to use are smaller than before, they don't taste anything like real donuts, and they cost twice as much as baking them from scratch on site, cutting into the franchisees' profits. Yes, Tim Horton's is a soulless corporate machine. Apparently those in the know claim the coffee isn't any good, though I wouldn't know, as I don't drink coffee. I do love their iced capps in the summertime, though that's probably an even worse heresy.
And yet, it's a dependable meeting place for all sorts of "regular" Canadians who either find it comfortable and comforting, or live in areas where there's nowhere else to go. We talk enough on this site about how hard it is to nail down the anglophone Canadian identity, but in Timmies you have a veritably concrete example of the concept.
Giving the term "Canadian icon" in quotes in the title to this thread is bog-standard Canadian uncertainty, and yet it's clear that in this case no quotes are needed. I think we can all agree that there's no ambiguity here when it comes to Tim Horton's iconic status. Everybody who comes to Canada notices their ubiquity immediately. It's now become something of a "thing" where people who've been to Canada will mention Tim Horton's to Canadians they meet as an easy way of making a small connection or getting a reaction during small talk.
It's kind of our equivalent of the Eiffel Tower, or the corner pub, or bull-fights, or cable cars, or sushi etc., except it's not quite at that level of renown, as only people who've been here would know about it. Like when you meet someone from Thailand and you say that you remember going around Bangkok on tuk-tuks. Never been to Thailand? Then you probably don't know what tuk-tuks are. Same thing with Tim Horton's.
As national icons go, Tim Horton's is positively dorky, but that only makes it all the more fitting for this country. I mean, c'mon...we have no gravitas. I'd imagine the Venn diagram for faithful consumers of Tim Horton's and fans of Red Green is probably a mostly 100% overlap. There is actually one Tim Horton's on Queen West, but how many hipsters in the vicinity would admit to frequenting it? Not many, I'm guessing.
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