The Glade 4.0

Tim Hortons Inc. is about to take the driver’s seat, not sell out to the Americans, in a potential takeover by Burger King Worldwide Inc., industry expert Tom Pirko says.

Mr. Pirko, president of the food and beverage company advisory firm Bevmark LLC, said the combined company would have a lot of advantages – size being the most obvious. A less obvious advantage to Americans, who are much more familiar with Burger King, is the chance to combine forces with a well-managed chain with fierce brand loyalty north of the border, he said.

“Americans tend to think, ‘Oh, an American company bought or is merging with a smaller Canadian company.’ The reverse is true here,” he said. “The real power in this deal lies with the Canadian side.”

Mr. Pirko said he’s very impressed with Tim Hortons, which sells eight out of 10 cups of coffee in Canada. Partnering with Burger King will help the company earn brand recognition in the U.S., a crucial step in its expansion plan.

Mr. Pirko said he wouldn’t be surprised to see Burger King start to sell Tim Hortons coffee and doughnuts to compete with McDonald’s Corp., which has taken some market share from Tim’s by promoting its own coffee. “There’s probably a way to co-market items at both,” he said.

On Sunday night, the companies confirmed they are in talks for Burger King to buy the Canadian coffee and doughnut chain. The combined company would have its headquarters in Canada and would form the third-largest fast food company in the world, according to the release.

The news sent both companies’ stocks soaring. Shares of Tim Hortons on the Toronto Stock Exchange soared 19.26% to close at $82.03 Monday, while Burger King’s shares rose 19.51% to US$32.40.

**** Sharrod Brown.

Hmm. Sherrod Brown wants me to boycott? Sounds like a good excuse to go have some chicken fries tomorrow.

1) What is Tim Hortons?
Tim Hortons is Canada's largest restaurant chain. With more than 3,600 locations across the country, that works out to one Tim Hortons for every 9,500 Canadians. (By contrast, Starbucks maintains a paltry one coffee shop for every 28,000 Americans).

Tim Hortons is ubiquitous in Canada. Canadians spend an average of $150 at Tim Hortons annually, higher than spending at any other store. As of 2008, it controlled 62 percent of the country's coffee market. Some researchers use the proximity of the nearest Tim Hortons to measure whether an area of Canada is rural or not. Really.

2) Who is Tim Horton?
A real person, to start.

Before he was known for a massively successful coffee and donuts chain, Tim Horton was a professional hockey player. Yes, this story is really that Canadian.

Born in Ontario, he spent most of his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs; for decades, he held the record for most consecutive games played for the team (486, to be exact). In the middle of his hockey career, Horton got into the franchise business, opening his first store in April 1964 under the name Tim Donut.

3) How popular is Tim Hortons in Canada?

It's popular, and ingrained in national culture in a way to that's difficult to compare to any fast food chain in the United States.

Tim Hortons finds itself into official Canadian moments with shocking ease. Like take the time that the Royal Canadian Mint wanted to distribute a new, commemorative quarter in 2004. It distributed that new coin exclusively through Tim Hortons locations. Let that sink in: the federal government was distributing new currency through a donut shop chain. You couldn't go to a bank and get this quarter; you had to go to Tim Hortons.

The Canadian Oxford Dictionary has added the phrase "double-double" to its list — that would be Tim Hortons-speak for a coffee with two creams and two sugars. When former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Canada in 2006, the foreign minister took her to a Tim Hortons for coffee.

"The chain is celebrated as a 'national institution' and is connected to broader ideas of cultural identity, an iconic status only partially connected to memories of Tim as a Canadian hero," University of Toronto sociologist Steve Penfold writes in his book, "The Donut: A Canadian History."

In that book, Penfold quotes one independent donut shop owner on the popularity of Tim Hortons: "They'll go anywhere," he says. "They could survive in the middle of Lake Ontario."

Maybe it's the quality of the coffee (there 's a longstanding rumor in Canada that Timmy's puts nicotine in its coffee to make it addictive, which has, unsurprisingly, turned out to be false). Or maybe it's the donuts. But the significance of Tim Hortons seems to really come down to its place as a long-standing, home-grown business that is everywhere in Canada.

4) Isn't a little sad that Canadians are so enthusiastic about a donut store?

Is it sad that Americans get prideful about apple pie? We all have our national icons and, in Canada, Tim Hortons is one of them.

Canada is a relatively small country that shares a border with one of the world's largest; it's easy for Canadian culture to get overwhelmed by American brands.

And Tim Hortons is a rare exception to that trend. Because of it, Starbucks has barely been able to get a foothold in the Canadian coffee market (it's the second largest coffee chain in Canada, but only holds 7 percent of the market). Even when you live in Canada, it's rare to see a homegrown brand that is so dominant.

More than a coffee shop, Tim Hortons is something that feels uniquely Canadian — in a way not many outlets (not really much of anything, for that matter) do. The vast majority of large chains in Canada are American, perhaps with a little homage to their newly-annexed land. Breakfast chain Denny's, for example, replaces the apostrophe in its name with a maple leaf in signage at Canadian locations; Pizza Hut uses the same maple leaf to dot the "i" in pizza.

But that's not the case with Tim Hortons: it's a massively successful, homegrown, definitely Canadian success. One that could soon have uniquely un-Canadian ownership.

I can still think of two or three locations that are dual Wendy's Tim Horton's locations. I wonder what will happen to those franchises with BK ownership.

I look forward to being able to get Timmy's coffee on road trips. Right now the chain exists through Ohio, but once I get through Cincinatti into Kentucky, I'm stuck with McDonald's coffee.

We have had them in Michigan for a long time now.

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