Your favourite Canadian coffee chain is watching your every move
June 2, 2022 11:27 AM Subscribe
Canadian investigators determined that users of the Tim Hortons coffee chain's mobile app "had their movements tracked and recorded every few minutes of every day," even when the app wasn't open, in violation of the country's privacy laws. (Ars Technica) “Location data is highly sensitive because it can be used to infer where people live and work, reveal trips to medical clinics. It can be used to make deductions about religious beliefs, sexual preferences, social political affiliations and more.” (Privacy Commissioner of Canada)
This is just the latest in a long line of scandals for the Canadian-American-Brazilian-owned company:
CBC, 2015: Tim Hortons busted for pretending to be environmentally responsible while not changing practices
Previously on MeFi, 2018: Tim Hortons franchisees cut workers’ benefits in response to Ontario raising the minimum wage
Jacobin, 2021: “In the last decade, Tim Hortons has become synonymous with its toxic brew of low-wage, no-benefit, union-busting, precarious, part-time employment.”
This is just the latest in a long line of scandals for the Canadian-American-Brazilian-owned company:
CBC, 2015: Tim Hortons busted for pretending to be environmentally responsible while not changing practices
Previously on MeFi, 2018: Tim Hortons franchisees cut workers’ benefits in response to Ontario raising the minimum wage
Jacobin, 2021: “In the last decade, Tim Hortons has become synonymous with its toxic brew of low-wage, no-benefit, union-busting, precarious, part-time employment.”
Tim's only stays in business because tradespeople need to use a toilet during their workday and buy coffee/food while they're in there, and there's one within a ten minute drive from just about anywhere. I don't know anyone who prefers their product who has a choice about where to pee.
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:49 AM on June 2, 2022 [17 favorites]
posted by seanmpuckett at 11:49 AM on June 2, 2022 [17 favorites]
In the last decade, Tim Hortons has become synonymous with its toxic brew of low-wage, no-benefit, union-busting, precarious, part-time employment.
Also, their doughnuts suck.
But despite that, pre-covid, in my government office building -- which offered both a wide range of places to pee, none of which were actually near Tims, and several other coffee options -- Tims was always slammed busy from 8 to about 330.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:04 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
Also, their doughnuts suck.
But despite that, pre-covid, in my government office building -- which offered both a wide range of places to pee, none of which were actually near Tims, and several other coffee options -- Tims was always slammed busy from 8 to about 330.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:04 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
Remember folks, never install the app.
(I was going to qualify this with something like "if the company also has a website", but I think it stands well on its own.)
posted by suetanvil at 12:11 PM on June 2, 2022 [12 favorites]
(I was going to qualify this with something like "if the company also has a website", but I think it stands well on its own.)
posted by suetanvil at 12:11 PM on June 2, 2022 [12 favorites]
Yeah, as much as it's fashionable to rag on Timmies (and I agree, their food and coffee is not good), it remains ridiculously ubiquitous and popular.
posted by Popular Ethics at 12:11 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Popular Ethics at 12:11 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
I understand the hate for it but it’s CHEAP. Especially in downtown Toronto, where there are no alternatives remotely in that price range (except maybe McDonald’s, which are rarer). That’s the real draw (and steeped tea for me)… although the invasive tracking and poor labour practices definitely provide an unappealing explanation of why it stays so cheap.
posted by ordinary_magnet at 12:13 PM on June 2, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by ordinary_magnet at 12:13 PM on June 2, 2022 [9 favorites]
Tim Hortons has become synonymous with its toxic brew
Could have ended that sentence right there
posted by Rumple at 12:19 PM on June 2, 2022 [7 favorites]
Could have ended that sentence right there
posted by Rumple at 12:19 PM on June 2, 2022 [7 favorites]
Agreed that Tim's is a toxic company and Tim's donuts haven't been good since they stopped baking them in the actual stores but all of you folks dissing Tim Horton's coffee have clearly never had to drink Dunkin Donuts' hot brown crayon sugar water.
posted by mon_petit_ordinateur at 12:40 PM on June 2, 2022 [12 favorites]
posted by mon_petit_ordinateur at 12:40 PM on June 2, 2022 [12 favorites]
Also, their doughnuts suck.
Well, yes. The odd thing is that they nominally have several dozen varieties, but a franchisee friend tells me they are supplied a core menu of perhaps five or six, and each store gets to choose another handful of varieties and that is it. When I lived in Ottawa, my walking commute took me past a half dozen TH stores, and if I wanted the donuts with toasted coconut, I had to go to the one at Laurier and Metcalfe (they have since renovated and changed the menu, so they are no longer available there).
It seems to about the only thing a chain restaurant is good for is some degree of consistency. I struggle to imagine McDonalds changing things up so a quarter-pounder was available at only 5% of their restaurants, and these were never the ones that Coke was available at. Want a Filet-o-Fish? For that, you have to go to a third one, eight blocks away.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:45 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
Well, yes. The odd thing is that they nominally have several dozen varieties, but a franchisee friend tells me they are supplied a core menu of perhaps five or six, and each store gets to choose another handful of varieties and that is it. When I lived in Ottawa, my walking commute took me past a half dozen TH stores, and if I wanted the donuts with toasted coconut, I had to go to the one at Laurier and Metcalfe (they have since renovated and changed the menu, so they are no longer available there).
It seems to about the only thing a chain restaurant is good for is some degree of consistency. I struggle to imagine McDonalds changing things up so a quarter-pounder was available at only 5% of their restaurants, and these were never the ones that Coke was available at. Want a Filet-o-Fish? For that, you have to go to a third one, eight blocks away.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:45 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
Oh, I can't disagree that their coffee isn't better than that swill from Dunkin Donuts - or most US fast-food chains (Burger King coffee is horrendous).
But - really was better before their most recent round of ownership - it was even better back-in-the-day when they also baked their donuts in-store.
The one thing they have going for them is price. Their coffee and "food" (and I use that term loosely) are very very cheap, in Canada I would bet that the only meal cheaper would be the Costco hotdog + fountain drink.
posted by rozcakj at 12:46 PM on June 2, 2022
But - really was better before their most recent round of ownership - it was even better back-in-the-day when they also baked their donuts in-store.
The one thing they have going for them is price. Their coffee and "food" (and I use that term loosely) are very very cheap, in Canada I would bet that the only meal cheaper would be the Costco hotdog + fountain drink.
posted by rozcakj at 12:46 PM on June 2, 2022
Let's not forget how they treat Temporary Foreign Workers.
posted by Stoof at 12:47 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Stoof at 12:47 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
As I have said before, if you ask a hundred people who grew up in Canada, “Name a place that sells donuts,” 97 would say, “Tim Hortons.” Yet to find any mention of donuts on their website you have to go four clicks deep under “baked goods.”
It is, as best I can see, a company that makes nominally heartwarming commercials about little kids playing hockey on a frozen pond which are designed to stir sone vague sense of patriotism, I guess. All other aspects of the business are secondary or even tertiary to this.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:01 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
It is, as best I can see, a company that makes nominally heartwarming commercials about little kids playing hockey on a frozen pond which are designed to stir sone vague sense of patriotism, I guess. All other aspects of the business are secondary or even tertiary to this.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:01 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
There's at least one Tim Hortons in Hamilton-Norfolk with a full window decal WE SUPPORT TRUCKERS.
posted by brachiopod at 1:06 PM on June 2, 2022
posted by brachiopod at 1:06 PM on June 2, 2022
I was in Toronto last week driving on 407 and did a Google maps search for nearby Tim Hortons. The result looked like a severe case of measles.
posted by praiseb at 1:10 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by praiseb at 1:10 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Stoof: Let's not forget how they treat Temporary Foreign Workers.
Indeed. From the Jacobin article:
Tim Hortons has made extensive use of the federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to propel their expansion in the 2010s. The federal government — read: the public — therefore underwrote the company’s growth by providing a dispensable workforce. Franchisees have gotten heat for abuses against temporary foreign workers, including tip and wage theft and threats of deportation.
Unions have long criticized TFWP for providing no pathway to citizenship, in addition to lacking provisions that ensure fair wages and prevent bullying or threats. Companies like Tim Hortons have hired thousands of temporary foreign workers to help turn healthy profits.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:20 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
Indeed. From the Jacobin article:
Tim Hortons has made extensive use of the federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to propel their expansion in the 2010s. The federal government — read: the public — therefore underwrote the company’s growth by providing a dispensable workforce. Franchisees have gotten heat for abuses against temporary foreign workers, including tip and wage theft and threats of deportation.
Unions have long criticized TFWP for providing no pathway to citizenship, in addition to lacking provisions that ensure fair wages and prevent bullying or threats. Companies like Tim Hortons have hired thousands of temporary foreign workers to help turn healthy profits.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:20 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
Tim's only stays in business because tradespeople need to use a toilet during their workday and buy coffee/food while they're in there,
They serve food and coffee in the toilet stalls? The quality might be questionable, but credit where due people.
posted by rhizome at 1:29 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
They serve food and coffee in the toilet stalls? The quality might be questionable, but credit where due people.
posted by rhizome at 1:29 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
Truly it is often the only option. My walking commute takes me past both a Tim’s and a Starbucks, but the Starbucks is on the other side of a very busy main road, and when I want a mediocre egg sandwich and also get to work on time I can’t wait for a ten minute round trip traffic light cycle to pay $5.99 for a bottle of juice.
That being said, they goofed up my order this morning. Does someone have a recommendation for some kind of plastic gadget to make English-muffin sized eggs at home? Asking for me.
posted by janepanic at 1:32 PM on June 2, 2022
That being said, they goofed up my order this morning. Does someone have a recommendation for some kind of plastic gadget to make English-muffin sized eggs at home? Asking for me.
posted by janepanic at 1:32 PM on June 2, 2022
This is why I install as few apps as possible.
Timmy's opened some stores in Maine, which failed. Weak, ordinary blend coffee, average pastries with white flour and tons of sugar. meh. Dunkin makes slightly better coffee that is always hot, fresh and prepared precisely as requested, with boring donuts that are slightly better.
posted by theora55 at 1:45 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Timmy's opened some stores in Maine, which failed. Weak, ordinary blend coffee, average pastries with white flour and tons of sugar. meh. Dunkin makes slightly better coffee that is always hot, fresh and prepared precisely as requested, with boring donuts that are slightly better.
posted by theora55 at 1:45 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Why does a coffee shop chain even need to know who their customers are? They don't! I'd bet Canadian dollars to maple syrup donuts this was the idea of the company that created the app for them. My guess is the app shop gave them a break on the programming in exchange for the right to keep and sell the users' information.
posted by hypnogogue at 1:45 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by hypnogogue at 1:45 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
Not sure if *plastic* is key to what you're looking for, but I've had wonderful luck using widemouth Mason jar lids & rings, that way. Spray a bit of oil in there, put it into a skillet on medium heat, then crack one egg per lid in. Poke the yolk if you prefer, season to taste, then pour ~180ml water into the skillet and cover for about 2 minutes.
To really get the full sandwich experience, toast the English muffin & wrap it up with some aluminum foil while the egg cooks (and after, for a moment).
The SeriousEats approach, in short.
posted by CrystalDave at 1:46 PM on June 2, 2022 [6 favorites]
To really get the full sandwich experience, toast the English muffin & wrap it up with some aluminum foil while the egg cooks (and after, for a moment).
The SeriousEats approach, in short.
posted by CrystalDave at 1:46 PM on June 2, 2022 [6 favorites]
As the great Mitch Hedberg once observed, we did not need to bring ink and paper into this.
posted by bleep at 1:47 PM on June 2, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by bleep at 1:47 PM on June 2, 2022 [10 favorites]
Does someone have a recommendation for some kind of plastic gadget to make English-muffin sized eggs at home?
A well-oiled glass ramekin, with a bit of salt in the bottom. Add whisked egg, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave 30-40 seconds.
Tim’s lattes are okay. I used to work in a building with a Tim’s counter, and I would use the app to put in an order and bypass the 20-person lineup in the morning.
posted by cardboard at 1:47 PM on June 2, 2022
A well-oiled glass ramekin, with a bit of salt in the bottom. Add whisked egg, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave 30-40 seconds.
Tim’s lattes are okay. I used to work in a building with a Tim’s counter, and I would use the app to put in an order and bypass the 20-person lineup in the morning.
posted by cardboard at 1:47 PM on June 2, 2022
Does someone have a recommendation for some kind of plastic gadget to make English-muffin sized eggs at home? Asking for me.
Assuming you’re wanting the Egg McMuffin look, a large cookie/biscuit cutter might work, as long as you’re cooking in a skillet or cooktop.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:48 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Assuming you’re wanting the Egg McMuffin look, a large cookie/biscuit cutter might work, as long as you’re cooking in a skillet or cooktop.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:48 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
janepanic, you want egg rings. I used to have crumpet rings, which also worked. I just fry an egg and fold any loose bits over. Thanks for the reminder; I have the trifecta of Eng. muffins, sausage patties, and farm eggs in my fridge, as well as good mustard. Scooooooore!
posted by theora55 at 1:48 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by theora55 at 1:48 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
Does someone have a recommendation for some kind of plastic gadget to make English-muffin sized eggs at home?
Yes, millions, unless a standard egg ring is the wrong size. In that case, if you have a microwave, find a Tupperware container of the correct diameter and scramble (I hope) your egg(s) in that and nuke for 1min. I used to make a whole bacon egg and cheese muffin in the time it took for the muffin to toast.
posted by rhizome at 1:48 PM on June 2, 2022
Yes, millions, unless a standard egg ring is the wrong size. In that case, if you have a microwave, find a Tupperware container of the correct diameter and scramble (I hope) your egg(s) in that and nuke for 1min. I used to make a whole bacon egg and cheese muffin in the time it took for the muffin to toast.
posted by rhizome at 1:48 PM on June 2, 2022
I have a biscuit cutter!
Thanks all, sorry to have derailed this conversation.
posted by janepanic at 1:53 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
Thanks all, sorry to have derailed this conversation.
posted by janepanic at 1:53 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
Does someone have a recommendation for some kind of plastic gadget to make English-muffin sized eggs at home? Asking for me.
posted by janepanic
I use one of these. With the cover off, of course.
posted by Splunge at 1:59 PM on June 2, 2022
posted by janepanic
I use one of these. With the cover off, of course.
posted by Splunge at 1:59 PM on June 2, 2022
In rural areas, Tim's is also everyone's office. The number of business meetings I've had in one is uncountable
posted by scruss at 2:11 PM on June 2, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by scruss at 2:11 PM on June 2, 2022 [7 favorites]
Try our app, it's exactly like our website and also it tracks you everywhere you go forever but at least it isn't always nagging you to try the app.
posted by mhoye at 2:19 PM on June 2, 2022 [14 favorites]
posted by mhoye at 2:19 PM on June 2, 2022 [14 favorites]
Timmy's opened some stores in Maine, which failed.
some are doing ok in michigan, some have closed - you can get a better cup of coffee at speedway or shell and the donuts are just ok
posted by pyramid termite at 2:21 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
some are doing ok in michigan, some have closed - you can get a better cup of coffee at speedway or shell and the donuts are just ok
posted by pyramid termite at 2:21 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
I used to work in a tiny cramped office where the bathroom was so close to David's desk that using the toilet was almost the same as sitting on David's lap and doing your business on his jeans. When someone did a poo in there the whole staff could hear and smell it, in excruciating detail. So, I visited theTimmy's across the street, every single day, just to spare David the experience. It was always very busy in that Timmy's, so eventually my power move was not to even bother buying anything. I'd just saunter in, bless their john, and saunter back to work.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:22 PM on June 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:22 PM on June 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
We had one at school (University of Michigan) in the student union and the food was honestly pretty good. But that was almost 20 years ago now.
posted by subdee at 2:31 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by subdee at 2:31 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Part of the reason I rarely visit is that Tim’s has made it clear that they are not interested in my business. I don’t refer in the abstract as above to an improvisational menu, but I do not drink coffee, and more than once I have had this sort of conversation as I reached the head of the line:
Staffer: “Next!”
Me: “Hi, I’d like a carrot muffin and an apple juice, please.”
“What kind of coffee?”
“No coffee — just the muffin and the juice.”
*Looks past me* “Next!”
I mean, between the shabby food, the dismal service, the shady business practices, it is a real winner of a store.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:46 PM on June 2, 2022 [4 favorites]
Staffer: “Next!”
Me: “Hi, I’d like a carrot muffin and an apple juice, please.”
“What kind of coffee?”
“No coffee — just the muffin and the juice.”
*Looks past me* “Next!”
I mean, between the shabby food, the dismal service, the shady business practices, it is a real winner of a store.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:46 PM on June 2, 2022 [4 favorites]
Someone set up a franchise agreement and set up a bunch of Tim Hortons locations in Minnesota. They lasted a few years, then all closed down. The nearest one to us as the crow flies appears to be in (checking the map) Fort Frances, ON, just across the border.
The coffee wasn't as great as I remembered it from Canadian excursions. What was really odd was the lack of variety in donuts on sale--and sometimes even the inventory. Like, you're a Tim Hortons, you have three types of donut, and you're running out? Not surprising that they went out of business; my impression was that these were issues with the local franchise rather than the chain as a whole, but I could be persuaded otherwise.
On Canadian trips, TH is a reliable wifi spot, if nothing else.
Remember folks, never install the app.
Also, this. Words to live by.
posted by gimonca at 2:52 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
The coffee wasn't as great as I remembered it from Canadian excursions. What was really odd was the lack of variety in donuts on sale--and sometimes even the inventory. Like, you're a Tim Hortons, you have three types of donut, and you're running out? Not surprising that they went out of business; my impression was that these were issues with the local franchise rather than the chain as a whole, but I could be persuaded otherwise.
On Canadian trips, TH is a reliable wifi spot, if nothing else.
Remember folks, never install the app.
Also, this. Words to live by.
posted by gimonca at 2:52 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
Remember folks, never install the app.Reiterating this, because while it's attractive to dunk on Timmy's, this sort of thing is far from limited to one or two companies.
Why does a coffee shop chain even need to know who their customers are? They don't! I'd bet Canadian dollars to maple syrup donuts this was the idea of the company that created the app for them.If I were a regulator I certainly would be looking next at other apps designed by the same developers.
posted by Nerd of the North at 3:05 PM on June 2, 2022 [9 favorites]
When I worked at the hospital, we had two Tim Horton's in the building and the line ups were always massive because you have a captive audience--despite the auxiliary run caf, which actually had better coffee and for cheaper--and in a stressful time, it's good to have something familiar? My co-workers were devotees of Tim's and I just didn't get it. (Listen, I will order from them if I have no other options but that tends to only happen in very small Ontario towns.)
Also the attempts Tim's makes to be relevant to a younger demographic are sometimes laughably embarrassing. (Lookin' at Justin Bieber Timbits.)
posted by Kitteh at 3:12 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
Also the attempts Tim's makes to be relevant to a younger demographic are sometimes laughably embarrassing. (Lookin' at Justin Bieber Timbits.)
posted by Kitteh at 3:12 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
the last time I entered a TH to order anything was the morning we left Fort McMurray after a 2-day casino shift, some 5-7 years ago. Volunteers who have done casino shifts will know what 2 days of that environment can do to a person.. I am aware of some retirees who enjoy the trip, the hotel room, the experience.. but it is truly soul crushing to be around all that activity, that shitty theft from so many people who are either addicted, bored, or desperate in some way.. the constant lights and background jumble of jingles and noise. it's awful.
the morning we headed out, to catch a bite before the 3 hour return drive, what we got at the TH was so dreadful it made the 2-day casino stint appear positively rosy-hued in the rear-view.
posted by elkevelvet at 3:24 PM on June 2, 2022
the morning we headed out, to catch a bite before the 3 hour return drive, what we got at the TH was so dreadful it made the 2-day casino stint appear positively rosy-hued in the rear-view.
posted by elkevelvet at 3:24 PM on June 2, 2022
Tim's only stays in business because tradespeople need to use a toilet during their workday and buy coffee/food while they're in there, and there's one within a ten minute drive from just about anywhere. I don't know anyone who prefers their product who has a choice about where to pee
Even thought there’s like five Tim’s franchises per square kilometre, there will be a lineup of cars for the drivethru of every one at any time of day. I don’t generally buy their mediocre coffee either, but these people aren’t there for the bathroom.
posted by rodlymight at 3:33 PM on June 2, 2022
Even thought there’s like five Tim’s franchises per square kilometre, there will be a lineup of cars for the drivethru of every one at any time of day. I don’t generally buy their mediocre coffee either, but these people aren’t there for the bathroom.
posted by rodlymight at 3:33 PM on June 2, 2022
I'm about ninety minutes from the Canadian border, and so there are a number of Tim Hortons dotting the area, including one in the local business district. It looks like their traffic comes from the hotel a few doors down and the drive-through? There's actually much better coffee across the street at Wegmans, but that requires getting out of your car; all of the indie coffee shops in the area are clustered together about 1 1/2 miles away, which I guess is also good for TH's business. I've eaten there exactly once--an unimpressive donut--and have not returned. Which ensured that I did not download the app.
posted by thomas j wise at 3:49 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by thomas j wise at 3:49 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
all of you folks dissing Tim Horton's coffee have clearly never had to drink Dunkin Donuts' hot brown crayon sugar water.
I was very underwhelmed the first time I tried Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, but then it all fell into place when the sugar and caffeine high peaked at the same time. When I came to some weeks later, I found myself surrounded by bikes I had disassembled and tools used to steal catalytic converters to fuel further coffee purchases.
posted by vorpal bunny at 4:02 PM on June 2, 2022 [13 favorites]
I was very underwhelmed the first time I tried Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, but then it all fell into place when the sugar and caffeine high peaked at the same time. When I came to some weeks later, I found myself surrounded by bikes I had disassembled and tools used to steal catalytic converters to fuel further coffee purchases.
posted by vorpal bunny at 4:02 PM on June 2, 2022 [13 favorites]
an unimpressive donut
Username up for grabs!
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:23 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
Username up for grabs!
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:23 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
They serve food and coffee in the toilet stalls?
Usually there's a bit of time between the coffee part and the toilet stall part.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:54 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Usually there's a bit of time between the coffee part and the toilet stall part.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:54 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
The thing with Tim's is that it has steeped tea. It's fully brewed, made in big percolator machine things just like the coffee. You walk in, you buy your tea, you leave, you drink your tea. There's no standing awkwardly around the garbage can for a couple minutes after purchasing your tea trying to guess the bare minimum time it has to steep before you can toss the teabag and get out. No accidentally leaving the teabag in too long and having to pretend it's not ass-bitter. No unexpected tea-moisture running up the string of the teabag by capillary action getting your hands and/or cupholder wet. Is it the world's best tea? Of course not. It's like a 4-5/10 and tastes suspiciously like syrup. But I don't know of another fast-food joint -- come to think of it, I don't know of ANY other joint that serves tea this way and allows us tea-drinkers to glimpse the world of sublime simplicity that a coffee-drinker can take for granted.
posted by saturday_morning at 4:59 PM on June 2, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by saturday_morning at 4:59 PM on June 2, 2022 [11 favorites]
What is TH like? Does it compare to any USA chains? Is it more a convenience store like 7/11 (self-serve), or closer to a Starbucks? A Panera?
I've only been to Canada once, and briefly. I do want to go again!
posted by SoberHighland at 5:02 PM on June 2, 2022
I've only been to Canada once, and briefly. I do want to go again!
posted by SoberHighland at 5:02 PM on June 2, 2022
I'm pretty sure the only people who really "like" TH coffee like it because they order "double doubles" and get hooked on the whammy delivered by that much cream and sugar.
I went to a university that had multiple THs around campus and the one in the main student union building invariably had a huge line. Fifty feet away was the student-run coffee place that had far better coffee and rarely ever had a line.
posted by synecdoche at 5:14 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
I went to a university that had multiple THs around campus and the one in the main student union building invariably had a huge line. Fifty feet away was the student-run coffee place that had far better coffee and rarely ever had a line.
posted by synecdoche at 5:14 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
all of you folks dissing Tim Horton's coffee have clearly never had to drink Dunkin Donuts' hot brown crayon sugar water.
It is possible for both things to be awful. I submit we need not turn drinking bad coffee into the new Olympics of suffering.
posted by nickmark at 5:23 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
It is possible for both things to be awful. I submit we need not turn drinking bad coffee into the new Olympics of suffering.
posted by nickmark at 5:23 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Hey, maybe I get to jump in and answer. I've seen a variety of Tim Hortons locations: the one at Toronto airport, one in Winnipeg, a big shiny one in downtown Montréal, an old-school one in Chicoutimi, a mini-location inside a grocery store in Canmore, Alberta. I've had a decent chicken wrap there before. They're mostly coffee and donuts, so they don't "cook" a lot onsite.
Old school TH is wrapped up in midcentury Canadian nostalgia, as people allude to above, maybe. Nowadays it's basic fast food, nothing too elaborate. Panera still has buzzers and brings stuff to your table, right?, so that wouldn't be a good comparison. Closer to McD or Taco Bell, except that you might be pointing at donuts in the glass cabinet. Maybe comparable to Subway, another place that doesn't cook a lot onsite.
Disclaimer: not Canadian myself, this is also a bit of an outsider observation.
posted by gimonca at 5:25 PM on June 2, 2022
Old school TH is wrapped up in midcentury Canadian nostalgia, as people allude to above, maybe. Nowadays it's basic fast food, nothing too elaborate. Panera still has buzzers and brings stuff to your table, right?, so that wouldn't be a good comparison. Closer to McD or Taco Bell, except that you might be pointing at donuts in the glass cabinet. Maybe comparable to Subway, another place that doesn't cook a lot onsite.
Disclaimer: not Canadian myself, this is also a bit of an outsider observation.
posted by gimonca at 5:25 PM on June 2, 2022
I always expect everything awful and shady to come from American companies. But a CANADIAN one doing this?! Mind. Blown.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:29 PM on June 2, 2022
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:29 PM on June 2, 2022
At the location near me, you line up at the counter, order your food and or beverages, and get them on the side. That's pretty typical. You have basic coffee, donuts and other baked goods, and often soups and sandwiches. It's a good bit cheaper than something like Starbucks or an indie coffee shop. Ambiance is lots of brown, brown uniforms, tables with fixed chairs.
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 5:33 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Monday, stony Monday at 5:33 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
It's just so Horton knows where to send the outlet pass.
posted by goatdog at 5:34 PM on June 2, 2022
posted by goatdog at 5:34 PM on June 2, 2022
If you think this is bad, wait until you hear about Canadian Tire Crypto.
Or the population pacifying psychotropic mind control drugs in Swiss Chalet dipping sauce.
Never install the app.
posted by bartleby at 5:38 PM on June 2, 2022 [4 favorites]
Or the population pacifying psychotropic mind control drugs in Swiss Chalet dipping sauce.
Never install the app.
posted by bartleby at 5:38 PM on June 2, 2022 [4 favorites]
So they were collecting TimBytes?
posted by stevis23 at 5:49 PM on June 2, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by stevis23 at 5:49 PM on June 2, 2022 [10 favorites]
I'm pretty sure the only people who really "like" TH coffee like it because they order "double doubles" and get hooked on the whammy delivered by that much cream and sugar.
My retirement age hospital co-worker ordered at least a minimum of three extra large triple triples over the course of his 12 hour shift. Often purchased to go with his smoke breaks.
posted by Kitteh at 5:56 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
My retirement age hospital co-worker ordered at least a minimum of three extra large triple triples over the course of his 12 hour shift. Often purchased to go with his smoke breaks.
posted by Kitteh at 5:56 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
> The number of business meetings I've had in one is uncountable
Dammit. If only we had an app to count the sum of our visits.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 6:02 PM on June 2, 2022
Dammit. If only we had an app to count the sum of our visits.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 6:02 PM on June 2, 2022
Does someone have a recommendation for some kind of plastic gadget to make English-muffin sized eggs at home?
You Suck at Cooking shows you how, either by advanced geometric wangjangulation, or by using a Mason jar lid.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:12 PM on June 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
You Suck at Cooking shows you how, either by advanced geometric wangjangulation, or by using a Mason jar lid.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:12 PM on June 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
> there will be a lineup of cars for the drivethru of every one at any time of day
do Canadians do the (to my eyes) recent American innovation where, if the drivethru line becomes long enough, they will just let it snake right out into the fucking road and block traffic for as long as it takes to get a coffee or whatever, as if that's a perfectly sane and natural thing to be doing?
posted by glonous keming at 6:19 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
do Canadians do the (to my eyes) recent American innovation where, if the drivethru line becomes long enough, they will just let it snake right out into the fucking road and block traffic for as long as it takes to get a coffee or whatever, as if that's a perfectly sane and natural thing to be doing?
posted by glonous keming at 6:19 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
"You Suck at Cooking shows you how"
HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS.
I'm still cackling.
The best.
Thank you!
posted by Hairy Lobster at 6:25 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS.
I'm still cackling.
The best.
Thank you!
posted by Hairy Lobster at 6:25 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
'm pretty sure the only people who really "like" TH coffee like it because they order "double doubles" and get hooked on the whammy delivered by that much cream and sugar.
You say that like it's an incredibly delicious thing. * Hey Siri, what's the shortest flight to Canada? *
posted by kirkaracha at 6:34 PM on June 2, 2022
You say that like it's an incredibly delicious thing. * Hey Siri, what's the shortest flight to Canada? *
posted by kirkaracha at 6:34 PM on June 2, 2022
Tim's only stays in business because tradespeople need to use a toilet during their workday and buy coffee/food while they're in there, and there's one within a ten minute drive from just about anywhere. I don't know anyone who prefers their product who has a choice about where to pee.
They are also a reliable source of decaffeinated coffee. I had to go off caffeine in the last year and I never know if a nicer coffee shop will have decaf. Usually, if they do, it's decaf espresso and I have to pay extra for an Americano - and I don't like Americanos, I like brewed coffee, so I really resent paying more money for a worse drink.
They are also a reliable place for a simple snack/breakfast (bagel and cream cheese). It's the same appeal of McDonalds or Wendy's or any chain: it's not great, but you know what you can get and don't have to decipher a new menu or order something and find out it's three times as much as you expected.
posted by jb at 6:36 PM on June 2, 2022
They are also a reliable source of decaffeinated coffee. I had to go off caffeine in the last year and I never know if a nicer coffee shop will have decaf. Usually, if they do, it's decaf espresso and I have to pay extra for an Americano - and I don't like Americanos, I like brewed coffee, so I really resent paying more money for a worse drink.
They are also a reliable place for a simple snack/breakfast (bagel and cream cheese). It's the same appeal of McDonalds or Wendy's or any chain: it's not great, but you know what you can get and don't have to decipher a new menu or order something and find out it's three times as much as you expected.
posted by jb at 6:36 PM on June 2, 2022
If anyone wants to creep on Tim Hortons (in a sense) there is a part of the GeoGuessr (the game where you're given a random StreetView location and have to guess where in the world it is) where you have to figure out where the presented Tim Hortons is (note that you need an account but GeoGuessr is super fun).
posted by urbanlenny at 6:53 PM on June 2, 2022
posted by urbanlenny at 6:53 PM on June 2, 2022
do Canadians do the (to my eyes) recent American innovation where, if the drivethru line becomes long enough, they will just let it snake right out into the fucking road and block traffic for as long as it takes to get a coffee or whatever, as if that's a perfectly sane and natural thing to be doing?
Yes. Birchmount and Ellesmere in Scarborough, almost every day.
posted by warriorqueen at 7:06 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
Yes. Birchmount and Ellesmere in Scarborough, almost every day.
posted by warriorqueen at 7:06 PM on June 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
I'm pretty sure the only people who really "like" TH coffee like it because they order "double doubles" and get hooked on the whammy delivered by that much cream and sugar.
Don't forget that Tim's is often used as a political prop for various nationalistic displays during elections. As a celiac (though I wasn't always one) and a tea snob (probably always was) I don't go into Tim's for anything other than the bathroom anymore. Though based on these comments I'm impressed that people here find the bathrooms are usable. In my experience, the men's rooms almost always have a nice layer of urine on the floor.
if I wanted the donuts with toasted coconut, I had to go to the one at Laurier and Metcalfe
These were my favourite in my pre-celiac days but they were as rare as hen's teeth. For us it was the one on the outskirts of Guelph that had them. I always wondered what the deal was with that.
Side note - Anyone ever drink Tim Horton's Buffalo Wings Coffee? Was that even a real thing?
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:13 PM on June 2, 2022
Don't forget that Tim's is often used as a political prop for various nationalistic displays during elections. As a celiac (though I wasn't always one) and a tea snob (probably always was) I don't go into Tim's for anything other than the bathroom anymore. Though based on these comments I'm impressed that people here find the bathrooms are usable. In my experience, the men's rooms almost always have a nice layer of urine on the floor.
if I wanted the donuts with toasted coconut, I had to go to the one at Laurier and Metcalfe
These were my favourite in my pre-celiac days but they were as rare as hen's teeth. For us it was the one on the outskirts of Guelph that had them. I always wondered what the deal was with that.
Side note - Anyone ever drink Tim Horton's Buffalo Wings Coffee? Was that even a real thing?
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:13 PM on June 2, 2022
The trick to getting half-decent coffee at Tim’s is to order an Americano. They’re actually almost good.
posted by oulipian at 7:33 PM on June 2, 2022
posted by oulipian at 7:33 PM on June 2, 2022
I made it a point to stop at a Tim Horton's once during their brief foray into Rhode Island (after they acquired Bess Eaton and before they pulled up stakes) and I was unimpressed.
Dunkin' Donuts is just so overwhelmingly predominant here that almost anything else is automatically better and yet Tim Horton's somehow found a way to be just as mediocre but with a smaller selection.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:41 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Dunkin' Donuts is just so overwhelmingly predominant here that almost anything else is automatically better and yet Tim Horton's somehow found a way to be just as mediocre but with a smaller selection.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 7:41 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
I don’t know how to reconcile the high probability the nearly everyone who goes to the Tim Horton’s in my area very likely holds the belief that “the government” was somehow vaguely tracking them using COVID vaccine passports, while it’s actually Tim Horton’s itself that is literally tracking them.
posted by Verg at 8:03 PM on June 2, 2022 [21 favorites]
posted by Verg at 8:03 PM on June 2, 2022 [21 favorites]
Ambiance is lots of brown, brown uniforms, tables with fixed chairs.
To me the most distinct thing about them (admittedly, I am not sure I have been in more than one in the last two years) is the way they are fully of busyness. A typical scene when I have been there is maybe three customers in a line and about nine people behind the counter, running about with all shirt-tails flying, tending to fourteen machines that take up all the counter space*. There are espresso machines and frozen yogurt machines and juice dispensers and all manner of apparatuses that do I know not what, but they all require constant monitoring and adjustments, it seems.
*Seriously, I recall the seventies and eighties when they actually had counter space. Now there is a little elevated platform about the size of a tablet that they place your order on and you take it from there.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:14 PM on June 2, 2022
To me the most distinct thing about them (admittedly, I am not sure I have been in more than one in the last two years) is the way they are fully of busyness. A typical scene when I have been there is maybe three customers in a line and about nine people behind the counter, running about with all shirt-tails flying, tending to fourteen machines that take up all the counter space*. There are espresso machines and frozen yogurt machines and juice dispensers and all manner of apparatuses that do I know not what, but they all require constant monitoring and adjustments, it seems.
*Seriously, I recall the seventies and eighties when they actually had counter space. Now there is a little elevated platform about the size of a tablet that they place your order on and you take it from there.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:14 PM on June 2, 2022
Tim's hot chocolate gives me painful gas. I otherwise have an iron constitution. That is all I have to say about that.
posted by klanawa at 8:16 PM on June 2, 2022
posted by klanawa at 8:16 PM on June 2, 2022
As a kid up north it was the next best thing to Buns Master. I loved getting pumpkin tarts any time of year and the crullers were sublime. Now it's brown sludge and airplane food.
I would still go if it were anything like it used to be. Hell, I'd put up with the smoking.
posted by Evstar at 8:34 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
I would still go if it were anything like it used to be. Hell, I'd put up with the smoking.
posted by Evstar at 8:34 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Timmy drinkers are all just Moronic Zombies that voted back the Conservative government in Ontario that ruined healthcare and everything during the Covid crisis. They're all fucking Zombies! What the fuck is wrong with you people?
posted by ovvl at 9:00 PM on June 2, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by ovvl at 9:00 PM on June 2, 2022 [6 favorites]
Timmy drinkers are all just Moronic Zombies that voted back the Conservative government in Ontario that ruined healthcare and everything during the Covid crisis. They're all fucking Zombies! What the fuck is wrong with you people?
Just remember, before you ever see them coming, you'll always hear their blood-curdling chant: DoubleDouble DoubleDouble...
posted by fairmettle at 9:55 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
Just remember, before you ever see them coming, you'll always hear their blood-curdling chant: DoubleDouble DoubleDouble...
posted by fairmettle at 9:55 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
Canadian here. Tim Horton's is complete shit, but convenient for a road trip or hangover. Otherwise, fucking really, Tim Hortons?!
posted by neon909 at 9:58 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by neon909 at 9:58 PM on June 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Evstar: As a kid up north, it was the next best thing to Buns Master.
BUNS MASTER oh my god I have not thought about them for years. My aunt used to buy me cheese sticks when she’d take me there to get her bread.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:18 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
BUNS MASTER oh my god I have not thought about them for years. My aunt used to buy me cheese sticks when she’d take me there to get her bread.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:18 PM on June 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
One other thing I'll note about Tim's: I am originally from BC and maybe things have changed but it was not nearly as ubiquitous out there. I think the town I grew up in—75000 people or so—had maybe two Tim Hortons. We moved to the Lower Mainland later and the nearest one in the suburb we lived in was a 15 or 20 minute drive away. But there were lots of other coffee shops—many different chains, large and small, and also independent outfits.
At one point, relatives from Ontario visited and were just aghast at this fact and every morning they'd drive there to get their coffee.
"We have coffee here," we'd say. "Gotta get my Timmy's."
"There's another coffee shop down the street," we'd say. "Gotta get my Timmy's."
And then later I moved to Ontario and yes, people line up down the street, blocking traffic, to order drive-through sludge. In my neighbourhood there used to be a TH and a Starbucks but the Starbucks shut down. Now I have to drive 15 minutes to get anything but Tim Hortons coffee.
I do not understand. And I don't understand how it became this strange nationalistic symbol, either.
(I also do not understand Ontario's obsession with Swiss Chalet.)
posted by synecdoche at 3:41 AM on June 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
At one point, relatives from Ontario visited and were just aghast at this fact and every morning they'd drive there to get their coffee.
"We have coffee here," we'd say. "Gotta get my Timmy's."
"There's another coffee shop down the street," we'd say. "Gotta get my Timmy's."
And then later I moved to Ontario and yes, people line up down the street, blocking traffic, to order drive-through sludge. In my neighbourhood there used to be a TH and a Starbucks but the Starbucks shut down. Now I have to drive 15 minutes to get anything but Tim Hortons coffee.
I do not understand. And I don't understand how it became this strange nationalistic symbol, either.
(I also do not understand Ontario's obsession with Swiss Chalet.)
posted by synecdoche at 3:41 AM on June 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
These apps are ubiquitous and pernicious as they usually offer some slight benefit from using them, if only cashless convenience, as the Tims one does. Starbucks, Second Cup, McDs at least all have them in Canada and push them at you relentlessly at the point of sale.
Fortunately, with chipped credit and debit cards, there's a better alternative for contactless payment that doesn't come with active tracking. And at least you can put those in a RFID blocking wallet when not in use--no need to trust that they aren't simply through good will. My bank even gives their cards out with blocking paper sleeves. That does mean you need a wallet instead of just a phone, so it is a little less convenient, but I'm enough of a dinosaur to prefer that I guess.
posted by bonehead at 5:03 AM on June 3, 2022
Fortunately, with chipped credit and debit cards, there's a better alternative for contactless payment that doesn't come with active tracking. And at least you can put those in a RFID blocking wallet when not in use--no need to trust that they aren't simply through good will. My bank even gives their cards out with blocking paper sleeves. That does mean you need a wallet instead of just a phone, so it is a little less convenient, but I'm enough of a dinosaur to prefer that I guess.
posted by bonehead at 5:03 AM on June 3, 2022
I guess one point to make here, and the reason this is so bad is the extent to which the pandemic made Canada almost entirely cashless. I haven't seen anyone use cash for more than two years now. The expectation is that you'll pay with a chipped card or by using an nft-enabled phone or, like the Tims app, show a QR code on the screen to a reader. Cash is very much socially unacceptable now, especially given that it requires physical interaction. Most stores still have some sort of system separating the register person from the customers.
posted by bonehead at 5:40 AM on June 3, 2022
posted by bonehead at 5:40 AM on June 3, 2022
And then later I moved to Ontario and yes, people line up down the street, blocking traffic, to order drive-through sludge.
They had to close/move a Timmies near where I used to work in Toronto, which was on Sheppard Avenue quite close to the 401/404/DCP interchange. During morning rush hour people were lining up for the drive-thru and the line was extending back onto the off-ramp from the DVP/404, which was tying up traffic on those highways and, in turn, tying up traffic on the 401.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:49 AM on June 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
They had to close/move a Timmies near where I used to work in Toronto, which was on Sheppard Avenue quite close to the 401/404/DCP interchange. During morning rush hour people were lining up for the drive-thru and the line was extending back onto the off-ramp from the DVP/404, which was tying up traffic on those highways and, in turn, tying up traffic on the 401.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:49 AM on June 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
I haven't seen anyone use cash for more than two years now... Cash is very much socially unacceptable now, especially given that it requires physical interaction.
This is one of those times when I become aware that we have some mefites posting from all over the multiverse.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:58 AM on June 3, 2022 [7 favorites]
This is one of those times when I become aware that we have some mefites posting from all over the multiverse.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:58 AM on June 3, 2022 [7 favorites]
One other thing I'll note about Tim's: I am originally from BC and maybe things have changed but it was not nearly as ubiquitous out there.
Yeah, things have changed, though I don't think it has quite the stranglehold out there even so. I grew up in the Lower Mainland (Cloverdale) and the closest Tim Hortons was on the Fraser Highway in Langley. We rarely went, but when we did it was a treat - their apple fritters were my favourite; my dad liked the long johns. At one point I lived for their onion bagel. Even until the mid-00s there was only one Tim Hortons in Vancouver itself, which shared a space with a Wendy's on Alberni Street. Now I count 17 in Vancouver and Cloverdale has at least three of its very own.
I now live in Ottawa and I really don't like TH coffee, though at times I have worked with the kind of people who do. I once got a ride to a work retreat with a couple of colleagues and they insisted upon stopping at TH on the way there and thought it was completely normal to wait in a giant drive thru line up rather than park and go to the COMPLETELY EMPTY inside to order their coffee. My brain nearly exploded.
posted by urbanlenny at 5:58 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Yeah, things have changed, though I don't think it has quite the stranglehold out there even so. I grew up in the Lower Mainland (Cloverdale) and the closest Tim Hortons was on the Fraser Highway in Langley. We rarely went, but when we did it was a treat - their apple fritters were my favourite; my dad liked the long johns. At one point I lived for their onion bagel. Even until the mid-00s there was only one Tim Hortons in Vancouver itself, which shared a space with a Wendy's on Alberni Street. Now I count 17 in Vancouver and Cloverdale has at least three of its very own.
I now live in Ottawa and I really don't like TH coffee, though at times I have worked with the kind of people who do. I once got a ride to a work retreat with a couple of colleagues and they insisted upon stopping at TH on the way there and thought it was completely normal to wait in a giant drive thru line up rather than park and go to the COMPLETELY EMPTY inside to order their coffee. My brain nearly exploded.
posted by urbanlenny at 5:58 AM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
A lot of people will tell stories where they think the phone showed them targeted ads based on something they were talking about, but I keep suspecting it's location-based stuff like this.
Hasn't been Tim Hortons been pushing the app to replace the "roll up the rim" stuff?
posted by RobotHero at 6:35 AM on June 3, 2022
Hasn't been Tim Hortons been pushing the app to replace the "roll up the rim" stuff?
posted by RobotHero at 6:35 AM on June 3, 2022
On Canadian trips, TH is a reliable wifi spot, if nothing else.
One thing we do use Tims for, at least indirectly, is what my wife and I have come to call the Timmy's Floor. When you're travelling, it's hard to know how seriously to take rating systems on all those "where to eat" apps. The rating of the local Tim's is a useful calibration for barely acceptable food and service on Trip Advisor or Google Maps or whatever. If Tims is 3.2 stars, then we know that 4.1 star place probably isn't a bad bet. But if the local Tims is 3.8 stars and everything else is kind of the same, well, we might not stop at all.
In the US we use McDs the same way.
posted by bonehead at 6:42 AM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
One thing we do use Tims for, at least indirectly, is what my wife and I have come to call the Timmy's Floor. When you're travelling, it's hard to know how seriously to take rating systems on all those "where to eat" apps. The rating of the local Tim's is a useful calibration for barely acceptable food and service on Trip Advisor or Google Maps or whatever. If Tims is 3.2 stars, then we know that 4.1 star place probably isn't a bad bet. But if the local Tims is 3.8 stars and everything else is kind of the same, well, we might not stop at all.
In the US we use McDs the same way.
posted by bonehead at 6:42 AM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
I go to Tim Hortons fairly regularly. Their steeped tea is fantastic, and a major draw for me. I drink a lot more tea than coffee. Their coffee is fine as long as you avoid their gut-rot "dark roast". I drink it black. I like their chili. There is certainly better coffee and worse coffee, but Tim's is cheap and drinkable, which is often good enough. And that is the thing about Tim Hortons. Sure, it is not fancy fantastic food, and everytime they try going fancy they fall flat on their faces. They do basic sandwiches fine, and on the road when the choice is a burger or something else greasy or a sandwich at Tim Hortons, that sandwich starts sounding really good.
Tim's doughnuts really did go downhill when they stopped baking them in-store, but there is little choice in doughnut places anymore. Most of their rivals are gone. In my neighbourhood we have a fancy fresh-made local doughnut place and a Tim Hortons within a block of each other. I often end up getting doughnuts at Tim's even though I much prefer the fancy place but the fancy place opens at 9:00 and closes at 5:00, so they are usually closed when I want to get a doughnut.
So there you go. Tim's is cheap, convenient, and perfectly fine in a meets minimum expectations way (except their steeped tea -- that is genuinely good), and one of the few fast-food choices that is not fried salted grease chunks covered in salt and more grease.
Canadians seem to either weirdly love Tim Hortons (my in-laws decorate their Christmas tree in Tim Hortons ornaments and use Tim Hortons coffee mugs and coffee blend at home) or love to drone on and on about just how awful it is how could anyone actually eat there I haven't been there in years what horrible coffee they have the doughnuts used to be so much better just pay 10x more and get good coffee and food at the artesian local coffee shop blah blah blah
posted by fimbulvetr at 7:03 AM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
Tim's doughnuts really did go downhill when they stopped baking them in-store, but there is little choice in doughnut places anymore. Most of their rivals are gone. In my neighbourhood we have a fancy fresh-made local doughnut place and a Tim Hortons within a block of each other. I often end up getting doughnuts at Tim's even though I much prefer the fancy place but the fancy place opens at 9:00 and closes at 5:00, so they are usually closed when I want to get a doughnut.
So there you go. Tim's is cheap, convenient, and perfectly fine in a meets minimum expectations way (except their steeped tea -- that is genuinely good), and one of the few fast-food choices that is not fried salted grease chunks covered in salt and more grease.
Canadians seem to either weirdly love Tim Hortons (my in-laws decorate their Christmas tree in Tim Hortons ornaments and use Tim Hortons coffee mugs and coffee blend at home) or love to drone on and on about just how awful it is how could anyone actually eat there I haven't been there in years what horrible coffee they have the doughnuts used to be so much better just pay 10x more and get good coffee and food at the artesian local coffee shop blah blah blah
posted by fimbulvetr at 7:03 AM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
my in-laws decorate their Christmas tree in Tim Hortons ornaments and use Tim Hortons coffee mugs and coffee blend at home
A number of years ago, when I worked there, they had a promotion where they were selling coffee makers. Not the commercial ones, but just your standard consumer-level drip coffee maker with Tim's branding. Multiple people bought these with whole cases of the coffee packets we used in-store, as opposed to the cans/packets specifically sold for home use. These were actually in the POS system, so clearly it wasn't an unusual thing. But the one customer that really stood out was the one who insisted on buying an entire case of Tim's bottled water along with it. (Which, to be clear, definitely isn't what stores make the coffee with.)
posted by quizzical at 7:25 AM on June 3, 2022
A number of years ago, when I worked there, they had a promotion where they were selling coffee makers. Not the commercial ones, but just your standard consumer-level drip coffee maker with Tim's branding. Multiple people bought these with whole cases of the coffee packets we used in-store, as opposed to the cans/packets specifically sold for home use. These were actually in the POS system, so clearly it wasn't an unusual thing. But the one customer that really stood out was the one who insisted on buying an entire case of Tim's bottled water along with it. (Which, to be clear, definitely isn't what stores make the coffee with.)
posted by quizzical at 7:25 AM on June 3, 2022
I wish people would stop assuming that all Canadians like Tim Hortons. My favorite Canadian coffee chain is Second Cup.
posted by 3j0hn at 8:25 AM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by 3j0hn at 8:25 AM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
Tim's doughnuts really did go downhill when they stopped baking them in-store, but there is little choice in doughnut places anymore.
Anyone sympathetic to this view and who happens to find themselves in Southern Ontario: I cannot recommend Grandad’s Donuts on James Street North in Hamilton enough. It was started by a former baker at Tim Hortons who grew increasingly dissatisfied with the low quality product he was asked to turn out, so he departed and kept the faith (and possibly the recipes).
The first time I had a donut from Grandad’s, it was like I was tasting 1975 again (less the cigarette smoke, of course).
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:45 AM on June 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
Anyone sympathetic to this view and who happens to find themselves in Southern Ontario: I cannot recommend Grandad’s Donuts on James Street North in Hamilton enough. It was started by a former baker at Tim Hortons who grew increasingly dissatisfied with the low quality product he was asked to turn out, so he departed and kept the faith (and possibly the recipes).
The first time I had a donut from Grandad’s, it was like I was tasting 1975 again (less the cigarette smoke, of course).
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:45 AM on June 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
I will concede that Tim's steeped tea is excellent.
Does anyone remember their disastrous attempt at garlic bread? Smelled and tasted like diesel fuel.
if I wanted the donuts with toasted coconut, I had to go to the one at Laurier and Metcalfe
I loathe coconut, and used to get very annoyed that Timbits were always tainted with it. But that was 10 years ago and in Atlantic Canada. Toasted coconut is very popular back home and lurking in almost every dessert square. I've even been tricked by chocolate chip cookies that had coconut in them.
Re: Swiss Chalet. I could literally drink Swiss Chalet sauce, heartburn be damned. I understand SC isn't technically good but I love it all the same. And Saint Hubert.
posted by Stoof at 9:58 AM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
Does anyone remember their disastrous attempt at garlic bread? Smelled and tasted like diesel fuel.
if I wanted the donuts with toasted coconut, I had to go to the one at Laurier and Metcalfe
I loathe coconut, and used to get very annoyed that Timbits were always tainted with it. But that was 10 years ago and in Atlantic Canada. Toasted coconut is very popular back home and lurking in almost every dessert square. I've even been tricked by chocolate chip cookies that had coconut in them.
Re: Swiss Chalet. I could literally drink Swiss Chalet sauce, heartburn be damned. I understand SC isn't technically good but I love it all the same. And Saint Hubert.
posted by Stoof at 9:58 AM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
PS: My step-sister used to work at Swiss Chalet and a guy used to come in and order a plate of chicken skins. I think about him every now and then.
posted by Stoof at 10:00 AM on June 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Stoof at 10:00 AM on June 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
I’ve been that guy once. Just once though. I asked if they had any extra skin, and the waiter brought it out on a little bread plate. I like chalet sauce, but the skin is the real draw for me. It’s just festooned with clusters of the seasoning and chicken fat that are like umami bombs exploding in your mouth.
posted by wabbittwax at 11:46 AM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by wabbittwax at 11:46 AM on June 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
Something I've found interesting is how important Tim Horton's locations are to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, as places to hang out and socialize.
The appeal is that these places:
- are cheap (Ontario Disability Support Program payments ... aren't lavish; am assuming this is comparable in other provinces and territories)
- the staff don't tend to kick people out in a hurry from the tables
- the stores are very well-lighted (which can be very helpful when communicating in sign language)
posted by The Outsider at 12:43 PM on June 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
The appeal is that these places:
- are cheap (Ontario Disability Support Program payments ... aren't lavish; am assuming this is comparable in other provinces and territories)
- the staff don't tend to kick people out in a hurry from the tables
- the stores are very well-lighted (which can be very helpful when communicating in sign language)
posted by The Outsider at 12:43 PM on June 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
It can be used to make deductions about religious beliefs, sexual preferences, social political affiliations and more.
Inferences not deductions. Highly probable inferences but not deduction.
Something I've found interesting is how important Tim Horton's locations are to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, as places to hang out and socialize.
They, like McDonalds, are also good for elderly people with the onset of dementia because they are all so similar the dementia sufferers tend already have really well established fixed action patterns for them.
posted by srboisvert at 3:19 PM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Inferences not deductions. Highly probable inferences but not deduction.
Something I've found interesting is how important Tim Horton's locations are to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, as places to hang out and socialize.
They, like McDonalds, are also good for elderly people with the onset of dementia because they are all so similar the dementia sufferers tend already have really well established fixed action patterns for them.
posted by srboisvert at 3:19 PM on June 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Re: Swiss Chalet. I could literally drink Swiss Chalet sauce, heartburn be damned. I understand SC isn't technically good but I love it all the same.
I always ordered extra and would put the crumbly bits of fries in it and I called my creation Chalet Fry Soup (I also rename Ruffles Potato Chips to Ondule Salad so I can feel better about my diet).
posted by srboisvert at 3:26 PM on June 3, 2022
I always ordered extra and would put the crumbly bits of fries in it and I called my creation Chalet Fry Soup (I also rename Ruffles Potato Chips to Ondule Salad so I can feel better about my diet).
posted by srboisvert at 3:26 PM on June 3, 2022
I guess one point to make here, and the reason this is so bad is the extent to which the pandemic made Canada almost entirely cashless.
It wasn't the pandemic. Canada was incredibly cashless long before the pandemic. We were the top adopters of debit cards when they initially rolled out and were already the leading cashless economy. What the pandemic did was shift a lot of transactions from physical card present to contactless internet/app purchasing.
posted by srboisvert at 3:38 PM on June 3, 2022
It wasn't the pandemic. Canada was incredibly cashless long before the pandemic. We were the top adopters of debit cards when they initially rolled out and were already the leading cashless economy. What the pandemic did was shift a lot of transactions from physical card present to contactless internet/app purchasing.
posted by srboisvert at 3:38 PM on June 3, 2022
We were the top adopters of debit cards when they initially rolled out and were already the leading cashless economy.
We were such enthusiastic adopters because we had an entirely separate and longstanding system for it - Interac - which basically underpins our entire digital banking system. It's a different system from the debit systems, which operates on credit card networks. In my day we used to call it Interac rather than debit *shakes cane*.
Re: Swiss Chalet. I could literally drink Swiss Chalet sauce, heartburn be damned. I understand SC isn't technically good but I love it all the same. And Saint Hubert.
I believe liking both Swiss Chalet and Saint Hubert is technically illegal unless you're from New Brunswick.
posted by urbanlenny at 7:24 PM on June 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
We were such enthusiastic adopters because we had an entirely separate and longstanding system for it - Interac - which basically underpins our entire digital banking system. It's a different system from the debit systems, which operates on credit card networks. In my day we used to call it Interac rather than debit *shakes cane*.
Re: Swiss Chalet. I could literally drink Swiss Chalet sauce, heartburn be damned. I understand SC isn't technically good but I love it all the same. And Saint Hubert.
I believe liking both Swiss Chalet and Saint Hubert is technically illegal unless you're from New Brunswick.
posted by urbanlenny at 7:24 PM on June 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
→
That's the magic. A double double is perfectly taste-matched to a dart, in that they are both like death but get you through winter in Canada. I tried the local favourite 4x4 (yep, quadruple sugar, quadruple cream) once and could hear colours for a few hours.
→
That's just the most annoying entryway. Close to the former only (and greatly missed by us) Robin's Donuts in Ontario south of Thunder Bay. The Tim's at Lawrence E & Curlew can get nastily snarled too, and all at the wrong time of day for DVP traffic
→
Yes. You can't participate without the app. Much to the annoyance of the company that made the rim unroller device, and to my retired packaging engineer paranoid stoner friend who "saved Roll Up The Rim" after its first launch by developing a random cup sorter/packer. I miss the physical event, as it was always a harbinger of winter beginning to end.
Everything I've ever really liked at Tim's has been cancelled or cost-reduced so badly that it's inedible. Beef stew in a bread bowl? Gone. Turkey melts with actual meat? Replaced by the cheapest plastic "meat".
I would like it known that chalet sauce tastes like gasoline, and I mean that in a bad way. While we'll occasionally hit the wilted chicken shack, we pine for St Hubert. If we want real chicken, we go for churrasco.
posted by scruss at 7:30 PM on June 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
three extra large triple triples ... to go with his smoke breaks
That's the magic. A double double is perfectly taste-matched to a dart, in that they are both like death but get you through winter in Canada. I tried the local favourite 4x4 (yep, quadruple sugar, quadruple cream) once and could hear colours for a few hours.
→
Birchmount and Ellesmere in Scarborough
That's just the most annoying entryway. Close to the former only (and greatly missed by us) Robin's Donuts in Ontario south of Thunder Bay. The Tim's at Lawrence E & Curlew can get nastily snarled too, and all at the wrong time of day for DVP traffic
→
Hasn't been Tim Hortons been pushing the app to replace the "roll up the rim" stuff?
Yes. You can't participate without the app. Much to the annoyance of the company that made the rim unroller device, and to my retired packaging engineer paranoid stoner friend who "saved Roll Up The Rim" after its first launch by developing a random cup sorter/packer. I miss the physical event, as it was always a harbinger of winter beginning to end.
Everything I've ever really liked at Tim's has been cancelled or cost-reduced so badly that it's inedible. Beef stew in a bread bowl? Gone. Turkey melts with actual meat? Replaced by the cheapest plastic "meat".
I would like it known that chalet sauce tastes like gasoline, and I mean that in a bad way. While we'll occasionally hit the wilted chicken shack, we pine for St Hubert. If we want real chicken, we go for churrasco.
posted by scruss at 7:30 PM on June 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
do Canadians do the (to my eyes) recent American innovation where, if the drivethru line becomes long enough, they will just let it snake right out into the fucking road and block traffic for as long as it takes to get a coffee or whatever, as if that's a perfectly sane and natural thing to be doing?
The Esso station at Sheppard Avenue East and Markham Road in Scarborough presents a perfect storm of Tim Hortons drive-through, almost no parking, and that's where the taxi drivers go to get fuel.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 9:45 AM on June 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
The Esso station at Sheppard Avenue East and Markham Road in Scarborough presents a perfect storm of Tim Hortons drive-through, almost no parking, and that's where the taxi drivers go to get fuel.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 9:45 AM on June 10, 2022 [2 favorites]
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