Tim Hortons Brand Check-up: Repairs Made, Momentum Fading
Burger King agreed to buy Tim Hortons, the biggest seller of coffee and doughnuts in Canada, in 2014. Since then it has faced franchisee lawsuits, fallen in reputation rankings, drawn a privacy finding against its app and rebuilt its sales. It has no shares of its own. Its parent, Restaurant Brands International (RBI), closed at US$73.99 on the NYSE on October 27, 2026. We look at where the brand stands.
Key takeaways
- RBI shares closed at US$73.99 on the NYSE on October 27, 2026, up 9.8% from a year earlier and 10.6% below their record close of US$82.75 on March 13, 2024.
- Tim Hortons Canada comparable sales growth slowed from 4.3% in 2024 to 2.8% in 2025 and 0.1% in the second quarter of 2026, a slowdown RBI’s CEO linked to a marketing calendar that fell short, according to Retail Insider.
- Franchisee lawsuits filed in 2017 led to a proposed settlement in 2019, after Tim Hortons fell from 4th to 50th in Leger’s 2018 corporate reputation study.
- In 2022, four privacy authorities found that the Tim Hortons app had tracked users’ locations every few minutes, even when it was not open.
Download the full Tim Hortons Brand Check-up (PDF): vital signs, timeline, diagnosis, treatment and sources.
Vital signs
Tim Hortons has no shares of its own. Share figures here are for its parent, Restaurant Brands International (QSR), on the NYSE in U.S. dollars. RBI, which also owns Burger King, closed at $73.99 on October 27, 2026, up 9.8% from $67.37 a year earlier and 10.6% below its record close of $82.75 on March 13, 2024.
In 2025, RBI’s revenue was US$9.43 billion. Its Tim Hortons segment (Canada and the U.S.) had system-wide sales of US$7.57 billion, up 3.0% in constant currency, and revenue of US$4.25 billion. Canadian comparable sales rose 2.8%, after 4.3% in 2024. In the second quarter of 2026 they rose 0.1%, against 3.6% a year earlier.
A Canadian chain inside a global group
In August 2014, Burger King agreed to buy Tim Hortons for about US$11.4 billion, with 3G Capital set to hold about 51% of the new company. Tim Hortons CEO Marc Caira said that “Tim Hortons will still be Tim Hortons following this transaction.” The deal closed on December 12, 2014. Placing a national icon inside a portfolio is a brand architecture decision: it sets who the brand answers to.
Owner and franchisees at odds
In 2017, a group of franchisees formed the Great White North Franchisee Association. In June, a Toronto franchisee sued Tim Hortons and RBI in a Canadian court, seeking $500 million in damages. The suit alleged that after RBI took over, money was diverted from the advertising fund. Tim Hortons said: “We vehemently disagree with and deny all the allegations that have been made about our business and the brand.”
Rankings fell. In April 2018, Leger’s corporate reputation study ranked Tim Hortons 50th, down from 4th a year earlier. In May 2018, the Reputation Institute ranked it 67th of 250 companies, down from 13th. The Canadian Press noted that the drop followed a public dispute between RBI and the franchisee association. In March 2019 the two sides signed a proposed settlement, after a term sheet that included $10 million over two years for local advertising; the franchisee advisory board would review advertising fund spending.
The 2022 privacy finding
On June 1, 2022, Canada’s federal privacy commissioner and the privacy authorities of Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta found that the Tim Hortons app had violated privacy laws. It recorded users’ movements every few minutes, even when the app was not open, and inferred where they lived and worked. B.C. commissioner Michael McEvoy said “you can’t spy on your customers just because it fits in your marketing strategy.” Tim Hortons agreed to delete remaining location data and set up a privacy management program. A loyalty app is part of a customer retention strategy, and it works only if customers trust what it collects.
Recovery, then a slowdown
CNBC reported that sales and traffic were stagnating before the pandemic as Canadians chose Starbucks or McDonald’s for coffee. Canadian same-store sales fell 16.5% in 2020 and rose 10.8% in 2021, and executives set out a back-to-basics plan. Growth has since slowed: 4.3% in 2024, 2.8% in 2025, then, as Retail Insider reported, 1.5% in the first quarter of 2026 and 0.1% in the second. RBI CEO Josh Kobza acknowledged, according to the same report, that the marketing calendar fell short of expectations. The brand was up against major launches from a year earlier, the report said.
The response includes about 80 Canadian openings in 2026, a Canadian investment program funded mostly by restaurant owners, new drinks such as matcha and Soda Swirls, and a link between Tims Rewards and Canadian Tire’s Triangle Rewards. Retail Insider also reports that Dunkin’ is preparing to return to Canada. A calendar built on launches is sales activation, and it needs brand building underneath it.
What growing companies can learn
When owners and operators fight in public, it can show up in reputation rankings. When an app collects more than it needs, regulators find out. When sales depend on the next launch, one weak calendar shows in the numbers. Keep partners aligned, collect only the data you can defend, and give customers a reason to visit that does not depend on this month’s promotion.
This check-up uses public information available on October 27, 2026. It is brand and marketing analysis, not investment advice.
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