Tim Horton's in Times Square

[ian]

How much of a factor *is* "fast food coffee" (i.e. beneath Starbucks level) in the States?

According to this report on Fox News (skip to 0:32), the coffee market in the US is worth $10 Billion per year (which works out to about $27 million per day), with 400 million cups per day. I don't know where they got their numbers, but that works out to an average price of 6 cents per cup.

I'm assuming they are including various bulk purchases to make that average so low, but in any case, there's no way most of the coffee sold is the premium stuff.

 

[TrickyRicky]

What I find so interesting about this subject is how much Canadians seem to care. One of the most viewed stories of the day! Fascinating.

 

[EnviroTO]

What I find so interesting about this subject is how much Canadians seem to care. One of the most viewed stories of the day! Fascinating.

Are you kidding? This is the best thing to ever happen to Canada. We are finally good enough to sell donuts in New York City. I yelled out with joy when I heard the news. WOOOO! WOOOO! This so makes up for Michael Jackson's death which had me crying for a whole week. I had to fly to Los Angeles eventhough I didn't have tickets for closure.

 

[kEiThZ]

What I find so interesting about this subject is how much Canadians seem to care. One of the most viewed stories of the day! Fascinating.

That's cause deep down despite what we say about them we really want them to like us. When it comes to the US, the Canadian national psyche is like that of an awkward, teenage girl.

 

[afransen]

I suspect it's because we are so used to American cultural imperialism, that any inroads we make into US business/culture is seen as 'fighting back' (for lack of a better term).

As it is, there are damn few Canadian companies in a position to do something like this. Among retailers you have... what? Perhaps Canadian Tire, Loblaws, Harvey's, ......? And such forays into the US market tend not to go very well.

 

[syn]

I suspect it's because we are so used to American cultural imperialism, that any inroads we make into US business/culture is seen as 'fighting back' (for lack of a better term).

As it is, there are damn few Canadian companies in a position to do something like this. Among retailers you have... what? Perhaps Canadian Tire, Loblaws, Harvey's, ......? And such forays into the US market tend not to go very well.

Or they go well and are quickly taken over by US interests - like ATI, Club Monaco, etc.

 

[Edward Skira]

And Tim Horton's for a while.

 

[dt_toronto_geek]

Has anyone actually tried a Dunkin' Donuts coffee? Ick. Tim Horton's will do well.
"Double-Double" please!

 

[AGTO]

That's cause deep down despite what we say about them we really want them to like us. When it comes to the US, the Canadian national psyche is like that of an awkward, teenage girl.

This is your fantasy, and yours alone...stop trying to speak for the rest of Canada, you're way off base.

 

[doady]

I don't think Tim Horton's can be successful in America. Hockey is not as popular there as it is here.

 

[Art Vandelay]

I don't think Tim Horton's can be successful in America. Hockey is not as popular there as it is here.

And what does hockey have to do with the popularity of Tim Horton's? Its not like the place is named Wayne Gretzky's or Sidney Crosby's. Hockey has as much to do with Tim Horton's success today as fur trading has to do with The Bay.

 

[slowtyper]

Do the McDonalds in the US have the same coffee as they do in Canada? Because honestly I think McDonalds coffee is far far superior to Tim Hortens coffee.

 

[slowtyper]

This is your fantasy, and yours alone...stop trying to speak for the rest of Canada, you're way off base.

I agree with it, especially Toronto in particular seems to have a strange need of New York's approval.

 

[gabe]

Do the McDonalds in the US have the same coffee as they do in Canada? Because honestly I think McDonalds coffee is far far superior to Tim Hortens coffee.

I agree with you there! If i need a coffee and the only choices are McDonald's or Tim's i go with McDonald's! Some grocery stores in Buffalo have Tim's in their stores and the shopping carts come with coffee cup holders.

 

[alklay]

Diner’s Journal - The New York Times Blog on Dining Out
July 13, 2009, 3:44 pm
Faceoff With Canada, but Not on Ice
By Julia Moskin
Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times A doughnut from Dunkin’ Donuts, left, goes head to head with one from Tim Hortons.

The Canadian mega-chain Tim Hortons, a kind of hybrid of Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonald’s and Howard Johnson’s, opened its first Manhattan outposts this morning, in 12 locations that had been Dunkin’ Donuts.

Tim Hortons doughnuts are freshly made at each location, so when the Dining staff gathered for a blind tasting of doughnuts from Dunkin’ Donuts and the newly arrived Tim Hortons, we expected to find traditional flavor in the box of upstarts. The results were more complicated.

We tasted five basic types side by side: plain cake, glazed yeast, Boston cream, chocolate frosted, and “French cruller” doughnuts. No sprinkles or jelly were included. (Sadly, some of the more intriguing Tim Hortons products were not available, like walnut crunch doughnuts, apple fritters and dutchies, made of yeast dough with raisins.)

Plain cake: Tasters admired the “pleasant nutmeg flavor” of the Dunkin’. The T.H. was deemed to have little taste and a tougher exterior.

Yeast glazed: The T.H. specimen was pale outside but had a more traditional yeast-raised, puffy texture. Both had an inoffensive white-bread flavor but nothing you’d wake up dreaming about.

Boston cream: Tasters much preferred the chocolate topping on the T.H. doughnut; otherwise, both were surprisingly good and surprisingly indistinguishable.

Chocolate frosted: Here Dunkin’ had a clear advantage: with its glossy brown exterior, it was much more appetizing than the T.H. The flavor, again, almost indistinguishable.

French cruller: Shaped into a fluted, twisted circle, the Dunkin’ version was simply a glazed doughnut with pleasant bumpy texture. The T.H. was made from an altogether different, eggy dough, like the choux pastry used for eclairs. Very sweet and rich-tasting.

Overall: Neither chain posted a clear winner or an overall advantage in quality. Conclusion: Mass-produced doughnuts are achieving total global mediocrity.