Aleksandra Sagan, The Canadian Press
Published Sunday, January 12, 2020 2:56PM EST
The humble Timbit wants a home in Canadians’ breakfast bowls.
Once best known for coffee and baked goods, Tim Hortons offerings have expanded over the years to include ground coffee, canned noodle soup and now, Timbits cereal.
Tims’ expansion into the cereal aisle at Canadian grocery stores seeks to introduce sugar-loving tots to the Tim Hortons brand.
But experts say this continued diversification may leave consumer confused about what the coffee chain’s brand represents, while cereal-maker Post Foods Canada Inc. may fall on the winning side of the partnership.
Building loyalty with the next generation of consumers is important for a brand with as many “fanatics” as Tim Hortons, said David Soberman, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. The company needs to corner young Canadians now to maintain its position in the market for years to come.
The new product – a partnership with Post, purveyor of cereals such as Oreo O’s and Honey Maid S’mores – is geared toward a younger audience, he said. Kids love Timbits, and children begging for the new cereal now will theoretically evolve into loyal Tim Hortons customers as they get older.
That’s likely the intended outcome, Soberman said, but the launch could also dilute the brand’s image as a go-to for the best coffee and doughnuts in the country.
“There’s a confusion as to what the brand is,” he said. “This is even a further example of that.”
In recent years the company has battled a spate of negative news as it faced off with a dissident group of franchisees that accused the chain’s parent company, Restaurant Brands International, of mismanagement. Tim Hortons watched its reputation slip in the court of public opinion and its earnings stall.
RBI CEO Jose Cil recently said earnings were “not where we want them to be” at the chain. For its most recent quarter, RBI reported comparable sales, a key retail metric, at Tim Hortons fell 1.2 per cent in Canada and system-wide sales in the country dropped by 0.1 per cent, according to financial documents.
A bevy of pilot programs and product launches have arrived in an effort to boost sales.
Whether that quest for sales led the company to extend its reach too far is a topic of frequent discussion among the faculty of Centennial College’s food media program, said the program’s culinary ambassador Rodney Bowers.
Tim Hortons targeted young, urban professionals with its Innovation Cafe in downtown Toronto, pouring nitro coffee and serving premium doughnuts and sandwiches.
It launched several of its soups and chili in supermarkets. It trialled Beyond Meat burgers and breakfast sandwiches, eventually dropping the burger and keeping the plant-based protein breakfast option in select locations.
All that happened in 2019.
“Can you be all the things to all the people and still be a strong brand?” asked Bowers.
The latest Timbit cereal innovation is “completely polar opposite to the last big splash they made” putting plant-based proteins on the menu. One promotes a seemingly healthier plant-based meal, while the other offers a sugary breakfast option.
Tim Hortons deferred inquiries about the cereal to Post Foods, and did not respond to emailed questions about why it decided to collaborate with the cereal maker or the nature of the partnership.
“The grocery and retail business is a small and exciting part of our overall business and although you will see us launch new products from time to time, our focus remains on growth through our famous, core categories,” spokeswoman Sarah McConnell said in an emailed statement.
Post Foods was unable to make anyone available for an interview or answer questions via email by deadline.
A Post Foods Canada statement announcing the product indicates that the company has licensed the Timbits registered trademark from Tim Hortons. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The winner in this arrangement appears to be Post Foods, said Bowers, in acquiring the right to use such a well-known symbol – the Timbit – in its cereal.
Every category within a grocery store depends on innovation to grow sales and protect shelf space, said Braden Douglas, a founding partner of Surrey-based Crew Marketing Partners.
Grocery stores allot a certain amount of shelf space to each company, but new entrants sometimes crowd out existing products. Companies innovate, in part, to avoid the label of poor performer and having their shelf space reduced.
Consumers will jump at the chance to try the doughnut-hole breakfast, he predicted, but it’s unlikely many will add it to their regular breakfast repertoire.
Consumer trends toward healthier eating work against the novelty product. One cup of the birthday cake flavour packs 130 calories and 13 grams of sugar, while the same portion of the chocolate glazed variety runs 140 calories and 17 grams of sugar, according to Post’s website.
As well, the way people eat breakfast has changed, Douglas said, with “so many alternatives” available, such as cereal bars, handy grab-and-go options and more convenient places for people to pick up their first meal of the day.
Douglas believes the product will be “an in-and-out innovation” – around for a few years and then fade out.
“In a year or two, I don’t think you’re going to see it on shelves anywhere … because it’s not in line with health trends and what’s going on with consumers anyways.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 12, 2020.
Alberta’s minister of forestry and parks said the RCMP national security investigation team is involved in a probe looking into what caused a pipeline to rupture and catch fire west of Edmonton earlier this week.
On Tuesday, a wildfire was sparked following a natural gas pipeline rupture about 40 kilometres northwest of Edson, Alta. The fire has since been deemed under control.
“We have no indication of any kind of cause on that fire yet; the investigation is happening,” Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen said at a wildfire-related news conference Thursday morning. “The national security investigation team of the RCMP are investigating the cause.
“My understanding, since the cause was unknown, that’s standard practice for them to come in on anything that’s unknown.”
RCMP said as of Tuesday, initial reports had shown no signs of foul play.
Global News has reached out to the RCMP for more information. On its website, the RCMP states it has a wide range of national security-related mandates and responsibilities. It says its national security criminal investigations program involves critical infrastructure protection and critical incident management.
Officials say the investigation into what caused the TC Energy pipeline to break could take months or even years.
The Canada Energy Regulator had investigators on site on Wednesday. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is also investigating the incident.
The rupture sparked a blaze that could be seen for kilometres, sending large flames and plumes of smoke into the air.
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No injuries were reported, and officials said the fire was never a threat to any surrounding communities.
“I want to commend the Yellowhead County Fire Department, industry and our wildfire team for the timely manner that this fire was brought under control,” Loewen said Thursday.
“Fast information sharing between all parties facilitated an effective wildfire response.”
The wildfire sparked by the pipeline rupture is located about 28 kilometres northeast of Obed Lake. More than 30 firefighters were expected to be in the area Thursday to continue working on the wildfire.
— with files from The Canadian Press
— more to come…
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
A St. John’s woman says she won’t be paying many more visits to Tim Hortons, after an email from the coffee chain led her to believe that she’d won a new boat — when she hadn’t won anything at all.
“I go to Tim’s quite a lot, seven days a week. I’m afraid now that’s going to change to no days a week,” Carol Evans told CBC News on Thursday.
Evans said she received an email from Tim Hortons on Wednesday afternoon while on a break from her work as an licensed practical nurse.
The email recapped the prizes she’d won in the annual Roll Up the Rim to Win contest, but there was one extra prize included — a brand new boat and trailer, valued at about $55,000.
Unfortunately, the excitement was over by the time she got home from work.
“I was just so excited, really excited. I thought I really won a boat and a trailer, $55,000 worth, and to find out at five to six, I had an email from them come in telling me it was a technical error,” she said.
“I don’t get my boat and I don’t get my trailer.”
Carol Evans of St. John’s was elated when she got an email from Tim Hortons saying she won $55,000 worth of prizes. Another email from the coffee giant a few hours later, telling her it was an error, had her crushed — and fuming.
Evans said her win was the talk of her co-workers.
“I work with about a hundred people in the run of a day, and more than that outside the OR, and everybody was so happy for me. They couldn’t believe it, I finally won something in my life,” she said.
“But to find out a few hours later I didn’t, it was disappointing, very disappointing.… I cried, it was so sad.”
Although she may not have taken it out on the water, Evans said winning would have meant a lot to her, like helping fund her retirement after more than five decades in nursing.
“I could have sold the boat and trailer and had some money, paid off some bills, probably could have, who knows, retired after 55 years of work,” she said.
In an emailed statement to CBC News on Thursday, Tim Hortons said the message was meant to show what each customer won over the course of the contest — and the boat was included by mistake.
“We developed a Roll Up To Win recap email message with the best intentions of giving our guests a fun overview of their 2024 play history.
“Unfortunately there was a human error that resulted in some guests receiving some incorrect information in their recap message.”
The company didn’t disclose how many people across the country received the email, but CBC News spoke to another person in western Newfoundland who got it.
Others in Edmonton, Hamilton and Brampton, Ont., were also told they’d won the boat.
By Wednesday afternoon, a Facebook group had formed with more than 200 people expressing outrage about the mistake and threatening to file lawsuits.
Tim Hortons sent the affected customers a letter, telling them to disregard that winning email and that it was sent as a result of “technical errors.”
“Unfortunately, some prizes that you did not win may have been included in the recap email you received. If this was the case, today’s email does not mean that you won those prizes,” the letter read.
“We apologize for the frustration this has caused and for not living up to our high standards.”
It’s a familiar story for Tim’s, however, as last year, its app mistakenly informed users they’d won $10,000.
Evans said two years of big mistakes just isn’t fair. She’d like to see Tim Hortons move away from the Roll Up to Win smartphone app and back to paper cups.
“It’s not fair to the public who spend their hard-earned money to go into Tim’s and buy their coffee every day, buy their lunch, and then think they won a prize and all of a sudden you learn, three hours later, you didn’t win a prize, and it’s not fair.”
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The new regulations will take effect in Bowen Island, Tofino, Pemberton and 14 other communities on Nov. 1
Published Apr 18, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 5 minute read
With less than two weeks before B.C.’s short-term rental restrictions take effect, visitors staying at an Airbnb, Vrbo or other short-term rental homes are told to check with their hosts to make sure they are not staying in illegal accommodations.
Guests should ask hosts if they are compliant with the new rules, said B.C.’s housing minister, even as he reassured guests they won’t be on the hook.
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“The responsibility to comply with the rules fall with the hosts and the short-term rental platforms,” said Ravi Kahlon at a news conference with Premier David Eby in Langley on Thursday. “We encourage people to continue to explore beautiful British Columbia, and stay in legal short-term rental accommodations.”The new regulations set to take effect on May 1 would restrict short-term rentals to principal residences and either a secondary suite or a laneway home/garden suite on the property.
They apply to more than 60 B.C. communities with populations of more than 10,000 people, as well as 17 smaller communities, including Bowen Island, Tofino, Osoyoos, Pemberton, and Gabriola Island, which have decided to opt in. For these communities, the rules will take effect on Nov. 1.
The new legislation carries penalties of $500 to $5,000 a day per infraction for hosts and reach as high as $10,000 a day for platforms.
Eby said the province’s principal residence requirement is meant to crack down on speculators while allowing homeowners to rent out spaces in their principal residences if they choose to do so.
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He acknowledged the restrictions could put some property owners’ investment and retirement plans into disarray, but made no apologies, saying people with money to invest should put their money elsewhere.
“Do not compete with individuals and families who are looking for place to live with your investment dollars,” Eby said, adding the government will “tilt the deck every single time toward that family.”
The government has set up a provincial enforcement unit, currently staffed by four people, to conduct investigations into alleged non-compliant units.
The enforcement will be largely done digitally and includes the use of a short-term rental data portal that’ll help local governments monitor and enforce regulations.
Municipalities with their own short-term rental restrictions can upload non-compliant properties to the portal, said Kahlon. Platforms will have five days to verify whether the units are on their sites. Local governments without short-term rental licensing can report properties they believe are not compliant.
The platforms will be required to remove non-compliant listings at the request of local or the provincial governments and provide the province with a monthly update of short-term listings on their sites, said Kahlon.
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Companies such as Expedia and Booking.com are working to get ready for the new rules, and he’s hopeful other platforms will follow suit by May 1.
Airbnb said it has been in discussions with the provincial government for months and plans to comply with the new rules, but predicts they will harm the province’s tourism sector by taking extra income away from residents and limiting accommodation options for people, while doing little to improve the housing crunch for residents.
“They’re doing this because they say there’s going to be an impact on housing, that this will free up more housing for people,” said Nathan Rotman, Airbnb’s policy lead in Canada. “That is just not true.”
Despite several years of Airbnb restrictions in Vancouver, for example, rents have gone up while vacancies stayed low, he said.
Kahlon said the pending rules are already having a positive impact on housing availability with short-term rentals being converted to long-term use or being put up for sale.
In March, more than 19,000 entire homes in B.C. were listed as short-term rentals for most of the year, said the province. Even if half of those units are returned to the long-term market, that’ll make a “substantial difference” in communities, said Kahlon.
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Eby said there has been a “massive upswing” in hotel construction in key tourist areas as an unintended result of the new policies.
Bowen Island, a small community of 4,200 whose council voted in March to opt into the province’s short-term rental regulations, has seen increased pressure from tourists and housing demand in recent years.
The decision was council’s way “to balance what is appropriate use in residentially-zoned neighbourhoods while still allowing property owners to still do what they want with their properties,” said Mayor Andrew Leonard.
The principal residence requirement still allows for Airbnb and other short-term rentals on the island, he pointed out. “The vast majority of short-term rental operations are unaffected. This just keeps it in the homes of homeowners instead of speculators.”
Some communities, including Parksville’s Resort Drive area, were granted an exemption last month under the province’s exemption for strata hotel or motels. The area was purpose-built as tourism accommodation more than two decades ago.
The new legislation is being challenged in B.C. Supreme Court by Victoria-based groups and the Westcoast Association for Property Rights, who are calling for a review of the new rules and compensation for financial losses.
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According to Airbnb, Airbnb bookings and related spending generated around $2.5 billion in B.C. in 2023 and created 25,000 jobs.
The company says that for every $100 spent on an Airbnb booking, guests also spent about $229 on other travel spending.
More than three quarters of hosts polled by the company say they use their Airbnb earnings to cover rising costs of living, especially housing.
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