11.54 PM Thursday, 28 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:57 06:11 12:27 15:53 18:37 19:51
28 March 2024

Tim Hortons on expansion spree

Published
By Vicky Kapur

Tim Hortons, one of Canada’s most iconic brands, is on a regional expansion spree, with plans to open 120 outlets in the GCC in the next five years, its senior officials told Emirates 24|7 on the eve of opening four new outlets in the UAE.

Come Wednesday, December 7, and Tim Hortons will boast of almost half a dozen café and bake shops in the UAE – the only country outside Canada and the US to host the brand. While a few of the outlets are already open for business, the official opening of Tim Hortons in Abu Dhabi’s Mushrif Mall and Dubai’s Deira City Centre, Jumeirah Beach Residence and Dubai Outlet Mall is scheduled for tomorrow, while the first outlet, on Sheikh Zayed Road, opened on September 17, with crowds arriving before the restaurant formally opened its doors.

“It all started a couple of years ago,” reminisces Paul House, Executive Chairman, President and CEO, Tim Hortons. “We wanted to do something internationally, and we identified three different markets that we thought that we’d like to start in. And then through the process of elimination, we got to this [Dubai] market,” he says.

“And the deciding factor, quite honestly, was the partner,” he adds, referring to Apparel Group, a Dubai-based fashion and lifestyle brand conglomerate, which recently bagged the master licence agreement for one of North America’s most successful restaurant chains. “Dubai is a gateway to many other markets, and has a good number of [Canadian] expats, which gives us a base to start with,” he says.

“When we looked at the Dubai market, we saw a multicultural mix – very similar to what we see at home in Canada,” adds David Clanachan, COO, US and International, Tim Hortons. “This [Sheikh Zayed] store was opened for training, but the response has been unbelievable,” points out Nilesh Ved, Chairman and CEO of Apparel Group.

“Of course we are marketing the brand in the traditional way, but the Canadian expats here seem to have [adopted] the brand, and are taking boxes of doughnuts for their friends and families, or their office colleagues, and take pride in sharing it,” he adds.

When asked if the UAE-Canada row over landing rights for the Gulf state’s national airlines had any bearing on the Canadian brand’s entry into the UAE, Ved is categorical in his answer. “Nothing at all – the UAE government has been very supportive,” he says. “We sell coffee…we sell breakfast, and there’s no doubt in my mind that it has never caused any friction in the business, not only for Tim Hortons, but also for Aldo and other [Canadian] brands that the Apparel Group retails,” he says.

“We feel very welcome here,” adds Clanachan. “Everybody’s done nothing but tried to help us here,” he says. “[Hamad] Buamim, Director-General of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is opening the store at Deira City Centre and [UAE’s Minister of Foreign Trade] Sheikha Lubna [al Qasimi] is opening the store in Abu Dhabi,” adds Ved, reiterating that the UAE government has been supportive of the venture.

Talking about his aspirations for the brand, Ved says he’d love it if Tim Hortons in the UAE comes close to its popularity in Canada, where “eight out of 10 coffees sold are Tim Hortons.” In Canada, the brand attracts more than 40 per cent of all customers of quick service restaurants, and Apparel hopes to replicate this success in the Middle East, adding to the 2 billion cups of coffee served annually.

Tim Hortons has 3,811 system-wide restaurants, including 3,189 in Canada and 622 in the US. Apart from the 120 outlets the chain plans to open in the GCC (except Saudi Arabia), the brand also has had discussions with grocery chains to set up self-serving coffee kiosks to raise its popularity, but the officials say that that would happen perhaps after some time.

“In Canada, we’re in universities, hospitals, office towers… but that’s happened in the last 15 years,” says House. “While it won’t take that long here, for we’ve already been through the learning curve in Canada,” he adds, “but we’ll still need to have patience to get the brand established before venturing into ‘non-traditional’ channels.”