[LINK] "Tim Hortons plans 800 more restaurants"

[rfmcdonald]

CBC reported on Tim Horton's plans for yet further expansion, most of which is expected to be in Canada.

(For the record, I don't really like Tim's coffee. McDonald's coffee, mentioned in the article, is actually better--better-tasting, at least--and quite cost-competitive.)

Tim Hortons has laid out an ambitious plan to add 800 more franchise outlets by 2018, the latest shot in an escalating war to stay on top of the quick breakfast and coffee market.

The TSX-listed company said Tuesday it will add as many as 300 new locations in the U.S. in the next four years, a market where it has had difficulty gaining a foothold.

It also plans 500 more locations in Canada by 2018, including 160 as early as this year, a market where the brand enjoys extreme brand loyalty but is perceived to be near saturation.

[. . .]

Franchise consultant Douglas Fisher says Tim Hortons has almost saturated the Canadian market, and that shows in its year-over-year sales increases of 1.6 per cent, less than inflation.

In Ontario and most other regions outside Quebec, there is one restaurant for every 7,500 people, and that’s meant less business for individual franchisees.

“Once you saturate a market, you have to go look for a new market or you’re going to die,” Fisher told CBC News, saying he supports a strategy of expansion in the U.S. and the Middle East.

But the U.S. has been a difficult market for Tim Hortons, so it is selecting a few areas where it believes it will do well, he said.

The Middle East may have greater potential, because the chain offers a fresh concept for people there, said Fisher, who has done work for both Tim Hortons and McDonald’s.