"We intend to complement our standard restaurant development activity in both Canada and the U.S. with nonstandard formats and locations, extending our reach in hospitals, universities and colleges, airports and other nontraditional sites, leveraging our 'we fit anywhere' philosophy and capability." These nontraditional locations also include [image-nocss] gas stations and convenience stores.
"Our strategies will continue to transform Tim Hortons, not only adding significant scale but also introducing important additional growth layers to our business platform to extend our position as a leader in the North American restaurant industry," Schroeder said.. "We are a growth company with significant long-term opportunities in Canada, and we are also excited by the prospects of continued profitable growth in the U.S., and potentially internationally in the longer term," added Schroeder.
The development in Canada of approximately 600 new restaurants is focused on growth markets including Quebec, western Canada and major urban locations, in addition to continuing to build out Ontario. In the United States, the development of approximately 300 new restaurants will be focused primarily on existing major regional markets, such as New York, Ohio and Michigan. "We also plan to push into contiguous markets, with approximately 30% of the development activities planned to take place between 2010 to 2013 in markets adjacent to our existing footprint," Schroeder said.
The company plans to introduce new menu and product innovation targeted across restaurant dayparts, expand market share and drive same-store sales. It is targeting further expansion of the breakfast daypart, and afternoon and evening snacking dayparts, in addition to extending lunch daypart opportunities, including its sandwich and soup offering. The company also intends to expand its hot and cold beverage offerings.
In the United States, Tim Hortons is focused on becoming famous as a cafe and bake shop destination, the executive said. "We plan to significantly differentiate the brand through a new-concept restaurant design that will be piloted in at least 10 existing locations. The new restaurant concept features a dramatic reimaging to more sharply define our cafe and bake shop positioning, including enhanced finishes, fixtures and seating areas as well as experiential changes. In addition, the company will be testing new product offerings and adopting innovative new marketing and branding initiatives aligned to our cafe and bake shop brand positioning," he added.
"We intend to opportunistically pursue strategic alliances to take our brand to markets where we have not yet established a presence, to complement our existing presence or to increase average unit volumes in existing locations. This may include co-branding or other
Initiatives," said Schreoder.
Tim Hortons plans to extend its co-branding initiative with Cold Stone Creamery. The company secured exclusive development rights in Canada with Cold Stone Creamery in 2009, and with its franchisees, it plans to convert up to 60 locations in Canada in 2010 to include the Cold Stone Creamery concept. In the United States, it plans to co-brand 15 to 20 existing locations and open 10 to 15 new restaurants as co-branded locations in 2010.
The company is targeting smaller communities in Canada as part of its overall development strategy. Standard restaurants are the primary focus in smaller communities, but it will also test a new, flexible restaurant design as well. It will pilot a new restaurant format in Canada in one location designed to increase capacity and throughput while maintaining the customer experience.
Operating in the quick-service segment of the restaurant industry, Oakville, Ont.-based Tim Hortons appeals to a broad range of consumer tastes, with a menu that includes premium coffee, flavored cappuccinos, specialty teas, home-style soups, fresh sandwiches, wraps, hot breakfast sandwiches and fresh baked goods, including its trademark donuts. As of Jan. 3, 2010, Tim Hortons had 3,578 systemwide restaurants, including 3,015 in Canada and 563 in the United States.
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