Canada’s relationship to its regional fare is evident in the country’s iconography. The world’s largest maple syrup producer, Canada punctuates its national flag with a pronged, bright red maple leaf. Next to the amalgam of all things maple (taffy, sugar, and syrup), Canada’s must-have cuisine includes Montreal-smoked meat, tourtière, and the nation’s most famous dish, poutine. One of Canada’s most famed culinary contributions, however, is its beloved coffee and donut provider: Tim Hortons.
If America runs on Dunkin’, Canada certainly is fueled by Tim Hortons. The coffeehouse is Canada’s most popular fast food chain, with more than 5,000 restaurants globally, over 4,000 of which are concentrated in Canada. There are even Tim Horton’s locations in the U.S. McDonald’s — notably, the world’s largest fast food chain in numbers as of 2023 — made its way up North in 1967, just three years after the first Tim Hortons opened its doors. However, Timmy’s, as the locals call it, remains Canada’s preferred fast food stop.
Canada runs on Tim Hortons
The eponymous hockey player opened the first Tim Hortons location in Ontario in 1964. In 2023, more than 50 years after its inception, Tim Hortons generated more revenue than any other fast food chain in Canada, again beating out McDonald’s. Signature Tim Hortons menu mainstays include its bite-size donut holes, dubbed Timbits, and the double-double, a coffee with two shots of cream and two shots of sugar. Famous Canadians are quick to laud Tim Hortons’ virtues, and in keeping with the tradition of celebrity fast-food chain collaborations, Justin Bieber even partnered with the brand on more than one occasion.
If the cultural ubiquity of the Timbit isn’t evidence enough of Canadians’ connection to Tim Hortons, it’s worth noting that the restaurant’s branding even includes Canada’s red maple leaf. In 2004, “double-double” was added to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, further solidifying Tim Horton’s significance in Canada’s cultural consciousness.
