TORONTO - Canadians' patriotic love of double doubles, timbits and rolling up the rim could find its way to the four corners of the world under a global expansion plan being considered by Tim Hortons.
CEO Don Schroeder says the iconic Canadian coffee and doughnut chain intends to take its brand global in the next four years, feeding off a growing international interest in Tim Hortons (TSX:THI), so long a byword for Canadian comfort food and drink.
"(Four years from now) probably one of the most dramatic differences will be that we will likely be a global company," he said to reporters after the chain's annual general meeting Friday in Toronto.
Schroeder said Tims' executives will pitch an international growth strategy to the board of directors next month and the company will likely publicly announce its next steps in the second half of 2010.
Tim Hortons already has 290 self-service kiosks in convenience stores in Ireland and England, and a number of locations in the U.S., including some at military bases.
But if the chain's international growth plans are successful, those homesick Canucks on Tim Hortons commercials would no longer need to have a canister shipped across the ocean or travel great lengths to secure that taste of home.
Schroeder said Tims will exercise caution to avoid following other chains who embarked on rapid expansion into far-flung markets and failed.
"It's easy to say 'I should be in China, I should be in India, lots of people there,' but if you look at the landscape, it's littered with people who jumped in too quickly. So we're going to do it in a business-like manner, do the evaluations and then make the appropriate decisions wherever that might be," he said.
Brian Yarbrough, a retail analyst at Edward Jones, questions why Tims would attempt to expand internationally before it has made a significant dent in the lucrative U.S. market, where sales volumes are less than half those in Canada.
"The problem is Tim Hortons resonates phenomenally in Canada, there's no question about it, it's the dominant player, but you come down to the United States and Tim Hortons doesn't resonate nearly as well," he said.
"There's a cultural difference when it comes to coffee drinking and definitely when it comes to doughnut eating," he said, adding that the cultural gap in consumption habits is even more pronounced overseas.
"Why wouldn't you get it built in the U.S. before you (expand globally)? If you can make it work in the U.S., there's plenty of years of growth there. And then, when that starts flowing and you run out of growth, then you go internationally," he added.
The chain has about 500 stores in the U.S. and has announced plans to open an additional 300 stores there by 2013.
Schroeder said the chain's strong growth in Canada has been based on strategic alliances -- pairing with chains like Esso gas stations -- and he plans to pursue such alliances in international endeavours. An expanded affiliation with the U.S. military could be one of them.
"Tim Hortons has become know through our store in Afghanistan not only to Canadian soldiers but British soldiers as well," he said, adding that while many fast food outlets at the Kandahar and Bagram airfields have been asked to leave, Tim Hortons has been asked to stay.
Earlier this month, the Burger King, Pizza Hut and Subway outlets at the heart of the sprawling military base in Kandahar were shut down on the orders of the top NATO commander in Afghanistan after a U.S. military review concluded that the fast-food joints posed a distraction from the task at hand.
"It's a great opportunity for us to build a special relationship with the U.S. military... and we hope to expand that relationship," he said.
The Canadian coffee, doughnut and sandwich chain also has plans for further U.S. growth following a high-profile expansion in New York City last summer, where it opened 12 new locations.
Tim Hortons has since been ramping up its U.S. presence, opening locations at several key tourist spots like Fort Knox, the iconic U.S. army facility in Kentucky and site of a major U.S. gold depository. The company also had its coffee featured on the U.S. network sitcom "How I Met Your Mother."
At home, Schroeder said he is proud that Olympic hockey gold medal winner Sidney Crosby will continue on as Tim Hortons spokesman.
But he added the chain may have to detach from its branding as an iconic Canadian chain in the international market, and instead incorporate ideas that will resonate with customers around the world.
