Tim Horton's is in the midst of its second invasion of the U.S. market and, this time, experts say it's making real headway. It has 200 stores now and may have more than 500 stores open in the U.S. by the end of 2007. Meanwhile, U.S. giant Krispy Kreme's attempt to establish a foothold in Tim Horton's home market is proving to be a fiasco. In fact, Krispy Kreme is blaming problems figuring out the accounting for its Canadian operations as the reason behind a late stock market filing. Meanwhile, Krispy Kreme's rosy Canadian expansion plans of two years ago have turned into retrenchment plans as the company closes three Canadian stores.
The Canadian unit is reported to have lost $2-million (U.S.) in 2003 with less than a dozen stores. Meanwhile, Tim Horton's operating for profit just the three months ending Sept. 30, was just under $70-million (U.S.).
Tim's also says same store sales in the U.S. are growing at a rate of 10 per cent a year. Even in Canada, where there's a Tim's on every corner, same-store sales are growign at 7 per cent.
I had a piece on CTV's National News last night looking at Tim's vs Krispy Kreme. As always, the video link is on the right side of the page.