IAmA Supervisor for Canadian Tims Hortons. AMA

Why the fuck did Tim's stop making ham & cheese tea biscuits?

I ask myself the same question everyday no one likes fucking raisins! Hahah

So it is across Canada and not just here in shitty NB? Damn!

How about the Caramel Filled Apple Fritter, is it coming back?

It hasn't come back this year so far. they did change the filling however and it is not as good as the old ones. I loved the old ones :(

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I'm sorry this happens to you, and when I go to Tim Hortons, I have this problem as a customer too.

Every store manager is suppose to calibrate all of the cream and sugar machines on a weekly basis to ensure that they are dispensing proper amounts. Some managers may neglect this duty making your coffee have to much or too little of what you had asked for. The coffee taste should not be inconstant we have a 20 minute fresh promise, and all our coffee is pre-packaged for easy brewing. Someone is not doing their job very well!!

I've had this problem quite a bit. Usually have 2-3 coffees a day and have had one great coffee and then an hour and a half later the next one is garbage.

Next time ask for their freshest pot. You may feel like a dick asking but a lot of people do it, and it's common :) No one likes burnt coffee

We had a guy come in daily that wanted the oldest, burntest coffee.

We always left a pot on just for that dude

i've never heard of anyone wanting the burnt coffee! Lol!

I've been to locations where they're backed up and will take a half-brewed pot and start dispensing that, putting another pot to catch the remaining coffee.

That's a sin.

That it a sin! It's also against our standard. They should not do this

How do you feel about Burger King purchasing Tim Hortons?

Doesn't affect me, indifferent to the outcome really. My job stays the same as well as all of my co-workers.

I wonder if they will combine Tim hortons and burger kings now instead of Wendy's.

I fucking hope not. I HATE BURGER KING!!

So you think.

I'd hate to tell ya, but every merger/buyout results in changes. It will affect you, but not necessarily losing your job affect you.

I will be leaving my job in a few months anyway, there's nothing wrong with change :)

What food item do you like the most?

Considering most things at TH are frozen, can you speak to how processed the food is compared to like McD?

What's the best part of your job? The worst?

Finally, one day I ordered a bunch of stuff and it was Customer Appreciation day and so my entire order was free. Took me by surprise! Do you do this once a year and what day usually?

The food I like the most is the pumpkin spice muffin, its different from any other type of muffin we carry. Its only around this time of year though.

The only "fresh" items we carry are things like produce, cheeses. and some deli meat. Everything else comes frozen factory-made.

The best part of my job is when dogs come through the drive thru and I give them timbits lol! The worst is when an asshole decides to order 20 large iced caps in the drive thru.

The customer appreciation was new this year, it was incorporated with our 50th anniversary. I'm not sure if we will be doing it again next yea, but it would be awesome if we did!

That's funny what you said about the dogs and Tim bits, I've heard a lot of other Tim Horton employees say the same thing. That's cool lol

I love all dogs, even the cats some of the weirdos bring though

My dog gets so excited going through the Tim's drive thru because he knows that there is a timbit coming!

I love to see that, it makes my day!:)

I like how you put "fresh" in quotes. Gone are the days of Tim's being "Always Fresh" I guess. :/

LOL

What's the funniest story you have from your store?

I work with a older lady who is from Newfoundland. She is very outgoing and friendly, but if someone is inconsiderate or rude she will exclaim when they leave " i hope they get the diarrhea twice!" and everyone one hears her, it cracks me up every time.

This is the best one I could think of off the top of my head!

I don't believe you, when did Canadians start being inconsiderate?

When they haven't had their coffee yet lol!

Are the donuts good? Feel like overnighting a dozen to SoCal?

Lol. They'll be rocks by the time they get there!

I once delivered a couple hundred Timbits from Toronto to some friends in Florida, and they were still good!

Wow! did you drive or fly there?

I don't mean to side swipe you here but Tim Hortons has gone so far backwards the last five years. The doughnuts are all baked, not deep fried anymore. They are also produced in a large factory and shipped frozen. Will you please tell head office that they are moving in the exact opposite direction that they should be? People are all about freshness and sustainability nowadays. There is a reason their margins have declined sharply across Canada. Also, the coffee is shit.

I'm sorry your Tim hortons experience has been so shitty. :(

Things change because of demand. I have no control over the choices head office makes, they just want to make money.

Wtf happened to toasted coconut? And birthday cake timbits

My locations still carry both products and are very popular!

Mine still have birthday cake timbits too and they're awesome!

they are sooo goooood.

Another questions about BK/Wendy's. Now BK bought Timmie's, what's going to happen with those Tim/Wendy's joint locations?

Nobody knows. I wonder too, because I work for one of those locations.

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If you are a coffee lover, I strongly recommend the new dark roast coffee, I completely switched over from regular coffee when it first came out , it's so good!! If you don't really like coffee I suggest a Premium fruit smoothie, they are expensive but really good. Food-wise, try anything that looks good to you, most of it is!

Have you met anyone famous or important in your drive through doing coffee runs? Like Deadmau5 & Rob Ford

At my old store, Dellen Millard was a regular. I spoke to him on a regular basis. When the news hit of what he had done, I was fucking shocked!!

Other than that guy, nobody special.

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He was one fucked up guy, he just never showed it.

Does Oakrun do a lot of your baking?

Also, the Dark Roast is surprisingly good.

I love dark roast!

I think it is Tim hortons own bakery.

Should I buy a franchise on Vancouver Island?

Yes, lets just say my store owner owns multiple homes including one in Las Vegas and is doing very well for herself. but it's ALOT of work.

Why are the tomatoes never cut completely?

fucking idiot bakers!

Baker here, we don't cut the tomatoes at my location. That's soup & sandwich people's job

Well you have it easy then :)

ex tim hortons employee here, what's the grossest thing you've ever made for someone?

I was pretty indifferent to orders, but I did gag at the thought of a large ice coffee with five sugars and five creams. With the syrup in there, calling it coffee was a stretch.

Really gross things to me is the cinnamon-raisin bagel with herb and garlic cream cheese. It makes me want to throw up when I make it. :S

Why is there no more hot smoothies on the menu?

I'm assuming there wasn't enough demand for them, they just kind of disappeared.

Just how fresh is the food?

In the morning, timbits, donuts and other baked goods are cooked from frozen in-store in ovens. Some smaller drive-thrus will have their showcase (food in the glass case) brought to them in a product van. They will be less fresh, and required to restock midday usually.

All products have a shelf life of around 8-12 hours. While these would not be fresh from the oven, they are considered "fresh to eat". You can always ask the counter attendants how old their products are though :)

What's the percentage of TFW to Canadian employees? And with that question, are you in a small town or big city?

i'd say about 35% are not from Canada. I live in a pretty big city.

"Proof" ROFL

lol :p

I miss Tim Hortons! I moved from Michigan to Oklahoma. Why did they stop carrying the sesame seed bagel? They where so great. Also what is your worst customer experience?

We currently still carry the sesame seed bagel,locations supply product based on demand for them. I've had a lot of bas experiences. but the worst for me is when i get called a bitch or some other unnecessary remark for no reason:(

why do you push the dark roast so much? I just want my double double but you force me through this labyrinth of offers of dark roast before you accept my normal coffee! Also, Thanks for being super.

We push Dark roast because if we don't we can get in trouble with management. We have to basically tell you our life story before you order your coffee lol:)

Why do so many seniors work at Tim Hortons as opposed to mostly teenagers who work at other fast food places?

They are treated well, and the older generation that I work with are all very friendly people. Once you work for a while you start to get regular customers, and if you work there long enough, you miss all the people you would see and talk to everyday. Other than that I don't know why:)

How popular has the new dark roast been so far?

So popular that I can't brew enough to keep up with it ! it's delicious. :)

Alright, no one's asked this: Seeing as you're a Canadian Timmy Ho's, what's the meanest thing you've had to do as a manager?

I'm a supervisor, but my manager does make me do mean things to people like write them up for dumb reasons.

do you guys actually follow the "always fresh" 15 minutes or less rule? because every time I get Tim's coffee it always tastes burnt...

At my location we always follow the 20 minute fresh promise. Some locations may not have as high of standards as the owner at my store. I hate burnt coffee so I won't serve it to anyone else. gross!:P

I used to work at a Wendy's that was connected to a Tim Hortons, I don't know if any of your locations share a space like that but my question is have you ever had someone mistake your drive thru for a different fast food chain? Lol it can be funny when it happens

I actually supervise at one of Wendy's/ Tim Hortons locations and you wouldn't believe how many times someone has asked me for a baconator in the drive-thru!

Lol they would always order some crazy coffee drink and we would all be on our headsets listening like ahhh here we go again. Or someone would order regular coffee and we would tell them we can brew you a fresh one but it will take about three minutes, and they would get so upset and start yelling at us like "What? Your Tim Hortons and you don't even have black coffee?" Until I would patiently explain, "Sir/Mam we are Wendy's, Tim Hortons drive thru is on the other side of the building." Lol. We never had coffee up because Tim Hortons was connected to us.

I also love when they decide to back out instead of drive-thru when they get upset and almost hit everyone behind them :P

How many Wendy's/tims are there?

I am unsure, I hadn't even seen one until I started working at my current location. It's a mystery :P haha

At what point does a drive-through order become a pain in the ass? I've always felt its rude to get anything more than a drink or bagel/muffin, if youre ordering sandwiches it seems to hold up the line pretty bad. I always just go in for those. Or should I bother?

Well, I have had a man order 144 donuts through the drive-thru, I've had orders for 20 large iced capps, 25 coffees, 2 take tens, etc. Ordering a simple meal is usually not a problem. Being polite, and having clarity when ordering is very appreciated though!! :)

Why is Tim Horton's so foul at those smaller rest area centers?

Smaller locations tend to have a hard time finding good staff members, so the product suffers.

Why won't Tim Hortons come to England?

Might not be profitable. I imagine the only reason a company wouldn't do something is because it wouldn't be a profit for them. otherwise I don't know!

Why does my regular coffee always taste different no matter where I order it? Why so inconsistent?

a lot of inconsiderate people work at Tim Hortons, but occasionally someone who cares enough to stir your coffee happens to make it.

Holy hell. I can't tell you how ridiculous it is that at my local drive thru "stirred" seems to be an optional component when ordering a coffee.

I've basically given up taking sugar because I was tired of having a quarter inch of super sweet sludge at the bottom of my cup.

I think that is really inconsiderate of the workers to not stir a coffee. If I catch someone not stirring coffees it is a BIG deal. I'm sorry this happens to you. :(

Coke or Pepsi?

coke :)

What kind of food do you serve there? Never been able to go to a Tim Horton's considering my location.

It started out as a coffee/donut shop, but in recent years it has grown exponentially and the menu now includes soups, sandwiches and other lunch items to compete with chains like McDonald's etc.

What happened to the Key Lime donut? I miss it so much. Please bring it back.

never had it. Tim Hortons constantly changes their stuff, if something doesn't sell well they get rid of it. also they have a lot of limited time stuff.

How liberal are you with the shelf life of stuff?

Usually product sells before it has to be thrown out but if something I wouldn't eat is sitting on the shelf I will definitely toss it.

As we all know, any person could be in charge of shelf life, so yeah.

What do You have to do as a banker?

Do you mean baker?

Nope, you're a banker now.

In that case, i'm giving myself a raise!

How many complaints does the average Tim Hortons get in a day, for all the wrong orders, due to the language barrier of their temporary foreign works?...

Daily I get 3-5 people who bring their coffee back and we replace it, but for the most part the location I work at is generally pretty accurate. We also don't have too many foreigners though :P

How do you feel about the large and extra-large coffee sizes being essentially equal, as proven in this video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkgy5p0mxug

this video is false, The difference is only 2 ounces between a large and extra large cup, it isn't much. I've seen a video that Tim Hortons made to prove that video wrong.

Is it true you're merging with Burger King?!

We are being purchased by Burger King, however, it's not like we will be serving whoppers with our coffee. Think of it the same as when Arby's bought Wendy's. The company will change ownership, but the products will remain the same.

What is your opinion about Burger King and Tim Hortons merger?

Thank you

Burger King sucks lol.

I seriously answered this question already somewhere in here :)

I live in Bellingham, WA. I've heard there are no drive thrus in BC. True?

I have no idea! I'm sorry you are deprived of the drive-thru experience :P

what's your favourite part of the job?

the dogs that come through the drive-thru :)

I recently visited Canada and to my Surprise, TH is very good. My only problem was your mini powdered timbits taste weird. They are chewy and have a gross after taste. Were they changed or do most people up there like them?

Fresh powered timbits should not be chewy when they are fresh, I don't recommend eating them if they are older than a could hours, they get gross:P

Is it true that Canadians bleed a mixture of maple syrup and Tom Hortons coffee?

Only on Fridays

Is a triple triple excessive?

No, a penta penta is.

Are those jackets provided only for the management or can other employee's and the public buy them?

They are provided for all employees at my location, but not all locations provide the jackets to their employees. No they are not for sale to the public. Sorry!:)

Your proof is weak. You could be just an ordinary employee.

The shirt in the photo is a brand new Tim Hortons Supervisor ONLY shirt. I got it last week, most locations don't even have them yet. :)

Do u face a lot of trouble in your work?

I'm not sure what you mean by trouble? Most of my daily trouble is meeting my drive-thru times and loading stock in and out of my car.

Did the other day? You mean like 14 hours ago? You're just jumping onto an AmA that any questions would've already been answered for..And you didn't even wait a day to do it. Jesus fuck you're karma hungry.

I made a reddit account to post this AMA because I'm bored. I didn't know that you are rewarded karma for posts. My boyfriend uses reddit and he's helping me. The other AMA didn't have much answers so I thought I could help out!