Very tangential to the quality of chain restaurants that have decline in quality:
I'm from the US, but on the Canadian border, and Timmy's was the dominant coffee shop growing up. Even if you didn't drink coffee, that was the hang out.
We had a Dunkin that was probably less than 100 meters away from it that had a fire and never reopened. I definitely think it was a ploy for insurance money because they never had _any_ business. Tim Horton's dominated.
Then something happened around 2017 and their coffee became awful (it was never incredible, but it got much worse). Then their prices began to rise significantly. Whenever I go home, I get a cup of Timmy's coffee, but it's never good.
Turns out having nostalgia for a large food company doesn't play well in the long run. I'm sure the same applies to Red Lobster, but those kinds of places become part of your memories growing up and you want them to do well, maybe as a way of preserving those memories. Probably half of my friends and I had their first dates at Tim Horton's growing up. As much as I wish I didn't feel the need to drink their swill a few times a year, there's something that still draws me.
> Then something happened around 2017 and their coffee became awful (it was never incredible, but it got much worse)
Tim Hortons got acquired by Burger King (Restaurant Brands International / QSR) in December 2014, and the quality started to decline over the next year or two
Ah I didn't even consider the time correlation there. Makes sense. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the same company that operates Burger King (and their god awful Seattle's Best coffee) would also decrease the quality of another food business.
But, it's like the 'default' addiction for Canadians and crappy coffee (especially after they switched their coffee supplier to a much worse grade).
Before that, it was removing their in-house bakeries and supplying flash-frozen donut offerings. (And then after shifting the "overton window" for a couple years - reducing sizes, but keeping prices the same - they sold that as "healthier")
They moved their yearly promotional contest to an "app-only" mechanism - and have had major errors in notifying winners for 2-years in a row. (This year, my wife was notified that she won a $70,000+ boat+trailer... well, apparently so did a quarter-million other Canadians...)
And then there is the ever shifting introduction of nightmare food offerings - they keep shuffling the chairs around like something is going to be a big "hit".
The latest is crappy "cardboard flatbread pizza" - and they seemed to have removed the simple "grilled cheese" to accommodate that.
Their franchise owners blatantly abused the TFW program for obtaining minimum wage workers - and now they are abusing the student visa changes, because the TFW program was tightened.
They need to go. (The conglomerate who owns them, not the franchises - or workers)
Very tangential to the quality of chain restaurants that have decline in quality:
I'm from the US, but on the Canadian border, and Timmy's was the dominant coffee shop growing up. Even if you didn't drink coffee, that was the hang out.
We had a Dunkin that was probably less than 100 meters away from it that had a fire and never reopened. I definitely think it was a ploy for insurance money because they never had _any_ business. Tim Horton's dominated.
Then something happened around 2017 and their coffee became awful (it was never incredible, but it got much worse). Then their prices began to rise significantly. Whenever I go home, I get a cup of Timmy's coffee, but it's never good.
Turns out having nostalgia for a large food company doesn't play well in the long run. I'm sure the same applies to Red Lobster, but those kinds of places become part of your memories growing up and you want them to do well, maybe as a way of preserving those memories. Probably half of my friends and I had their first dates at Tim Horton's growing up. As much as I wish I didn't feel the need to drink their swill a few times a year, there's something that still draws me.
> Then something happened around 2017 and their coffee became awful (it was never incredible, but it got much worse)
Tim Hortons got acquired by Burger King (Restaurant Brands International / QSR) in December 2014, and the quality started to decline over the next year or two
Ah I didn't even consider the time correlation there. Makes sense. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the same company that operates Burger King (and their god awful Seattle's Best coffee) would also decrease the quality of another food business.
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Man, I wish Tim Hortons would die...
But, it's like the 'default' addiction for Canadians and crappy coffee (especially after they switched their coffee supplier to a much worse grade).
Before that, it was removing their in-house bakeries and supplying flash-frozen donut offerings. (And then after shifting the "overton window" for a couple years - reducing sizes, but keeping prices the same - they sold that as "healthier")
They moved their yearly promotional contest to an "app-only" mechanism - and have had major errors in notifying winners for 2-years in a row. (This year, my wife was notified that she won a $70,000+ boat+trailer... well, apparently so did a quarter-million other Canadians...)
And then there is the ever shifting introduction of nightmare food offerings - they keep shuffling the chairs around like something is going to be a big "hit".
The latest is crappy "cardboard flatbread pizza" - and they seemed to have removed the simple "grilled cheese" to accommodate that.
Their franchise owners blatantly abused the TFW program for obtaining minimum wage workers - and now they are abusing the student visa changes, because the TFW program was tightened.
They need to go. (The conglomerate who owns them, not the franchises - or workers)
Overpriced bad food? Bingo!