Tim Hortons to open first store in India this year in continued push to become global brand

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Tim Hortons will open its first location in India this year, with plans to expand to 300 restaurants across the country in the next decade, parent company Restaurant Brands International Inc. said on Tuesday.

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RBI has been pushing to turn Tim Hortons into a more global brand since acquiring the coffee-and-doughnuts chain in 2014, with a major expansion into China reaching more than 400 locations in the last three years. In India, RBI sees “one of the world’s fastest growing markets for coffee and tea retail chains,” David Shear, president of RBI’s international business, said in a news release.

The India expansion is part of an exclusive agreement with a joint venture entity owned by Apparel Group and Gateway Partners, RBI said. The flagship location will open in New Delhi this year.

Tim Hortons is entering India, the world’s sixth-largest economy, as Canada looks to strengthen its business ties with the country. International Trade Minister Mary Ng announced last week that she and her Indian counterpart, Piyush Goyal, will relaunch trade negotiations for the first time since 2017.

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Trade talks began in 2010 but lost momentum after 10 rounds over seven years. Meanwhile, exports and imports between the two countries have increased, growing 12 per cent in 2021 from the year prior to US$6.29 billion. It’s not been without hiccups, however.

India is the world’s largest market of vegetarians and Canada is its biggest supplier of plant-based protein. Yet exporters have faced steep tariffs on peas, lentils and chickpeas since 2017 for no apparent reason other than India’s desire to protect local farmers from foreign competition.

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India’s desire to safeguard local business has also made it difficult for some big western retail brands to enter the market, said Rohinton Medhora, president of Centre for International Governance Innovation, a think-tank. But Tim Hortons may not be seen as a similar threat, he said, because its products are viewed as more high-end or expensive, and therefore not a direct competitor to India’s abundant street vendors who sell coffee and tea.

“Tim Hortons cannot compete with a chaiwala,” Medhora said. “The box stores, it’s the other way around. They have the potential to be way more efficient than the mom-and-pop retailers.”

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