Thanks to its intensive expansion, Tim Hortons has more than doubled its number of stores in China, to a total of 300. Within the next five years, the company expects to grow by 800%.
Tims China – a joint venture of private equity firm Cartesian Capital Group and Restaurant Brands International Inc. – had 137 locations at the beginning of the year. The number of stores has now more than doubled.
The rapid growth of Tims China is a prelude to the merger with blank cheque company Silver Crest Acquisition Corp. The merger, scheduled to close in the first quarter of 2022, is part of a plan to take the company’s China operations public.
The company plans to increase the store count by 800% by 2026
Increasing Tims China’s store count by a factor of two isn’t the endgame – the company plans to increase the store count by 800% by 2026. These new stores are planned to be open in and around Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Chengdu and Chongqing.
It sounds like an ambitious goal, but it’s really quite manageable. The Chinese market is absolutely a compelling market. In the area of coffee, it’s also the fastest-growing market in the world, and so we see plenty of room to reach that stated target.
Chairman of Tims China Peter Yu
Yu also explained that the clustering of stores will assist with improving customer convenience and supply chain efficiency, as well as increasing the density of operations. If the expansion is successful, this will put Tims China ahead of Seattle-based coffee giant Starbucks in terms of the rate of expansion.
