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In 1964, the first Tim Hortons restaurant in Hamilton, Ontario opened its doors and people around the globe have been ordering Tim Hortons iconic Original Blend coffee, Double-Double coffees, Donuts and Timbits ever since. Tim Hortons is proud to be Canada's largest restaurant chain serving over 5 million cups of coffee every day and now the store has opened it’s door in India with opening of two stores one in Saket, Delhi and other at CyberHub Gurgaon. Both the outlets feature warm and comfortable interiors and a welcoming environment inspired by the brand’s Canadian origins.
Known worldwide for its signature coffee, iconic beverages & delicious food, Tim Hortons has introduced a host of menu options for the Indian market. In a quick catch up with Navin Gurnaney, CEO of the Tim Hortons franchise in India, he shares how expectation, strategy and more of the brand.
How do you perceive the coffee market in India?
With over five decades of expertise in coffee, Tim Hortons is a global brand from Canada with presence in over 5,100 locations across 13 countries. The iconic coffee brand is well-known for its coffee, fresh food, baked goods and donuts. When we first opened our doors in 1964, our founder Tim Horton had the mission to create “a place where anyone can go at any time and feel at home”.
Our entry in India is very crucial and will represent the brand’s 4th country in the APAC region, which already has over 350 stores. With our launch in India, we will be building on another successful international expansion after China, Saudi Arabia and the UK. In the last decade or so, there has been a significant shift of consumers from commodity to specialty or premium coffee globally and in India. The Indian coffee market is expected to reach over $4.2 billion in size by 2025, with out-of-home consumption accounting for around 20 percent of the market. The Indian coffee retail chain market is expected to reach the $850 million mark by 2025, hence India is an important market for Tim Hortons. We are deeply committed to investing in community growth & progress in India.
What special care have you taken while working on the pricing strategy & India specific offers.
We are a premium brand with a balanced pricing approach. We have a wide price point range in all categories so that everyone can enjoy Tim Hortons in their own ways. While our stores are open to all, we do believe that India has a lot of passionate on-the-go Gen-Z crowd and Millennials who understand our brand and will become our major customer base. To appeal to this segment we have a very international looking menu offering but with Indian palette that are very affordable and do not burn a hole in the pocket.
While we did have the initial launch offer, currently we are not running any active promotions or offers. Eventually, we might get into a combo offer that provides a great pairing of our beverages with our food.
With so many brands in the market, what will be your strategy for competition?
We believe in thinking of the customer first and competition later. Our philosophy is to provide an enriching customer experience like no one else. Our operating model is in between a Café and QSR. Thus, we intend to serve all customer needs, be it a great tasting coffee in a relaxed environment or a scrumptious food served within minutes.
We plan to position ourselves as a brand which provides the best quality of food and beverages. Our coffee is sourced from Bada Budan Giri estate in Chikmanglur which provides the finest quality of coffee in India. Furthermore, we serve only 100% Premium Arabica Coffee which very few chains in the country would be serving. Our food is "Prepared-to-order" that makes it taste very fresh and enjoyable. Since we prepare our food in our restaurant we have the ability to customize the food to our guests liking and not just serve a ‘grab & go’ sort of offering. Our restaurants are inspired by Canadian culture that makes you feel welcomed, and at ease.
Anything on the menu of Tim Horton's that is India specific.
Our research indicates that consumers are looking for an international beverage experience but when it comes to food, they want something which has a local palette. With this insight, our food menu has a healthy mix of international as well Indian palatable food offerings. Our wraps have fillings of lamb seekh and paneer tikka. One of our eclectic fusion dishes is the ravioli pasta with the popular local palate of the makhni gravy. To appeal to North Indian taste buds, we have an open faced Chole Kulcha Melt which is a popular local dish but served in a café like avatar. We have vegetarian & non vegetarian options alike in our food menu, to cater to most preferences. Along with these, customers can enjoy our signature cheese melts as well as a variety of customizable sandwiches. While we cater to the global aspiration of Indians, we will also differentiate ourselves by having localized variants in our food range that will appeal to the Indian palette equally well.
What has been your hot selling beverage since you opened in India.
We have opened to a tremendous response of customers in all our categories of beverages, food and baked goods. But if I have to pick the very top ones it is our iconic beverage French Vanilla, both hot and cold options, that has appealed the most to our customers. Our ‘Java Chip Iced Capp’ is also the highest selling one which provides a perfect balance of coffee and chocolate flavour that comes with our signature Java mix.
