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Great news! Tim Hortons is about to get some much-needed direct competition on the coffee and donuts front. After an eight-year hiatus, Dunkin’ Donuts is coming back to Canada.

As reported in the Toronto Sun by the superb food professor Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, Dunkin’ Donuts was once a formidable player in the Canadian coffee and donuts sector, especially in Quebec.

Dr. Charlebois is the director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, a co-host of The Food Professor Podcast, and a visiting scholar at McGill University. He knows his stuff when it comes to the food and foodservice sectors.

And now comes word that Dunkin’ is back – and it means business, with as many as 700 locations opening in Canada beginning later this year.

The player behind the return of Dunkin’ Donuts is Foodtastic. Foodtastic is a Montreal-based restaurant consolidator that has a reputation for aggressively acquiring and revitalizing brands across Canada. This includes such chains as Pita Pit, Second Cup, Freshii and Quesada.

Dr. Charlebois notes that, unlike many foreign operators trying to enter Canada, Foodtastic actually understands the Canadian and Quebec markets intimately. And this understanding is crucial for success.

So, the question arises: Why is Dunkin’ Donuts set to return now?

Dr. Charlebois says the decision to revive this iconic U.S. brand in the Great White North is all about identifying weakness in our domestic market. 

He notes: “For years, Tim Hortons dominated Canada’s quick-service coffee market with extraordinary efficiency. It wasn’t just a coffee chain; it became part of Canada’s cultural identity. But dominance can create complacency, and the Canadian marketplace today is very different from the one Dunkin’ left behind. Consumer loyalty has weakened. Canadians are far more willing to switch brands than they were 20 years ago. Inflation has changed buying habits. Consumers are increasingly critical of value, quality, consistency and service. At the same time, the coffee market itself has evolved dramatically.”

He is right on the money. What’s more, I think Dr. Charlebois is far too polite in his analysis of Tim’s reputational downfall. I mean, let’s be honest: most of the food Tim Hortons serves up these days is practically inedible.

As for the chain’s decades-old slogan, “Always Fresh”, that’s an outright fallacy. Tim Hortons stores used to bake donuts and muffins from scratch. But about 20 years ago, they got rid of their bakers, a decision that was driven by reducing labour costs. Now the stores heat up par-baked items, which are nicknamed frozen pucks, in convection ovens. This is a task that’s easily done by those making minimum wage, and without any knowledge of baking. “Always Fresh” indeed…

And maybe it’s just me, but why do so many Tim Hortons stores seem so shabby? And why are the washrooms so frequently filthy? It’s like nobody in charge seems to care anymore.

Which is why Dr. Charlebois notes that, “Ironically, Dunkin’s return may say less about the strength of Dunkin’ and more about the reality that Tim Hortons is no longer viewed as invincible. That alone makes this story worth watching carefully.”

And I would add that even though Tim Hortons wraps itself in the Maple Leaf, Tim’s is no longer a Canadian-owned chain but part of a multinational conglomerate. It’s Canadian in name only, and I’m sure the man it is named after is rolling in his grave right now.

I'm going to give the CEO of Foodtastic eight figures worth of free consulting advice: If you want to really resonate with Canadian customers who are pissed off with Tim Hortons, stage a press conference in which you announce that your company plans to hire Canadians to staff Dunkin’ Donuts shops, and that you will not take advantage of the Temporary Foreign Worker program.

In recent years, Tim Hortons has earned the dubious nickname of “Singh Hortons”. Sure, this company loves selling products to Canadians. But it is increasingly not hiring Canadians as staffers – even though Tim’s is a multibillion-dollar restaurant chain that certainly does not need government handouts.

I am certain this would be a winning communications strategy for Foodtastic as it resurrects Dunkin’ Donuts in these parts.

Talk about irony in this day and age of “elbows up”! Will an American-based coffee and donut chain actually end up being more Canadian than Tim Hortons?

Can’t wait to see what transpires in the months ahead.