I will be the first to admit I really enjoy a cup of Tim Hortons’ coffee with a Boston Cream donut, or a French Cruller or even a few Timbits, especially on chilly winter mornings. It’s almost like a little secret pleasure I’ve had for many years that”s slowly changing now that I’ve become more aware of where my food comes from. A recent article in Maclean’s magazine reminded me of the origins of those sweet pastries and a little bit of research (since no more information is available online) proved my hesitation at continuing my enjoyment of this junk food treat.
Since the mid 90’s the ownership of the Tim Hortons chain switched into the hands of the American Wendy’s corporation and the shift in donut cooking methods began. By the early 2000s franchise owners were struggling to find proper help to run the overnight baking shift and other methods of production were sought after. A solution was discovered when the Maidstone plant in Brantford Ontario, was bought in conjunction with a Swiss food giant known as Aryzta AG. The industrial bakery provided stores with par-baked (almost 95% of the baking process) and flash frozen donuts that only needed a little finishing in the franchise ovens and decorating. To make the process even smoother the deep friers that occupied the bakeries of each Tim Hortons location were replaced with walk in freezers and a series of microwave convection ovens to finish the cooking. The shift was very upsetting for their loyal customers but was quickly overlooked with business resuming as usual for the past almost ten years. It’s actually impressive that their earnings constantly show profits as the rest of the take-out coffee are battling the shortcomings of the economy.
However, the newest turn of events is the fact that the entirety of Tim Hortons’ shares in the Maidstone plant have been sold and the Swiss company now in charge has only promised to provide franchises with donuts until 2016. Does this mean the end of Canadian made Tim Hortons products? Is this the end of true Canadiana? Since the change to frozen product has been integrated for many years now and accepted, I think the main problem at hand is a moral issue against the change in donut origin. Will this bother you?