Canadian Culture: Tim Hortons

There are some elements of my Canadian culture that I think will never go away, and one of the most prominent (aside from ice hockey and Terry Fox) is the chain of coffee shops throughout Canada known as Tim Hortons. Of course their flagship product is coffee, but they also serve a variety of deserts and quick soup/sandwich meals at competitive prices. Is Tim Hortons a “green” corporation? In many ways I think they want the public to think so, but in my opinion they have room for improvement.

On the Tim Hortons website, the link for “Making a True Difference” (Tim Hortons, 2016) highlights the contributions that the corporation has made to local communities. For instance their Timbits hockey and soccer sponsorship programs …show more content…
There are a few reasons. As I understand from the materials presented in this course so far, sustainability is about putting in as much as you take out (of a specific area, society, environment…) and it is about minimizing the imbalance that may occur within communities and the environment. To these ends, TH has some work to do, and I don’t know if it can be done. First, their coffee cups and food packaging can often be found everywhere, not just in their garbage dumpsters but also in roadside ditches and almost any place where garbage has accumulated. I’ve seen this with my own eyes. There needs to be some sort of incentive for people to recycle their TH garbage to avoid this unsightly and unhealthy byproduct of dining there. Secondly, a blatant consequence of establishing a new Tim Hortons franchise usually means that other local mom-and-pop coffee shops and restaurants take a hit because of losing customers to Tim Hortons. In my hometown, a new franchise opened its doors a few years ago and business at Suzy’s Diner (which served excellent food) took an immediate nosedive. I don’t think this is in line with the ideals of sustainability in a community, but some may argue that this is simply part of market