Tim Hortons defends hiring practices, says Canadian stores are 'always hiring locally'

Tim Hortons has responded to the claims their most recent announcement on hiring Canadians is a response to the new competition looming — instead, they say they are "always hiring locally."This was what Chief Corporate Officer Duncan Fulton of Tim Hortons' parent brand, Restaurant Brands International (RBI), told the Food Professor, or Sylvain Charlebois, on his podcast, alongside Axel Schwan, President of Tim Hortons Canada and the US.It was in response to growing speculation Tim Hortons has become threatened by Dunkin' Donuts announcing in May they'd be returning to Canada in late 2026 to early 2027, and it had began marketing more aggressively as a consequence. As well, many believe their late May announcement to hire more Canadians is an attempt to get more consumers to associate the brand with being Canadian — since they have been in hot water for their abuse of the temporary foreign workers program (TFWP).."The hiring campaign, our owners are always hiring locally," stated Fulton."When there are 110,000 team members, part-time and full-time — and in part-time roles, there's more turnover.""So, there's an ongoing, hiring campaign."However, hiring locally is a term defined very specifically by the company on their own website..In the Tims' hiring announcement, "locally" means hiring "Canadians born here, new Canadian citizens, students, seniors, permanent residents, international students, and people with valid Canadian work permits."Having a valid work permit would include those under the TFWP.Fulton also mentioned recent ads announcing franchises are hiring, with short clips posted on social media interviewing franchisee owners and their employees. Although all of the clips were posted following the Dunkin' announcement, Fulton stated the ads were "shot months ago."."That's just part of an ongoing campaign that our owners have locally — and that we also want to bring some national attention to," Fulton stated.They had also announced in May they'd be renovating 400 restaurants this year and building 80 new ones — 12 of which have already been completed.Fulton again claimed this was not due to Dunkin' and "restaurants that are under construction today have been in the works for 2 years.""You have to find the land, you have to get the contractors, you have to get the permits.""We actually run on a three-year rolling schedule.".Charlebois asked the two directly whether the company can really hire more Canadians, or whether it is truly up to their franchise owners."I mean, ultimately that's true," Fulton responded."We have 1,500 restaurant owners. They are each their own employer.""If you go work in a restaurant, you don't work for Tim Hortons, the corporation, you work for a franchisee."."You can see on the government's website when you look it up, and to the best of our knowledge about 4,000 of the 110,000 team members in restaurants are part of that program.""The very large majority of everyone in the restaurants are hired locally. And again, our restaurants are one of the biggest employers of Canadians in the country," said Fulton.

Tim Hortons defends hiring practices, says Canadian stores are 'always hiring locally'

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