The Maple Leaf Lounge

[Owain Taggart]

I know they want to be a full restaurant so badly, but TBH, I only ever go there for traditional coffee shop fare: coffee, doughnuts, timbits and muffins. And now that I've given up coffee, I barely go there at all.

I don't eat out much, but if I actually wanted fast food, Tim Hortons would not be anything that came to mind.

Yeah, honestly I often feel like they lack a real identity of what they want to be. I guess they're supposed to be a bit like a Paneira Bread at this point. Their menu seems to be all over the place.

I find them handy to grab a bite if I'm on the road, and if you travel the same routes often enough, you kind of learn where to stop based on their locations. I'll say this though; their washrooms are terrible. They don't seem to maintain them properly, and there's always something wrong with them. I quite honestly find them disgusting. Last one I had stopped at, the washroom had water all over the floor. Not just small puddles, but what looked like a small lake.

I think they are playing catch up. Possibly A&W is doing a booming business with their beyond meat burgers and timmies want on the business though tim hortons had already introduced the beyond meat products in their breakfast menu.

Yeah, and I don't doubt that at all. BK must be doing the same thing seeing as they're owned by the same company. Timmie's menu is so helter-skelter, and while I applaud the effort, it just somehow strikes me as a very odd addition amid everything else they have. I guess the patties are easier to prepare.

Speaking of A&W, I was willing to try their Beyond Meat burgers a few weeks ago, but even though they'd been heavily advertised, I couldn't see them on the menu. Maybe they haven't been deployed everywhere yet.

 

[Marc]

I find them handy to grab a bite if I'm on the road, and if you travel the same routes often enough, you kind of learn where to stop based on their locations. I'll say this though; their washrooms are terrible. They don't seem to maintain them properly, and there's always something wrong with them. I quite honestly find them disgusting. Last one I had stopped at, the washroom had water all over the floor. Not just small puddles, but what looked like a small lake.

Might be a Northern Ontario thing but I can't say I've come across any that bad in the southern part of the province.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Might be a Northern Ontario thing but I can't say I've come across any that bad in the southern part of the province.

Yeah, it could be. I mean in general Southern Ontario gets more attention due to more visitors. And to be fair, it's not just Timmies. There used to be nice washrooms at a fairly large gas station in Cobden. But the last time I was there last month, both stall doors in the men's washroom were broken and unable to close, one of them fully off its hinges.

 

[Timewalker]

So this "Beyond Meat" stuff is vegan? In that case, I'll pass. If I order a burger, I expect it to be real beef, not some fake stuff.

Canada Day was my last time with Tim Hortons. I love their honey-glazed Timbits, but they're beyond the range of "sweet" I can have now.

The hell of it is that the mall kiosk where I got my Timbits fix now has more real food, and I have no idea if I dare try it.

Oh, and bathrooms... our public library has TWO washrooms in a 4-storey building, and when I went to find someone to report feces on the floor in the handicapped stall, I was told, "Oh, we'll just close it all down until the janitors come on after the library closes tonight. We don't have anyone doing cleaning during the day."

Disgusting.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

So this "Beyond Meat" stuff is vegan? In that case, I'll pass. If I order a burger, I expect it to be real beef, not some fake stuff.

We reach.

As for Tims, I have never had Timbits but I do love their coffee (and sandwiches). I wish we had more of them down here. I vastly prefer Tims coffee to Starbucks.

 

[Owain Taggart]

So this "Beyond Meat" stuff is vegan? In that case, I'll pass. If I order a burger, I expect it to be real beef, not some fake stuff.

Yeah, it's following the trend of the Impossible Burger. Just that 'Beyond Meat' is a different company, but both try to give their substitutes a texture and taste more similar to meat.

 

[Timewalker]

I have never had Timbits

You need to remedy that.

 

[Avro Arrow]

So apparently this is a thing that is happening:

Tim Hortons is opening a fancy-schmancy ‘innovation café’ with uber-exclusive goodies

(I guess in hindsight, we should have just called this "The Tim Hortons Thread", since that seems to be mostly what we talk about in here... )

 

[Timewalker]

So apparently this is a thing that is happening:

Tim Hortons is opening a fancy-schmancy ‘innovation café’ with uber-exclusive goodies

(I guess in hindsight, we should have just called this "The Tim Hortons Thread", since that seems to be mostly what we talk about in here... )

Gah.

 

[Owain Taggart]

(I guess in hindsight, we should have just called this "The Tim Hortons Thread", since that seems to be mostly what we talk about in here... )

Well, we Canadians sure are loyal to Timmies, what can we say?

That new concept is interesting. It's like they're trying to join the same space as Starbucks at least in its decor. But on the other hand, outside urban environments like Toronto, I don't really think Starbucks has caught on with Canadians. But that may just be me.

Speaking of Starbucks, we actually have a brand new stand-alone location opening soon. Only one in our city, as far as I know. But amazingly, it's only a block or two from Chapters where there is a Starbucks. I don't know the logic behind that, other than to say there is a Tim Hortons nearby and also another coffee shop (Twigg's Coffee Roasters, which is a bit more upscale than Starbucks even). There must be a corporate rule about not building so close to as to erode the market via overlap.

 

[Marc]

Speaking of Starbucks, we actually have a brand new stand-alone location opening soon. Only one in our city, as far as I know. But amazingly, it's only a block or two from Chapters where there is a Starbucks. I don't know the logic behind that, other than to say there is a Tim Hortons nearby and also another coffee shop (Twigg's Coffee Roasters, which is a bit more upscale than Starbucks even). There must be a corporate rule about not building so close to as to erode the market via overlap.

Same here - get to see construction progressing when ever I go to the gym.

It's on a fairly busy road, next to a Shoppers, across the road from a wal-mart (which has a McDonalds which is next door to an A&W), a few hundred metres up the road from a Tim Hortons and may 100m down the road from a full McDonalds and they a both just down the road from a Wendys.

There's a Starbucks in the Chapters but I don't know how busy it is and it's several Km from the new location.

 

[Timewalker]

Well, we Canadians sure are loyal to Timmies, what can we say?

That new concept is interesting. It's like they're trying to join the same space as Starbucks at least in its decor. But on the other hand, outside urban environments like Toronto, I don't really think Starbucks has caught on with Canadians. But that may just be me.

Speaking of Starbucks, we actually have a brand new stand-alone location opening soon. Only one in our city, as far as I know. But amazingly, it's only a block or two from Chapters where there is a Starbucks. I don't know the logic behind that, other than to say there is a Tim Hortons nearby and also another coffee shop (Twigg's Coffee Roasters, which is a bit more upscale than Starbucks even). There must be a corporate rule about not building so close to as to erode the market via overlap.

Maybe the standalone one is meant for people who don't read.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Maybe the standalone one is meant for people who don't read.

Well, it's always open to those who don't want to set foot inside the Chapters. But it is kind of a busy place, so maybe another location so close by is warranted? Don't know how these things work, but I do find it odd.

 

[Timewalker]

Well, it's always open to those who don't want to set foot inside the Chapters. But it is kind of a busy place, so maybe another location so close by is warranted? Don't know how these things work, but I do find it odd.

In any Canadian city that's more than a one-street wide spot in the road, you will find multiple fast-food places clustered near each other, whether they're standalone or part of another place. My closest McDonalds is located inside the nearest Walmart. But when I order it for delivery, I get it from the nearest standalone place (been rethinking that, since this place has a talent for screwing up my orders and it's a pain to make the Skip agents understand that they don't just owe me for the food, but they also owe me the GST as well). My nearest Tim Hortons is a small kiosk in the same mall where the Walmart is. I have no idea where the nearest standalone Tim Hortons is; it's been at least 20 years since the last time I was in one of those. I just know we have a lot of them.

As for Starbucks, if we have any that aren't the one located inside Chapters, I have no idea and don't care. I don't drink coffee, and the price of their non-coffee items is insane.

London Drugs is in that area of town, and it used to be really convenient there. They had a small lunch counter and internet cafe area, so I could get a sandwich and pop and pay for a couple of hours online (this was before I had my own PC). That was back in 2004, when I was active on the RPG forum (the first forum I ever joined).

 

[Owain Taggart]

In any Canadian city that's more than a one-street wide spot in the road, you will find multiple fast-food places clustered near each other, whether they're standalone or part of another place.

Yeah, sort of a like a fast-food hub. I understand that, but I just don't understand why two Starbucks can be so close to each other and not cannibalize their clientle. It's less than a km to both.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I just don't understand why two Starbucks can be so close to each other and not cannibalize their clientle. It's less than a km to both.

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[Owain Taggart]

Lewis Black is awesome

 

[Timewalker]

Yeah, sort of a like a fast-food hub. I understand that, but I just don't understand why two Starbucks can be so close to each other and not cannibalize their clientle. It's less than a km to both.

If one is inside a Chapters, it gets the book-reading customers who like a coffee and muffin with their reading, or if they bring their laptop along to take advantage of free wi-fi.

If the other is standalone, it gets the customers who are more focused on what consumables are being served, and they're either there to grab something and go, or they want to socialize there.

Two differently-focused groups of customers, and they wouldn't necessarily "cannibalize" anyone.

 

[Garak]

Real shame they aren't going to allow Maxime Bernier to participate in the debates, hoping that decision gets reversed

Meanwhile we get to choose between our severely ethically challenged and hypocritical Prime Minister or notable shitbag Andrew Scheer

Oh well. At least we aren't American

 

[Avro Arrow]

Real shame they aren't going to allow Maxime Bernier to participate in the debates, hoping that decision gets reversed

I hadn't heard that yet, but yes, it is unfortunate. I realize they have to have rules and cutoffs and such, because they can't have someone from every minor fringe party there. But my understanding is that the PPC was planning to run a candidate in every riding across the country, so if they're a truly national party, then they should be there.

I'm by no means someone who would ever vote PPC. But I didn't agree with it when they excluded the Greens, so I don't agree with this now, either.

We've only got two months to go. I'm surprised people aren't talking about it more.