Tim Hortons won't let a $12.5-billion union with Burger King go to its head.
And certainly not to its coffee.
Indeed, the nation's largest restaurant chain has taken out a double-double newspaper ad in the Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, Ottawa Citizen and several other dailies to remind Canadians it's still the same old Timmy's.
On Thursday morning, Ottawa Citizen editor James Gordon captured the ad in his morning paper — and tweeted thusly:
The ad carried the following note of reassurance:
The overture comes on the heels of Burger King's Tuesday announcement that it's buying the iconic chain with Brazilian private equity firm 3G Capital primed to hold a majority stake in the combined company.
The new company's headquarters will be in Canada, while the two brands will remain standalone franchises.
Although Burger King will stay Miami-based, many have labelled the move a tax dodge with the company poised to benefit from Canada's lower tax rates.
One Democratic senator from Ohio is even calling for a boycott.
“Burger King’s decision to abandon the United States means consumers should turn to Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers or White Castle sliders," Senator Sherrod Brown said in a statement. "Burger King has always said ‘Have it Your Way’; well my way is to support two Ohio companies that haven’t abandoned their country or customers."
And as for Canadian concerns.. well, will the coffee stay the same?
To answer that question, the ad in the Ottawa Citizen offers identical cups of its trademark coffee, one adorning each page.
No difference at all, the ad suggests.
And that's a good thing, since Timmy's percolates pretty closely to the average Canadian's heart.
"Could you do that with Starbucks? Could you do that with other brands?" York University professor Alan Middleton asked CBC News. "Tim's is every man and every woman, and that’s its power."
"It's genuinely beloved."
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