Today we remember Tim Horton, a 24-year NHL veteran who played (mostly) for the Toronto Maple Leafs. But, it was his second career as a coffee and donut shop owner that proved to be his legacy. Tim Horton’s is Canada’s largest chain of fast and fresh food with more than 5,700 locations in 13 countries, which grew to this size thanks to his business partner, Ron Joyce, who carried on the name after Horton’s death in a car crash on this date in 1974. Joyce pushed the business to expand at a breakneck pace, often sending mom-and-pop donut shops out of business and resulting in Canada’s unique claim as having the highest per-capita ratio of donut shops in the world. The 1995 purchase by Wendy’s International (of Wendy’s hamburger fame), the 2014 merger with Burger King for more than $11 billion, and the subsequent purchase by Toronto-based Restaurant Brands International is the pinnacle of a corporate trajectory still studied in business schools today.
NCPA
