Nation’s Restaurant News reports that Canadian doughnut-and-coffee retailer Tim Hortons may have to close some of its New England stores, saying in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that they are underperforming because of competition from Dunkin’ Donuts.
This represents something of an about-face for the company, which less than a month ago was reported by the Wall Street Journal as targeting New England as a prime territory in which to build new stores, believing that it could take on Dunkin’ Donuts.
This represents something of an about-face for the company, which less than a month ago was reported by the Wall Street Journal as targeting New England as a prime territory in which to build new stores, believing that it could take on Dunkin’ Donuts.
- KC's View:
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As we noted here on MNB, “The Tim Hortons stores in New England tend to do less business-per-store than their Canadian brethren, and they find themselves not just competing with Dunkin’ Donuts, but also with Starbucks and McDonald’s in the hotly contested breakfast day part.”
Just a few weeks ago, Tim Hortons said that it was supporting its US franchisees with a television ad campaign and seemed unwilling to concede anything to the competition. But that was a few weeks ago.
