Overview – Tim Hortons Tim Hortons is a fast food restaurant franchise specializing in coffee and doughnuts. It is currently Canada’s largest fast food franchise with over 4000 stores across North America (http://o.canada.com). The franchise was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario, by Canadian hockey player Tim Horton. In 1967, Horton partnered with investor Ron Joyce, who assumed control over operations after Tim Horton died in 1974, and expanded the chain into a multi-million dollar franchise (timhortons.com). Tim Hortons franchises as grown rapidly as has overtaken McDonald's as Canada's largest food service operator. The company opened twice as many Canadian outlets as McDonald's and system-wide sales also surpassed those of McDonald's Canadian operations as of 2002. The chain accounted for 22.6% of all fast food industry revenues in Canada in 2005. Tim Hortons commands 76% of the Canadian market for baked goods, and holds 62% of the Canadian coffee market (Wikipedia 2005). Tim Hortons currently employs more than 100,000 staff members to run and support its franchise (nextsteps.org). It has been a stalwart towards supporting the environment and is among the leading fast food franchise that delves into reducing waste. However, due to stores being owned by franchisees who are non- corporate related, each store varies in how strictly it follows regulations. This paper will discuss certain aspects of Tim Hortons stores that can be improved. The economic, environment and social aspects will be used to measure how sustainable Tim Hortons store operations are and how it can be improved based on key issues identified.

Issues
Staff wage and work environment Tim Hortons stores are known for its fast paced morning environments. With a total of $5.56 billion in sales for the year 2011 (Tucker 2012), and products tuned to attract customers in the morning, it is easy to assume that restaurant staff members experience a busy work environment throughout the week. Depending on the store size and location, each restaurant staff member is expected to have their hands full during peak hours of breakfast and lunch. The addition of a drive- thru section in the store increases the productivity required per staff member. An interview with a current Tim Hortons store supervisor was conducted to understand the work environment experienced by Tim Hortons staff. All store owners are different, thus one employee’s experience in one store might be different compared to other stores. However, based on the interview, it is understandable that most Tim Hortons stores are geared for the least cost productivity per employee. Employees work based on various shifts. Employees serving the morning rush customers experience the largest flow of orders a store goes through a day. With a mentality of fast customer service to serve as many customers as possible, employee productivity is definitely maxed during peak hours. In regards to productivity, the wage per employee will be explored. Each staff begins with a basic wage that is usually slightly higher than the minimum wage imposed by the province, with an additional dollar for clean performances and punctuality. The wage provided by each store differs based on owners and location, but most stores generally differ by just half a dollar. The wage received per staff employee contrasts to the amount of productivity produced per staff, especially during peak hours. Responsibility held by employees do not parallel with the wage paid.
Even more, each employee experiences possibly the minimum rest possible at work. Employees are provided with a 15 minute break every three and a half hours of work. The 15 minute break includes using the washroom, buying food to eat, and more. As per the interview, employees only experience an actual five minute break after going through process of getting their food and drinks. This work environment usually leads to high turnover of staff, which suggests constant hiring of new staff. This can lead to inefficiencies in the store. Socially, Tim Hortons stores can be assumed to be less than sustainable.
Hot beverage cups Tim Hortons engages in reducing its environmental impact through various ways such as packaging improvements, reducing number of pallets and trucks on road per year, imposing usage of LED lighting in stores and many more (timhortons.com). Tim Hortons has been a strong supporter of waste reduction. For example, customers gain a ten percent discount on drinks purchased if they use their own travel mugs. However, there are still many ways to improve stores environmentally (timhortons.com).
Tim Hortons, as a leader in the Canadian fast food franchise industry, uses paper cups as its main carrier for its drinks. In fact, all fast food industries use paper cups as carriers for their drinks. Nevertheless, being a leader in an industry requires being among the first to implement industry wide behavior. Among Tim Hortons initiatives as of the year 2000, Tim Hortons have been implementing the Hot Beverage Cup and Paper Packaging Recycling Program. This program aims to reduce the impact of paper cups on the environment (timhortons.com). Hilary Feldman stated in an article titled Paper Cup = Unsustainable Consumption “paper cups are coated with polyethylene for insulation and durability. This plastic resin prevents recycling of cups.”
Tim Hortons has been partnering with various waste industry experts to improve the chances of recycling its hot beverage cups. Normal processes do not allow for paper cups to decompose or be recycled. Tim Hortons has been taking measures to increase the chances of paper cups being recycled. These measures can be seen in at least 850 restaurants across Canada as of 2012, with each restaurants having a special section for hot beverage cup recycling (timhortons.com). It is understandable that it takes time to implement these processes across the nation, and that collaboration with municipalities and provinces are required to implement general pickup especially for paper cup recycling. Appendix 1 shows how unique the recycling process of paper cups is, and the implications of manufacturing a paper cup on the environment.
As discussed above, Tim Hortons has been moving towards solving a problem its industry is common for. The issue here is while it will be implementing its initiatives across the coming years, it will take a long time before all restaurants have the same paper cup recycling programs, and even longer before paper cup recycling becomes a common thing. Winnipeg itself has no stores with Hot Beverage Cup and Paper Packaging Recycling or Composting. Paper cups are still being manufactured while Tim Hortons tries to implement its programs.
The Drive- thru The drive- thru is a common feature among fast food restaurants to facilitate more customer orders within less time. Drive- thrus offer everything on the menu that can be ordered in store. Customers lineup their cars in the drive- thru to obtain hopefully quicker service from the fast food restaurant as opposed to getting out of their cars, walk in store, lineup and place their orders. This generalization however has lead to lineups that congests roads and highways in front of fast food restaurants with drive- thrus. Tim Hortons, being a franchise that caters to morning breakfast and coffee, experiences a high number of customers each morning, ranging from students to working adults that go through the drive- thru for a quick order of breakfast. This daily behavior has lead to the drive- thru being over used at times; with the restaurant itself occasionally having almost no customers while the drive- thru is at full capacity. Appendix 2 to Appendix 5 shows the observation results of four Tim Hortons restaurants based on the amount of cars and customers during on the snapshot times of every five minutes between 650 am to 850 am. It is assumed that these are peak hours that customers want to get coffee and breakfast from Tim Hortons and thus experience a long lineup for its products. During the observation, the following are noted to reach the assumption of customer to drive- thru ratio, and possible CO2 emissions of cars in the drive- thru during the snapshot time period. The calculation of CO2 emissions per car is calculated using the average cars in the lineup in the snapshot time period, multiplied by the average emission a car makes, and finally multiplied by the service time of a minute from making an order till after paying for the product in the drive- thru.
Many assumptions were made for this observation. Queuing time was not taken into account, as is the number of products ordered per customer and the number of staff available to service the drive- thru. In short, this observation produces the minimum number of CO2 emissions experienced by the four observed Tim Hortons restaurants. Appendix 6 shows possible and highly assumed CO2 emissions by cars in Tim Hortons across Canada drive- thrus in peak hours between 650am to 850am annually. It was also observed that customers, possibly through habit, use a packed drive- thru when the restaurant lineup is apparently almost close to none.
Recommendations
Staff wage and work environment The issue discussed regarding staff wage and their work environment is common among fast food franchises. However, Tim Hortons strives to be a leading fast food franchise with strong sustainability goals. To achieve these goals, effort has to be emphasized on staff employees. It is recommended that wages increase alongside experience and responsibilities in each store. As understood, each store owner is different, thus having different pay structures. Policies should be better imposed to emphasize on wage structure. This will lead to better employee satisfaction, as well as lower employee turnover. Employees experiencing a workplace that does not fully wear them out, and compensates them appropriately will definitely think less of switching jobs. Productivity and morale will increase, eventually bettering the ideology in the long run of having a store that is low cost and high productivity. Better rest to work ratio is also recommended to improve performance and employee satisfaction. Another recommendation would be to improving the structure revolving hours per employee. Tim Hortons, as with other fast food franchises, employs hourly wages for its staff. This can lead to the occasional lay off for the night if the store is not as busy as it should be. Managers and supervisors do send employees home to minimize cost. This is an aspect that has to be improved on to instill job security and reduce employee turnovers. It is recommended that a policy should be instilled that store owners are not allowed to send employees home unless the employee has achieved a minimum amount of hours worked for the week. This will improve a sense of wage security for the employee. No employee will want to continue working in a store that constantly sends them home during non busy hours. Their livelihood and earnings are on the line.
Hot beverage cups As shown in Appendix 1, the paper cups used in Tim Hortons impacts the environment. One paper cup may only slightly affect the environment. An accumulation of these cups however will greatly hurt the environment. Tim Hortons in the year 2011 used a total of 2.1 billion cups in Canada. This is only limited to just Tim Hortons. It should also be considered that paper cups are not yet easily recycled or disposed in an environmentally friendly way. It is recommended that while the Hot Beverage Cup and Paper Packaging Recycling Program gets implemented across all Tim Hortons restaurants, short term processes to reduce the usage of paper cups should be implemented. One recommendation would be manufacturing recyclable cup sleeves for Tim Hortons paper cups. Restaurants usually double cup their beverages for customers if the drink or cup is too hot. This leads to an increased usage of the paper cups, and quickens the usage of trees to manufacture more cups. Implementing sleeves for coffee cups will definitely lower paper cup usage in Tim Hortons stores. Another recommendation is to change the promotional method of Roll Up The Rim. Roll Up The Rim is a promotional campaign by Tim Hortons that encourages customers to buy more coffee in hopes of rolling up the rim for a prize. Indirectly, this encourages customers to buy more paper cups and use less travel mugs. Tim Hortons also has to invest more into manufacturing paper cups with promotional print. Scratch and win cards cost less to produce and are recyclable. Although Roll Up The Rim is an exciting way to reach out to customers, it indirectly increases the usage of paper cups. It is recommended that a different take such as implementing scratch and win cards be utilized.
The Drive- thru The Drive- thru encourages large numbers of customers to remain in their car and place orders using the drive- thru service. The more cars lineup to use the drive- thru, the more congested the drive thru gets. This also leads to cars idling and emitting CO2 emissions, which in the long run does affect the environment. NDP executive director Robert Carter states that during the year 2011, “Tim Hortons has 26 percent of all drive- thru traffic.” That is a large number considering the number of fast food franchises out there with drive- thru service. It is recommended that stores redesign their drive-thru to better accommodate possible large numbers of cars arriving at the same time. Based on the observed restaurants, drive- thrus leading into the highway tend to affect traffic at certain times if the drive- thru is congested with cars. This can indirectly lead to accidents and other possible situations. By having a longer drive- thru or parking lot, customers will be able to maneuver easily were the drive- thru lineup to be long. Good store drive thru examples would be the 570 Pembina Highway and 255 Maryland Street Tim Hortons stores in Winnipeg. Both drive- thrus were strategically placed to accommodate large lines of cars without affecting traffic on the highway. Another recommendation suggested for improving drive-thru service speed, and reducing CO2 emissions per idling car would be to restructure the menu items for the drive- thru. Should Tim Hortons implement a nationwide drive- thru menu of just coffee and donuts, drive- thru speed will be even quicker. Customers who desire breakfast and products requiring preparation will have to go in store to obtain their desired orders. This will also balance out the ratio of restaurant to drive- thru lineup, and reduce stress on staff members focused in the drive- thru section. Most stores try to get customers through from ordering in the drive- thru to paying for their products within a minute. This creates heavy pressure for staff members to meet the required time per order. Redesigning the drive- thru menu will also reduce car idling time and CO2 emissions per car.
Conclusion
Tim Hortons has a strong core in having a low cost high profit strategy. This is why owners want to own a franchise store as it will bring in strong profits if managed the right way. Economically, Tim Hortons was sustainable in many ways. However, the issues mentioned above will indirectly affect Tim Hortons stores economically in the long run. This was why the above recommendations were made to improve Tim Hortons stores not just socially and environmentally, but indirectly, economically too.
The recommendations above will support Tim Hortons to being more sustainable and improving as a leader in the Canadian fast food franchise industry. To implement these recommendations, it is suggested that strong corporate support is required to ensure that all owners adhere to the required recommendations and policies. These recommended measures, and many more, should be implemented before more Tim Hortons stores emerge, which may bring about a tougher resistance to change.

Appendix 1 1. The diagram below, obtained from the Save A Cup website, demonstrates the complexity of recycling a paper cup (The Paper Cup Recycling Flow Path [Web Graphic]. Retrieved from http://www.save-a-cup.co.uk/paper_cups.php)

The Table below provides facts on how each paper cup affects the environment
(Paper cup. Wikipedia, 2008. Web. 04Apr. 2013.) Recycling | Most paper cups are coated with plastic, thus both composting and recycling of paper cups is uncommon. Paper products in a landfill may not decompose, or may release methane if decomposed anaerobically. Paper cups consume many non-renewable resources | Emissions | A study of one paper coffee cup with sleeve (16 ounce) shows that the CO2 emissions is about .11 kilograms (.25 pounds) | Habitat loss trees used | The loss of natural habitat potential from the paper coffee cup (16 ounce) |

Appendix 2 Store: | 255 Maryland St | | | | | | Area of observation | Drive- thru Lineup | In- Store Lineup | Parking Lot | Average CO2 Emissions in drive thru* | Indicators: | Minimum | 0- 2 cars | 0- 2 people | 0- 2 cars | 1 | | Partial | 3- 6 cars | 3- 6 people | 3- 6 cars | 4.5 | | Packed | 7- 10 cars | 7- 10 people | 7- 10 cars | 8.5 | | Congested | 11- 15 cars | 11- 15 people | 11- 15 cars | 13 | | | | | | | | Time | Drive- thru Lineup | In- Store | Parking Lot | Average CO2 Emissions (ounces) in drive thru* | | 650 | Packed | Minimum | Minimum | 8.5 | | 655 | Partial | Partial | Minimum | 4.5 | | 700 | Partial | Partial | Partial | 4.5 | | 705 | Minimum | Partial | Partial | 1 | | 710 | Packed | Minimum | Minimum | 8.5 | | 715 | Packed | Minimum | Minimum | 8.5 | | 720 | Partial | Partial | Minimum | 4.5 | | 725 | Packed | Minimum | Minimum | 8.5 | | 730 | Packed | Minimum | Minimum | 8.5 | | 735 | Packed | Minimum | Minimum | 8.5 | | 740 | Packed | Partial | Minimum | 8.5 | | 745 | Minimum | Minimum | Minimum | 1 | | 750 | Partial | Minimum | Minimum | 4.5 | | 755 | Packed | Minimum | Minimum | 8.5 | | 800 | Partial | Partial | Minimum | 4.5 | | 805 | Minimum | Packed | Partial | 1 | | 810 | Partial | Packed | Packed | 4.5 | | 815 | Partial | Minimum | Minimum | 4.5 | | 820 | Packed | Partial | Minimum | 8.5 | | 825 | Minimum | Partial | Partial | 1 | | 830 | Partial | Packed | Packed | 4.5 | | 835 | Minimum | Partial | Partial | 1 | | 840 | Minimum | Minimum | Partial | 1 | | 845 | Partial | Minimum | Minimum | 4.5 | | 850 | Minimum | Partial | Partial | 1 | | | | | | 124 |

*Average CO2 emissions are calculated using the average cars in the drive thru at the snapshot time, multiplied by the average ounces of CO2 emissions per car of 1 ounce, multiplied by the average service time of making an order till after paying for the order of 1 minute.
**A car idling for 10 minutes emits an average on 10 ounces of CO2 emissions as obtained from http://daq.state.nc.us/motor/idle/idle_FAQs.shtml

Appendix 3 Store: | 570 Pembina Hwy | | | | | | Area of observation | Drive- thru Lineup | In- Store Lineup | Parking Lot | | Indicators: | Minimum | 0- 2 cars | 0- 2 people | 0- 2 cars | | | Partial | 3- 6 cars | 3- 6 people | 3- 6 cars | | | Packed | 7- 10 cars | 7- 10 people | 7- 10 cars | | | Congested | 11- 15 cars | 11- 15 people | 11- 15 cars | | | | | | | | | Time | Drive- thru Lineup | In- Store | Parking Lot | Average CO2 Emissions (ounces) in drive thru* | | 650 | Packed | Minimum | Minimum | 8.5 | | 655 | Partial | Minimum | Minimum | 4.5 | | 700 | Partial | Minimum | Minimum | 4.5 | | 705 | Minimum | Minimum | Minimum | 1 | | 710 | Minimum | Minimum | Minimum | 1 | | 715 | Minimum | Minimum | Minimum | 1 | | 720 | Partial | Partial | Minimum | 4.5 | | 725 | Packed | Partial | Minimum | 8.5 | | 730 | Packed | Partial | Partial | 8.5 | | 735 | Packed | Partial | Partial | 8.5 | | 740 | Partial | Partial | Minimum | 4.5 | | 745 | Minimum | Minimum | Minimum | 1 | | 750 | Partial | Minimum | Minimum | 4.5 | | 755 | Packed | Minimum | Minimum | 8.5 | | 800 | Partial | Partial | Minimum | 4.5 | | 805 | Minimum | Packed | Partial | 1 | | 810 | Partial | Packed | Packed | 4.5 | | 815 | Partial | Minimum | Minimum | 4.5 | | 820 | Packed | Partial | Minimum | 8.5 | | 825 | Minimum | Partial | Partial | 1 | | 830 | Partial | Packed | Partial | 4.5 | | 835 | Minimum | Minimum | Minimum | 1 | | 840 | Minimum | Partial | Partial | 1 | | 845 | Partial | Minimum | Minimum | 4.5 | | 850 | Minimum | Partial | Minimum | 1 | | | | | | 105 | | | | | | |

Appendix 4 Store: | 1510 Pembina Hwy | | | | | | Area of observation | Drive- thru Lineup | In- Store Lineup | Parking Lot | | Indicators: | Minimum | 0- 2 cars | 0- 2 people | 0- 2 cars | | | Partial | 3- 6 cars | 3- 6 people | 3- 6 cars | | | Packed | 7- 10 cars | 7- 10 people | 7- 10 cars | | | Congested | 11- 15 cars | 11- 15 people | 11- 15 cars | | | | | | | | | Time | Drive- thru Lineup | In- Store | Parking Lot | Average CO2 Emissions (ounces) in drive thru* | | 650 | Partial | Minimum | Minimum | 4.5 | | 655 | Congested | Partial | Partial | 13 | | 700 | Congested | Partial | Partial | 13 | | 705 | Packed | Minimum | Minimum | 8.5 | | 710 | Partial | Partial | Partial | 4.5 | | 715 | Minimum | Partial | Partial | 1 | | 720 | Packed | Minimum | Minimum | 8.5 | | 725 | Partial | Partial | Partial | 4.5 | | 730 | Congested | Packed | Packed | 13 | | 735 | Packed | Partial | Packed | 8.5 | | 740 | Partial | Partial | Partial | 4.5 | | 745 | Partial | Minimum | Partial | 4.5 | | 750 | Minimum | Minimum | Minimum | 1 | | 755 | Minimum | Minimum | Partial | 1 | | 800 | Partial | Minimum | Partial | 4.5 | | 805 | Packed | Minimum | Minimum | 8.5 | | 810 | Packed | Partial | Partial | 8.5 | | 815 | Minimum | Partial | Partial | 1 | | 820 | Minimum | Minimum | Packed | 1 | | 825 | Partial | Packed | Partial | 4.5 | | 830 | Partial | Minimum | Partial | 4.5 | | 835 | Minimum | Minimum | Minimum | 1 | | 840 | Partial | Partial | Partial | 4.5 | | 845 | Packed | Partial | Minimum | 8.5 | | 850 | Partial | Minimum | Minimum | 4.5 | | | | | | 141 | | | | | | |

Appendix 5 Store: | 2405 Pembina Highway | | | | | | Area of observation | Drive- thru Lineup | In- Store Lineup | Parking Lot | | Indicators: | Minimum | 0- 2 cars | 0- 2 people | 0- 2 cars | | | Partial | 3- 6 cars | 3- 6 people | 3- 6 cars | | | Packed | 7- 10 cars | 7- 10 people | 7- 10 cars | | | Congested | 11- 15 cars | 11- 15 people | 11- 15 cars | | | | | | | | | Time | Drive- thru Lineup | In- Store | Parking Lot | Average CO2 Emissions (ounces) in drive thru* | | 650 | Minimum | Partial | Partial | 1 | | 655 | Packed | Packed | Packed | 8.5 | | 700 | Packed | Packed | Packed | 8.5 | | 705 | Congested | Partial | Partial | 13 | | 710 | Partial | Packed | Packed | 4.5 | | 715 | Packed | Packed | Congested | 8.5 | | 720 | Partial | Packed | Partial | 4.5 | | 725 | Congested | Partial | Partial | 13 | | 730 | Partial | Packed | Packed | 4.5 | | 735 | Packed | Partial | Packed | 8.5 | | 740 | Partial | Minimum | Packed | 4.5 | | 745 | Packed | Partial | Packed | 8.5 | | 750 | Partial | Partial | Packed | 4.5 | | 755 | Packed | Packed | Partial | 8.5 | | 800 | Partial | Partial | Partial | 4.5 | | 805 | Partial | Minimum | Packed | 4.5 | | 810 | Minimum | Partial | Packed | 1 | | 815 | Packed | Packed | Partial | 8.5 | | 820 | Minimum | Packed | Partial | 1 | | 825 | Minimum | Minimum | Partial | 1 | | 830 | Partial | Minimum | Partial | 4.5 | | 835 | Packed | Partial | Partial | 8.5 | | 840 | Minimum | Minimum | Partial | 1 | | 845 | Minimum | Partial | Packed | 1 | | 850 | Partial | Minimum | Partial | 4.5 | | | | | | 140.5 | | | | | | |

Appendix 6 Assumptions1. Assumed that out of the approximate 4000 Tim Hortons stores in Canada, at least 50 % have drive thrus2. Assumed that most drive - thrus customer flow during peak hour of 650am till 850 am resembles drive- thru lineup of store 570 Pembina Highway, Winnipeg3. Assumed that there are more variables and factors to play in the calculation of CO2 emissions in Tim Hortons drive- thrus, but were ommitted to produce a possibly assumed minimum number of CO2 emission caused by drive- thrus4. Assumed that most customers orders during peak hours average inside a minute |

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We thus begin with the total CO2 emissions (ounces) produced through the 570 Pembina Highway store based on the snapshot timeframe observed. In total, 25 minutes of CO2 emissions at the store drive- thru was calculated to be 105 ounces.
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We then multiply the 105 ounces to all Tim Hortons drive- thrus across Canada, which is assumed to be around 2000 stores.
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105 ounces* 2000 stores= 210000 ounces
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210000 ounces was calculated. This is the average assumed CO2 emission a day produced by the assumed number of Tim Hortons drive- thrus in Canada. We now multiply this by an assumed 240 working days a year.
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210000 ounces * 240 days=50400000 ounces
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The obtained number of 50400000 ounces of CO2 emissions is the minimum assumed CO2 emissions obtained during the 25 observed time periods, of which most drive- thrus may have almost a similar flow of customers in the drive- thru. The number would be higher if queuing time per car was taken in account, drive- thru activity for the entire day was observed, or hold up in the drive- thru due to highway traffic was looked into.
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To generalize how much 50400000 ounces of CO2 emissions is, we generalize it with the 521 MT of CO2 emissions obtained from the Canada Emission Trends report 2012. 521 Mt is the 2009 total GHG CO2 emissions through fuel combustion.
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1 Mt = 35273961949.580414 ounces. Out of the 35273961949.580414 ounces, Tim Hortons drive- thrus were assumed to produced 50400000 ounces. 50400000 ounces /35273961949.580414 ounces = 0.001428 MT
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The above 0.001428 MT is the assumed contribution of Tim Hortons drive- thru based on CO2 emissions. It is a minimum number assumed, with various variables omitted. However, even contributing to less than 1 % of a Megatonne of CO2 will eventually affect the environment in the long run. Another possible thought to generalize on is that 50400000 ounces of CO2 was just by Tim Hortons in Canada between 650am till 850 am. What of the other stores in the world with drive- thrus?

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