We are junkies.

Drive Thru
Originally uploaded by Jenn W.

I knew we were Tim Horton junkies, we Canadians, but I hadn't realized just how addicted we were.

Here are some stats about my favourite little coffee shop:

There is about one "Timmies'' for every 11,500 Canadians. That's more than double McDonald's ratio of one restaurant for every 21,700 Americans.

There are about as many Tim Hortons per Canadian as there are McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's combined per American, says Peter Oakes, a New York-based analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co.

Since it was bought by Wendy's International Inc. in 1995, Tim Hortons Canada has grown from 1,180 outlets to 2,597.
The coffee and food operator, whose IPO this week values the company at about $4 billion, has suggested it can expand by another 40 per cent, reaching one Tim Hortons for every 8,000 Canadians.

There are 288 Tim Hortons south of the border, up from 17 in 1995. The company hopes to have 500 by the end of 2008. Buffalo is the most successful U.S. market so far, according to the company, with 48 outlets at the end of 2005.

In 1996, it introduced bagels, and now sells four of every five fast-food bagels in Canada. It boasts of "turbo toasters'' which toast a bagel in less than 20 seconds.

(Information taken from the March 21, 2006 issue of The Record.)