Tim Hortons Responds
Regular readers will recall that I mentioned my surprise that a Tim Hortons Garden Vegetable Sandwich contains 23 g of fat. I had been in the habit of ordering this sandwich as a “healthy alternative” without thinking about it (doesn’t garden vegetable sound healthly?). I sent an email to Tim Hortons, and this is what they wrote me back:
Dear Mr. Rukavina,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding your concerns with the Tim Hortons Garden Vegetable Sandwich.
Tim Hortons has created a Nutrition Guide featuring a cross section of our products. As you have recently viewed this guide electronically on our website, we hope that you have found the nutritional information useful in helping incorporate Tim Hortons products into your lifestyle.
The Garden Vegetable Sandwich is not advertised as a “healthy alternative” sandwich. It is prepared with Plain Cream Cheese, Tim Hortons Special Dressing, Cucumber, Tomato and Lettuce. The total fat content of this sandwich is 23 grams. The areas of the sandwich in which the fat are located is as follows:
Plain Cream Cheese, 13.0 grams
Tims Special Dressing, 9.0 grams
White Country Bun, 0.5 grams
To lower the total fat of this sandwich, request a sandwich with a Light Cream Cheese and no Tims Special Dressing.
Yours truly,
Consumer Nutrition Co-ordinator
Research & Development
That (a) Tim Hortons would respond at all, (b) they would take my request seriously, and (c) that they have a Consumer Nutrition Co-ordinator are all very heartening things. Kudos to Tim’s for excellent service.
Tuesday, July 17, 2001 - 4:04pm
Comments
Go check out the site www.thetdlgroupltd.com and see that former and current
franchisees are banding together to tell the truth of how this company
operates.
the link is for a site advertising other sites for franchises...not a discussion page at all...thanks for nothing!
We don't accept their cups, unless it's a refillable mug or so.
Even so, we do not use the parfait spoon for the very reason of not getting bacteria on it.
We use straws usually to stir mugs.
the water in the cup is sanitized water and its changed every hour. the cup's also washed and sanitized when the water is changed. and if a customer brings a plastic cup, they dont use spoon to stir the cup. they used stir stick or straw.
Sorry, folks, but the Tim's I work at does not use sanitized water and change and sanitize the cup every hour. I try to keep an eye on the parfait spoon and water condition, but not all the workers care about it all. When someone comes in for a refill, I direct them to the stirring straws so they can stir their own drink.
I work at a tims, and the spoon sits in a steel cup of ice, which is changed every two hours. When someone brings in a travel mug, we have to stir it with a straw, not our spoon.
The spoon used to stir the coffee is kept in an ice water that is changed every 2 hours or sooner if ice has melted or any hint of cloudiness. The purpose of this water is that most bacteria can not multiply in hot as well as COLD temperatures, therefore it is a method to prevent bacteria from forming NOT cause it. The ice water also helps remove cream/milk/sugar/etc. that might be left on the spoon to prevent flavour transfer. Travel mugs are NOT meant to be stirred with this spoon. Tim Hortons employees are all instructed to stir travel mugs with a straw or stir stick as well as thoroughly rinse customer travel mugs and wash their hands thoroughly after handling, for their own safety as well as other customers, being so concerned about the contamination that could occur allowing this "outside" item. For this same reason, they are not permitted to accept garbage or any other items through the drivethru window.
what if i observed that the above is not applied? what to do?
Ask the person to stir it with a straw or stick instead
in live in nl, canada. icame across your comments by mastake, you heard of under cover boss, i think you should do it. good luck, andthank you.
The rims sometimes get caught on the metal holding them into the cup dispenser and it pulls them up a bit. I actually had a lady complain that we rolled up her rim and she demanded a different cup. We gave her one, and as per company policy, we rolled up the rim on the one she refused. Yeah, it was a winning cup for an iPod. Back to corporate it went.
Many times we see cups that have been rolled up were I go
Holy run-on sentence Batman! Care to put some punctuation in there to make it easier to read?
Anyway, I totally understand about poor service, as does every customer in the history of take out.
It sucks to be treated like crap. Some people hate their job and treat people badly (either intentionally or unintentionally). The fact is, people in the food industry are often treated poorly by both management and customers. They're poorly paid (minimum wage: the lowest wage allowed by law) and looked down on by most people for having an undesirable career. In spite of this, it is an employee's job to treat customers with respect regardless of these unfortunate circumstances. If they hate their job, it is up to them to find a job they like.
As long as you are willing to go to a fast food chain, you'll occasionally be treated poorly. The best way to deal with it is to complain to the store manager.
I sincerely apologize for the bad experience you have had a Tim Hortons. If a problem occurs like this again, you should contact the store manager immeadiately so the situation and the employees can be taken care of promptly to make sure this does not happen again. I’m a shift supervisor at a Tim Hortons in the United States and I am inspired by this experience and I will make sure no one on my shift is rude to any customers.
Loyal customers and new customers are the reason we work here; they pay our paychecks and it is our responsibility to make sure their experience is the best it can be. We aren’t doing our jobs correctly if we are rude, irresponsible or causing problems with our customers. Thank you for bringing your experience to my attention and I hope that your experiences with Tim Hortons get better in the future.
You will get rude people at pretty much any place. I hear employees swearing at all kinds of stores. Unless you speak with the manager when it happens, it will continue. The problem is that few people speak up.
Tim Horton's is a great place for young people to pay their way through university. I have 2 family members who have done that. 100% of their university tuition from working at Tims. And it is only possible because they are paid minimum wage. If they raise the minimum, Tim Horton's would have to cut back on staff, and many students would lose their jobs and not be able to go to university. So thank you Tims for helping so many students get an advanced education.
The people who complain about the Minimum Wage don't think about the students. The minimum wage is the lowest pay you can offer to a student. It has no bearing on people with careers supporting families. It is never intended to affect them at all.
Thankfully the wage is low enough that many students will be able to attend universities.
Its horrible and Tim would turn over in his grave to see what his name has become. bad food, bad coffee, and low pay for overworked employees
Hey guys: don't complaint, we don't even get a roll up the win to win cup when we ask to for a coffee in a mug. Since I am on the topic, what is with the going green when you have to wait in line with car iddling for 18 minutes?
i work at a tim hortons and we were told that a refill (even in thermos size) is to get the smallest roll up cup available.
Well, they don't send them baked. They send them to Tim Hortons as a frozen batter, they pour it in the muffin sheets, add what they need to add, then throw them in the oven. So they're still fresh after the oven because the batter itself also has a shelf life. If they don't taste fresh, it's probably because the muffin is close to the expiry shelf, or they hadn't had time (or I admit, in a couple stores may not care according to some people) to make more. They usually sell out too fast for that though.
Old Schooled? Excuse me? "The customer is always right", doesn't apply these days? I've noticed a swing in the attitude of most, not all, Tim Horton's workers, recently. Getting more and more rude. I'm sorry, but, Service, is still service, and, "Timmie's" is lacking severely. And, the management of each store, seems to be turning a blind eye to this. What happened to being told to have a good day, as you're getting your coffee? Or, the serving staff saying please and/or thank you? What happened to general good manners at Tim's? I've noticed that you signed this comment, "Team Leader". Why? Come forward, and let it be known who you are. But, I can bank on it, that you won't. Because, if the owner of the store you work in, ever caught wind of this comment, your butt would be very sore, as it bounced off the curb, and you started pounding the pavement looking for a new job. And, for what it's worth to you, or anyone. We are, as consumers, paying roughly, 950% of what it costs Tim's to be producing that cup of coffee. So, please, don't insult ou collective intelligence with that crap, that Tim's is a business. And, only out to be making money. This IS, and has been quite obvious for years. The purpose of a promotion, (such as Roll up the rim), is to bring in new clientele. Not, chase off the old!
I deal with multiple stores, not just one. And, it's the same story in each. The consumer no longer seems to matter. Only the cash in their hand. Just because a worker is having a bad day, or didn't get laid the night before, or Whatever the excuse, does not give them the right to be rude to the person that is attached to the hand, that's forking over the money, that's keeping them in a job, and in most cases, supporting, at least in part, their family, or bad habits. And, lord forbid a customer should ever say "Thank-You", or "Have a good day"... You're looked at with total disgust. I have been dealing, exclusively, with Tim Horton's for over 30 years. I'm about ready to start dealing with Starbucks, (A place that I've always looked at with disgust). At least I expect to be treated like trash, there.
As far as the big Tim's mug refills goes. You pay a good buck for those things. And, a cup, (even a contest cups), doesn't cost all that much. Less than a penny a piece. Public relations wise, it seems like a good investment to offer two cups with a Big Tim's refill. Three with a Tim's thermos, etc.. It's only one month a year. And, most people that own those things, don't have them refilled on a daily basis. They're used mostly at home, if they're used at all. I've had three of them, and I've never had one refilled. Nor have I ever seen anyone have one refilled. Tim Horton's needs to get their greedy little heads out of their Butts, and start acting like a genuine Canadian Company again, or there's going to be a lot more people dealing with Starbucks, (An American Company), and the likes, and no-one dealing with Tim's. From where I stand, at the moment, there is no difference.
I agree with what was said earlier. It is "Old-school" now. Sometimes the customer is right, such as there's too little or too much cream/sugar in the coffee. The Ice Capp is too runny. Is there a fresh doughnut, this one tastes stale. If we can do something to fix it, we will do it, as a server at Timmies I promise I would. But if the customer doesn't treat US right, I will sometimes return the favor and greet the next customer with a sincere smile and respect as I do all of my customers. We're paid to work, not be abused. I could go on and on about customers that I can't believe are allowed to walk the streets. Threatening employees for asking if they'd like a muffin/cookie/doughnut, or Christmas eve when the store is closing early (yes, they have lives) and the drive-thru is blocked off and the customers drive OVER the curb around the blockade, past the speaker and start BANGING on the window and yelling at employees for being closed? We don't decide when to close, when to be open, and what our rules are.
In regards to the CUPS, we are not about to give you 6 cups for one thermos. If that's the only reason you wanted the thermos, just buy that many coffees! They may be a bit cheap, but we'd be losing a lot of money if we did that for everyone. And losing more if one of those cups were a car or if (by some strange odds) you won all those as coffees. One coffee = one cup, despite the size. If you want it double cupped, the rules are the second cup must be a brown normal one.
I don't understand why people complain about the cups... if they don't like it, or if they have such bad experiences (where are these stores??? In all my life I've never seen one! I'm curious so *I* can give them a piece of my mind!), then go somewhere else. I'm sure McDonald's is used to the abuse.
i do like how you worded this for the most part. "the customer is always right" isn't necessarily old schooled though. i apply this rule at work whenever possible. but as you said too, there are certain rules that we just can't bend on.
as for the "please" and "thank you"...i am a firm believer in politeness. when training a new employee i always emphasis how important it is to use manners. and i am especially fond of apologies too (ie: if we don't hear a customer correctly over the headset or need to interupt them to find out more for their sandwich order). i am sorry that you all are having such bad experiences at the tim hortons near you, but please don't rule them out completely. not all stores are the same...it all depends on the owners and staff of each one.
Why don't you worry about something that actually matters, you big baby? Oh no the minimum wage slave behind the counter helping me feed my caffeine addiction won't break corporate policy to let me waste four cups to find out I didn't win anything when I fill up my thermos with coffee I'm too lazy to make myself, the world is going to end! I think the one who needs to get their whiny, entitled head out of their butt is you. Guess what, Tim Horton's is a corporation. A big, filthy, greedy multinational corporation. They're pretty damn far removed from what they started as, so if you actually want to support something Canadian you'd better find a locally owned coffee shop (if any still exist) to get your fix at or stop whining when you're directly supporting the beast. Do you think supporting STARBUCKS of all things will help the problem? You're more daft than I thought.
This is what happens when you let a corporation take over a market. Lower quality of service, shrinking sizes, lower quality.
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