Breakfast Sandwich Fuels Tim Hortons Profit

The Star:

A new breakfast sandwich helped feed strong fourth-quarter results at Canada’s iconic Tim Hortons Inc. (TSX: THI), capping the chain’s successful first year as a publicly traded company.

The country’s top coffee and doughnut shop reported Wednesday that net income quadrupled on quarterly revenues that jumped 15.5 per cent from a year before.

“They keep on doing the right thing over and over and over,� said Wendy Evans, president of Toronto-based Evans and Co. Consultants.

“They provide a wholesome, varied menu in good, numerous, clean locations with fast service for take-out or sit-in, and the equation works.�

Word of the company’s strong results came as no surprise at one Tim’s outlet in downtown Toronto, where lineups frequently snake around the store while a coffee shop across the street is almost empty.

“I like the coffee and they have quite good cookies,� said Priscila Zunita, a dieting office worker who had yet to try the breakfast sandwich.

“It is cheap. It is very affordable and good quality.�

During its “milestone� year, the Oakville, Ont.-based chain increased its restaurant count by 197 — 111 in the last quarter — to 3,000.

One analyst said the company “had blown expectations away� with the number of store openings.

Evans said Tim Hortons’ strategy to “squeeze everybody else out� has worked.