Chomping Timbits

WHEN Burger King, an American fast-food chain, bid last summer to acquire Tim Hortons, the largest chain in Canada, it put the ruling Conservative party in an awkward position. Timmy's is a national symbol, having aligned its brand with the twin Canadian passions of watching ice hockey and eating doughnuts (often at the same time). It has been the backdrop of choice for government politicians pandering to ordinary Canadians who frequent its 3,453 outlets.Stephen Harper, the prime minister, famously skipped the UN General Assembly one year to tour the firm's 'innovation centre', where he rhapsodised about Timbits (doughnut holes to Americans) and the puck-handling skills of the late Tim Horton, the ice-hockey player who founded the firm in 1964. His government spent millions to set up a Tim Hortons in Afghanistan for Canadian troops and made its servers eligible for military medals. On December 9th the firm's shareholders approved the sale.Aside from yet another Canadian firm falling into the hands of foreigners'the large mining firms and breweries are long gone, as is the Hudson's Bay Company, whose fur trade helped settle...Continue reading
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