Medicine Hat News

Tim Hortons franchisee sues parent company

- ALEKSANDRA SAGAN

A Tim Hortons franchisee filed a $4-million lawsuit against the coffee-and-doughnut chain’s parent company after he says it refused to renew a licence for one of his stores in bad faith.

“The actions of the defendant were callous, wanton and in total disregard of the rights of the plaintiff,” reads a lawsuit Mark Kuziora filed in the Ontario Superior Court against TDL Group Corp., a subsidiary of parent company Restaurant Brands Internatio­nal.

Kuziora, an outspoken member of a dissident Tim Hortons’ franchisee group, owns two locations in Toronto. The lease for his store at 200 Bay Street expires Aug. 31.

He says he was told in early April that he would be denied the renewal after months of negotiatio­ns.

Kuziora belongs to the Great White North Franchisee Associatio­n, a group that claims to represent about half of Canada’s Tim Hortons franchisee­s and formed to voice the franchisee­s’ concerns.

He is also the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit filed by the GWNFA alleging RBI improperly used money from a national advertisin­g fund, funnelling nearly $700 million earmarked for advertisin­g, marketing and sales promotions to itself and TDL. RBI has denied the allegation­s, which have not been proven in court.

The GWNFA and Tims have also recently sparred over a $700-million renovation plan to bring a more natural look and open-concept seating to Tim Hortons locations. GWNFA said the plans — which asked franchisee­s to kick in $450,000 each for renovation­s — were “ill-conceived.’’

Last spring, RBI started discussing future renovation­s of the Bay Street store with Kuziora, according to the lawsuit, and confirmed its establishe­d practice of “granting 100 per cent of term renewals for franchisee­s prepared to undertake renovation­s would be followed.”

Kuziora committed to the renovation­s with the understand­ing the company would renew his lease, according to the suit filed last month.

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