Restaurant’s locations facing delivery delays
Supply issue the latest tension in heated relationship between Tim Hortons and franchisees
Some Tim Hortons franchisees are experiencing a delay in receiving supply deliveries from the fast food giant.
The company’s president Alex Macedo told The Canadian Press on Tuesday that upgrades and changes to its supplychain distribution centre were causing trouble with shipping out products.
The delays are the latest irritant in the relationship between franchisees and Tim Hortons, its parent company Restaurant Brands International (RBI) and subsidiary, TDL Group. In recent months, the two sides have tussled over everything from cost-cutting measures to a class-action lawsuit over the company’s alleged improper use of a $700million national advertising fund.
Macedo said the company recently “fell behind” on getting products out to franchisees, but the delays are “within the acceptable range” for a transition of this nature.
“There’s no shortage of any of the critical items,” he stressed. “We expect in the next five to seven days everything is back to normal.”
He was equally hopeful about the company’s relationship with restaurant owners, saying Tim Hortons has a “good” rapport with the franchisee advisory board representing all the owners. “We still have a lot of work to do, but as we drive profits and sales we expect the relationship to get better,” he said.
Those remarks came days after a spokesperson for federal Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains revealed the government would investigate allegations that RBI failed to live up to promises made under the Investment Canada Act in 2014. A letter to Bains from the Great White North Franchisee Association (GWNFA), a group representing at least half of the Tim Hortons franchisees, cited maintaining franchisee relationships, the rent and royalty structure for five years and existing employment levels at Tims franchises across Canada as issues.
On Tuesday, Macedo said, “We have responded into Ottawa each and every year with everything we have done and we are happy to co-operate if anything comes up.”
Macedo and Tim Hortons recently faced criticism after two Cobourg, Ont.- based franchises moved to offset Ontario’s minimum-wage hike by cutting paid breaks and forcing workers to cover a bigger share of their benefits.
The move caused some customers to vow to boycott the brand.
Tensions flared again in late February when GWNFA threatened legal action against Tim Hortons after some franchisees experienced intermittent cash register outages that forced them to partially or fully shut down some stores.
In April, they were arguing over an outspoken franchisee, previously involved in a classaction lawsuit over the company’s alleged improper use of a $700-million national advertising fund. GWNFA accused the company of intimidation after it allegedly denied the franchisee a licence renewal for one of his two Tim Hortons locations.