20 things about Burger King buying Tim Hortons

It’s official: Burger King, an American company, has bought Canada’s own Tim Hortons. Now there are all sorts of speculations about what that means for the beloved home of coffee and doughnuts in the Great White North, and if the U.S. burger chain is going to “have it their way” with a very Canadian company.

Here are 20 things to know about the BK-Tim Hortons merger:

1. Burger King will not be selling Tim Hortons coffee.
2. BK and Timmies combined will now be the world’s third largest quick service restaurant company; they’ll have 18,000 restaurants in 100 countries.
3. The new company will be headquartered in Canada.
4. Tim Hortons has “historically struggled” in the U.S.
5. In Canada, Tim Hortons scores a perfect 100 for brand awareness, but currently a mere 25 when scored in the U.S.
6. Still, Tim Hortons is expanding in the U.S. They announced earlier this year “100 outlets over five years in Missouri, Ohio, Indiana and North Dakota […] 15 to 20 locations in Pennsylvania and West Virginia [and a deal for] 25 new locations around New York City over the next decade,” according to the Toronto Star.
7. Merger talks between Burger King and Tim Hortons began last winter.
8. Tim Hortons says the merger will not impact how they operate their business; their Oakville, Ontario headquarters; how they work with franchisees; or restaurant-level employment. Burger King makes a similar pledge, and will remain headquartered in Miami, Florida.
9. In February 2014, Tim Hortons parted ways with Coldstone Creamery.
10. The deal with 3G Capital, Burger King, and Tim Hortons is worth $12.5 billion
11. Brazil-based global investment firm 3G Capital will own approximately 51% of the new combined company.
12. BK insists they didn’t make this deal to avoid paying taxes.
13. Tim Hortons may, however, need to tone down their Canadian-ness if they intend to grab hold of the foreign market, posits the New Yorker.
14. This isn’t the first time Tim Hortons has been owned by a U.S. burger chain; they were bought by Wendy’s in 1995 before going public in 2006.
15. Tim Hortons’ baking operations were centralized in 2001 at Maidstone Bakeries in Ontarios, which they owned until 2010, when they sold interest to a Swiss company, making their baking operations foreign-owned for the past four years.
16. 20% of the new company will be owned by Tim Hortons’ Canadian shareholders.
17. Burger King was founded in 1954, when it was relaunched following a less-successful 1953 debut as “Insta-Burger King.”
18. Tim Hortons began in 1964 as Tim Horton Donuts, then was Tim Horton’s, until finally dropping the possessive apostrophe. It was named after owner Miles G.”Tim” Horton, who played in the National Hockey League from 1949 until his death in a car accident in 1974.
19. Burger King CEO Daniel Schwartz’ favourite Tim Hortons order is a Double Double, regular roast.
20. People are enjoying putting their two cents’ worth in about the deal on Twitter.

Featured image: Joey Rozier/Flickr