Pic of mouse in doughnut shop allows Tim Horton's to enter New York City - giv'r
Tim Hortons, which the N.Y. Times described yesterday as “a Canadian purveyor of doughnuts and coffee that has won a wide following,” is making a sudden entry into New York City, primarily because of a picture of a mouse.
Between Friday night and dawn on Monday, the Riese Organization intends to convert 13 Dunkin’ Donuts stores into the city’s first Tim Hortons restaurants, including early-morning, high-traffic shops like the one in Pennsylvania Station and another next to the New York Stock Exchange. The switch may surprise regular customers of the shops, said Dennis Riese, chief executive of the Riese Organization.
“You take down one sign and put up another. The biggest challenge will be to get New Yorkers to know what Tim Hortons is.”
Tim Hortons Inc. is a Canadian fast food restaurant known for its coffee and doughnuts, founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario by Canadian hockey player Tim Horton. In 1967 Horton partnered with investor Ron Joyce, who quickly took over operations and expanded the chain into a multi-million dollar franchise. There are almost 3,000 Tim Hortons in Canada, and another 5-0 in the U.S. The chain accounted for 22.6 per cent of all fast food industry revenues in Canada in 2005. Canada has more per-capita ratio of doughnut shops than any other country.
Tim Horton was a bruising defenceman who won 4 Stanley Cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1960s. Born in 1930 in Cochrance, Ontario, Horton spent his formative years playing in mining communities surrounding Sudbury, Ontario. He got noticed by the Leafs organization and moved to Toronto when he was 17-years-old. He died in a car accident in 1974 after a 24-year National hockey League career.
Horton had a reputation for enveloping players who were fighting him in a crushing bear hug. Boston Bruins winger Derek Sanderson once bit Horton during a fight; years later, Horton's widow, Lori, still wondered why. "Well," Sanderson replied, "I felt one rib go, and I felt another rib go, so I just had—to, well, get out of there!”
The Times reports that the arrival of Tim Hortons to N.Y. City comes after a decade of contention between Riese and Dunkin’ Donuts that peaked after The New York Post published a photo of a mouse munching on a doughnut in a shop operated by Riese on 46th Street at Fifth Avenue. The chain sued Riese, and the sides eventually agreed that the relationship would end this week in what Dunkin’ Donuts called a “disenfranchisement.”
In Canada, owning a Tim Hortons is like owning a license to print money.
Hepatitis A at Newmarket, Ontario Tim Hortons
The Toronto Star reports that a health alert was issued today after it was discovered that two employees of a Newmarket Tim Hortons were found infected with Hepatitis A.
York Region Public Health was notified of a case of hepatitis A at the Tim Hortons at 16545 Yonge St., near Savage Rd., on April 21. Following the initial investigation, it was decided the risk to customers was very low based on the employee’s position.
"He was not involved in food handling," said York Region medical officer of health Dr. Karim Kurji. "Given that, we didn’t feel the need to notify the public."
Oops, because...
The next day investigators conducted routine tests and offered immunization to workers. These tests revealed a second case, which was discovered on April 24. It was decided the risk of contamination to the public in this case was higher.
"The overall assessment when investigating the risk with the second case was the employee was handling food," said Kurji. "It was prudent for us to reach out to public and take necessary precautions.
York Region Public Health is holding a vaccine clinic Monday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the auditorium of the Newmarket Health Centre. People who ate food from this Tim Hortons between April 13 and April 22 are eligible for the vaccine. However, anyone who ate there between April 2 and April 22 could be infected.
Hep A happens a lot, but the way this one has been handled raises a few questions for me:
I wonder why the folks who ate at the Hortons before April 13th are excluded from eligibility from the vaccine? Does someone need to prove (with a receipt?) that they ate there between April 13 and 22nd? Who bears the cost if someone wants to get an IGG shot and is excluded? What happens if that individual gets sick?
This week's food safety infosheet was about Hep A in a produce handler in Colorado.
