Philippine Showbiz Today
May 22 - June 8 , 2017
Jan. 22-Feb.7, 2015
Feature Story
11
Getting that Canadian feeling:
Tim Hortons opens first store in Manila
by Jose K. Lirios
PST Manila Correspondent
Tim Hortons, the popular
Canadian cafe and bakeshop,
recently opened its first branch
in the Philippines – and the first
in Southeast Asia – last February
28 at the ground floor of Uptown
Place Mall in Bonifacio Global
City, Taguig City.
It is a very good location
because of the many offices
situated above the store, the
working crowd always milling
around the place, the mall crowd
and residential area within the
vicinity. Tim Hortons obviously
has the uptown crowd with them
after a few weeks of opening its
doors to customers.
There is this fascination of
Pinoys for more and more options
for coffee and donuts. But where
does this obsession comes from?
Market researchers found out
that Pinoys just really love and
enjoy drinking coffee and eating
donuts and other pastries. Good
thing for Tim Hortons that they
have more to offer to their Pinoy
patrons. They have sandwiches,
smoothies and an assortment of
baked goods like donuts, cookies
and bagels.
“A lot of factors come in for
a good company to succeed in
the Philippines. You have to look
into the brand. You have to look
into the processes of partners you
are working with. You look at their
systems. You look at the product
and the services. And then,
obviously, it has to make financial
sense to do it,” said Enrique Y.
Yap, Jr., President and CEO of
Tim Hortons Philippines.
What was it about the
personality of Enrique Y. Yap, Jr.
that the people at Tim Hortons
decided that he was the right
person to forge a partnership with
in the Philippines? “Personality
you cannot change so much but
you can train people. So it was
also a learning experience for me.
We have a lot of best practices
or what we call the Three G Way
which they can share with me and
for me to carry forward,” said Yap,
Jr.
Yap, Jr. actually worked in
one of the stores of Tim Hortons
in Canada before deciding to
open the first ever store in the
Philippines. This is one of the
requirements before the Tim
Hortons store in Taguig City
became operational.
“In Canada you
have to actually do
what everybody does
and literally work in
the store. Everybody
corporate wide needs
to work at the store,
which takes a number
of days in a year. We
serve the customers,
clean up the place,
brew beverages, bake
donuts, cookies and
prepare other Tim
Hortons products. All
of this is extremely hard work.
In Canada, the lines that cue up
at Tim Hortons stores just never
stop. It’s always with a long cue of
people,” said Yap, Jr.
Tim Hortons was founded
by the National Hockey League
player of the same name and
opened its first store in Ontario,
Canada in 1964. Tim Hortons is
said to have invented the Double
Double, a Canadian term that
means coffee with double cream
and double sugar. Tim Horto