Tim Hortons Inc. is a Canadian fast casual restaurant

Fast casual restaurant

A fast casual restaurant is a type of restaurant that does not offer full table service, but promises a higher quality of food and atmosphere than a fast food restaurant. In the US, it is a relatively new and growing concept positioned between fast food and casual dining...

 known for its coffee and doughnut

Doughnut

A doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...

s. It is also Canada's largest fast food service with over 3000 stores nationwide. It was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton, Ontario

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...

, by Canadian hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 player Tim Horton

Tim Horton

Myles Gilbert "Tim" Horton was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He played in 24 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Buffalo Sabres. He was also a businessman and a co-founder of Tim Hortons. He died in an...

 and Jim Charade, after an initial venture in hamburger restaurants. In 1967 Horton partnered with investor Ron Joyce

Ron Joyce

Ronald Vaughan "Ron" Joyce, CM is a Canadian billionaire businessman. He co-founded the Tim Hortons doughnut chain as Tim Horton's partner and first franchisee.-Early life and career:...

, who assumed control over operations after Tim Horton died in a car crash in 1974, and expanded the chain into a multi-million dollar franchise

Franchising

Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....

.