/
1x
Advertisement
Proudly Canadian, obsessively Toronto. Subscribe to Toronto Life!
City News

Inside Tim Hortons’ new downtown headquarters

By Jean Grant| Photography by Gabby Frank
Copy link
Inside Tim Hortons' new downtown headquarters

More about Tim Hortons

Q&A: Tim Hortons' head marketing honcho explains the brand's millennial-focused Innovation Cafe
Food & Drink

Q&A: Tim Hortons’ head marketing honcho explains the brand’s millennial-focused Innovation Cafe

What: Tim Hortons’ global headquarters Where: The third floor of the Exchange Tower at King and York Size: 65,000 square feet for 400 employees

Last November, the Canadian coffee titan moved its head office from an industrial warehouse in Oakville to a corporate tower in the Financial District. The move was strategic: as COO Mike Hancock explains, Tims is in “growth mode,” and they thought a more central location would help the company recruit the best possible talent. Plus, the new location means they’re closer to their various corporate partners and creative agencies. They found a former TSX trading floor at King and York and enlisted Gensler designers to turn it into an homage to Canadiana and coffee. There are 21 coffee stations serving bottomless Tims brew, and a huge test kitchen cooking up top-secret recipes that may or may not end up on local Tim Hortons’ shelves. Here’s a look inside.

Gensler executed a complete overhaul that took about eight months. A central staircase was added, the flooring was replaced and a trading podium was dismantled:

Inside Tim Hortons' new downtown headquarters

Most of the art in the lobby, like these Inuit soapstone sculptures, came from the previous office:

Inside Tim Hortons' new downtown headquarters

An employee found this sweater, which founder Tim Horton wore when he played for the Leafs, on a sports memorabilia auction site:

Advertisement
Inside Tim Hortons' new downtown headquarters

There’s also a gallery wall documenting important moments in Tims history, like when the original store opened in 1964 in Hamilton:

Inside Tim Hortons' new downtown headquarters

Just off the lobby is a replica of a Tim Hortons café, where visitors can wait for meetings and pour their own Double Doubles:

Inside Tim Hortons' new downtown headquarters

The letters of the Always Fresh sign in the main kitchen are filled with coffee beans:

Inside Tim Hortons' new downtown headquarters

If you hold up your trash to this screen, it will tell you which bin it belongs in:

Inside Tim Hortons' new downtown headquarters

These caramel cookies were the only items we were allowed to photograph in the test kitchen, which employs 145 people devoted to creating new recipes. Right now, they’re dreaming up treats for their Innovation Café, which is located on the main floor of the Exchange Tower and sells trendier things, like pour-over coffee and maple-bacon doughnuts:

Advertisement
Inside Tim Hortons' new downtown headquarters

Meeting rooms are named after Tims classics:

Inside Tim Hortons' new downtown headquarters

The space is entirely open-plan, and the executives all sit at a long table with everyone else:

Inside Tim Hortons' new downtown headquarters

There are booths for casual meetings:

Inside Tim Hortons' new downtown headquarters

Crow Art Design Build Inc. created this mural:

Inside Tim Hortons' new downtown headquarters

NEVER MISS A TORONTO LIFE STORY

Sign up for This City, our free newsletter about everything that matters right now in Toronto politics, sports, business, culture, society and more.

By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy.
You may unsubscribe at any time.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Advertisement
Advertisement

The Latest

Inside the Latest Issue

The June issue of Toronto Life features our annual ranking of the best new restaurants. Plus, our obsessive coverage of everything that matters now in the city.