[8][9] The company was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario by Canadian ice hockey player Tim Horton (1930–1974) and Jim Charade (1934–2009),[10] after an initial venture in hamburger restaurants.

This was an effort by the company to diversify the business, removing the primary emphasis on donuts, and continuing the expansion of the menu options as consumer tastes broadened.

[24] Although a number of Quebec locations have bilingual menu boards, the decision to have both Canadian official languages represented is left to the discretion of individual franchise owners.

It is the strong recommendation to all the Quebec restaurants from the TDL Group Corporation that they post menu boards in both English and French in accordance with the standards being enforced by the Office québécois de la langue française.

[25] In 1992, the owner of all Tim Hortons and Wendy's restaurants in Prince Edward Island, Daniel P. Murphy, decided to open new franchise outlets for both brands in the same building in the town of Montague.

[29] Under pressure from major investors Peter May and Nelson Peltz,[31] in late 2005, Wendy's announced it would sell between 15% and 18% of the Tim Hortons operations in an initial public offering, which was completed on March 24, 2006, and subsequently said it would spin-off to shareholders its remaining interest by the end of 2006.

"[53][55] The deal was approved by Minister of Industry James Moore (of the governing Conservative Party of Canada) on December 4, 2014: The two companies agreed to Moore's conditions, requiring that the Burger King and Tim Hortons chains retain separate operations and not combine locations, maintain "significant employment levels" at the Oakville headquarters, and ensure that Canadians make up at least 50% of Tim Hortons' board of directors.

[95] In November 2010, Tim Hortons announced it was closing 36 stores in the northeastern United States due to high competition with New England–based Dunkin' Donuts and Au Bon Pain.

[101] As of 2012, the company had expanded across the U.S. states of Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia.

[45] In an effort to expand the company following its 2014 merger with Burger King into Restaurant Brands International, Tim Hortons began expansion in Asia in 2017 citing the increasing demand for coffee in large populations.

[115] Through franchise partnership with Dubai-based Apparel Group, Tim Hortons entered the United Arab Emirates in 2011 with locations in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Fujairah.

They plan to open up to one hundred and twenty stores over the next five years[needs update] in the Persian Gulf area, with a focus on Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates.

[11] Aside from its coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and donuts, the menu now contains a number of other baked goods, such as bagels – of which the brand sells one out of every two in the Canadian food service industry.

[144] The menu contains a number of other baked goods, such as donut holes (branded as Timbits), muffins, croissants, tea biscuits, cookies, rolls, danishes, and bagels.

[151] Despite being offered at other major Canadian restaurant chains, poutine (largely seen as Canada's signature dish),[152] had never been a regular menu item at Tim Hortons.

Donuts, which used to be made at night to be ready for the morning rush, are now parbaked – partly cooked and then frozen and delivered to every restaurant in Canada from Brantford, Ontario.

[164] A 2009 New York Times article contrasted the baked from scratch at stores' approach of Krispy Kreme and some Dunkin' Donuts locations compared to the "flash frozen" and shipped Tim Hortons method.

Noting that "American visitors tend to flock to the sweets," including the "raisin-studded Dutchie", the Times found redemption among Canadians that the brand was once again a Canada-based company while contrasting the way politicians in the U.S. "woo" soccer moms while in Canada they "go after Tim Hortons voters".

[179][180][181] In November 2021, the chain began a promotion with Toronto singer Justin Bieber, which included the release of limited edition "Tim Biebs" Timbits and accompanying merchandise.

The sponsorship aligns with Tim Hortons' commitment to supporting Canadian sports, particularly soccer, which has seen increasing popularity in the country[183] As part of the brand's 60th anniversary celebrations in 2024, a musical titled The Last Timbit was produced at the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres in Toronto.

"[167] Commentator Rex Murphy posited that the reason Tim Hortons "transmuted into a hallowed piece of Canadiana" was perhaps consumers' "reverse-preference" against the sudden penetration of Starbucks in the 1990s.

[198] Kahala, the parent company of Cold Stone Creamery, announced in February 2009 that it had reached an agreement with Tim Hortons to open up to 100 co-branded stores in the United States after successfully testing two locations in Rhode Island.

In June 2009, Cold Stone Creamery started testing the Canadian market by opening its six co-branded locations with Tim Hortons in Ontario,[200] and began expanding its test markets in Canada, including Alberta, Nova Scotia, Ontario, New Brunswick, and British Columbia, and in the summer of 2010, Cold Stone Creamery moved into six Tim Hortons locations in Quebec and one in each of Charlottetown, and Summerside, PEI.

[202] TDL Group announced in March 2006, in response to a request by Chief of the Defence Staff, General Rick Hillier, its commitment to open a franchised location at the Canadian Forces operations base in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

[212] Recognizing the opportunity to promote coffee in the normally weak sales period in the spring, the Roll Up the Rim to Win campaign was first held in 1986 when the biggest prize was a snack box of Timbits.

[215] In honour of Canada's sesquicentennial, a special edition of the Roll Up the Rim promotion was held in July 2017, with prizes including an "Ultimate Canadian Vacation" valued at $10,000.

[217] In March 2006, two families were fighting over a Toyota RAV4 SUV prize of CA$32,000 value when their daughters found a winning "roll up the rim" coffee cup in a garbage bin of an elementary school in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec.

[222] In 2018, Tim Hortons began to add digital components to the promotion, via the "Scroll Up the Rim" feature (which gave players a chance at food prizes) on the chain's mobile app.

[231] Joyce's work with the Tim Horton Children's Foundation earned him the Gary Wright Humanitarian Award in 1991, presented periodically in recognition of contributions to the betterment of community life throughout Canada.

GWNFA has filed class-action lawsuits against the Restaurant Brands International over the handling of the Ontario minimum wage hike (see below), inflated head office pricing, and misuse of their advertising funds.