The Tim Horton's Way

I decided to read up on what can easily be considered Canada’s most popular coffee shop to see how they go about the concept of corporate social responsibility. Of course every summer we all see the small bins at every register asking customers to donate some of their money for kids to go to a summer camp and they also have the ever-popular Timbits coffee that Canada’s own Sidney Crosby helps promote. Not to take away from these two initiatives because every little bit helps but, I found myself wondering ‘Do they do anything else that customers may or may not know about?’

When I thought about it I realized that Tim Horton’s actively tries to reduce waste because of their cups by promoting their Tim Horton’s China Mug’s, their travel mugs and of course “The Big Tim” and they offer discounts when customers choose to use these options instead of buying their double-double in their usual cups. However, everywhere you look you still see people littering their Tim Horton’s cups in parking lots, parks and the side of the street. To help with this, Tim Horton’s helps sponsor and support community clean ups and tree planting events across the country every year.

Tim Horton’s continues to actively better the environment and help where they can in various communities. Just recently they launched a new program called “Cup-to-Tray” in which the stores will collect used Tim Horton’s cups recycle them and reuse them as the trays that we hold our coffees in making them the first ‘quick-service’ restaurant in Canada to “close the loop” and recycle their used cups into other products that the company uses.

Feel free to check out these links to learn more:

http://www.rdno.ca/about/communications/111124_tim_hortons_cup_to_tray.pdf

http://www.miratelinc.com/blog/tim-hortons-brewing-more-than-just-coffee-with-corporate-social-responsibility-initiatives/