Timothy's World Coffee (a.k.a. Timothy's) is a large

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

coffee roasting Roasting coffee transforms the chemical and physical properties of green coffee beans into roasted coffee products. The roasting process is what produces the characteristic flavor of coffee by causing the green coffee beans to change in taste. ...

company and chain of coffeeshops.

Origin and background

Timothy's was founded in 1975 as a

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

er of premium roasted coffee beans by Timothy Snelgrove and his wife Teresa Snelgrove. The company was originated as a business-school project Snelgrove undertook while studying at the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

. As the company expanded, it evolved its retail offering to include brewed

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...

. The first Timothy's was opened in a mall in

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

. Timothy's was purchased by Ian and Becky McKinnon in 1986 who further expanded retail locations and created a wholesale coffee division. Timothy's also became a roaster partner of

Keurig Keurig is a beverage brewing system for home and commercial use. The machines are manufactured by the American company Keurig Dr Pepper. The main Keurig products are: K-Cup pods, which are single-serve coffee containers; other beverage pods; and ...

and began producing single serve K-Cups for use in Keurig's line of single serve brewers. In 2008, Timothy's became an affiliated portfolio company of

Sun Capital Partners Sun Capital Partners, Inc., is an American private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts. Sun Capital was founded in 1995 by Marc J. Leder and Rodger Krouse, former classmates at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and ...

. On November 13, 2009, it was announced that

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. Keurig Dr Pepper Inc., formerly Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (1981–2014) and Keurig Green Mountain (2014–2018), is a Publicly traded, publicly traded American beverage and coffeemaker conglomerate with headquarters in Burlington, Massachu ...

would acquire Timothy's wholesale business, while Bruegger's Enterprises, Inc. would purchase and continue to operate the retail business.Green Mountain buys Canadian licensee, ups outlook
Bruegger's would also acquire Timothy's partner restaurants,

mmmuffins Marvellous Mmmuffins, also known as mmmuffins, was a Canadian restaurant chain that sold coffee and muffins. It was established in 1979 and granted its first franchise in 1980. Its popularity peaked in the 1980s and 1990s, when most shopping ma ...

and

Michel's Baguette Bruegger's Enterprises, Inc. is a restaurant operator and subsidiary of the Luxembourg-based company JAB Holding Company. It and its wholly owned subsidiary Threecaf Brands Canada, Inc., are Franchising, franchisers and operators of Bruegger's b ...

, through a wholly owned subsidiary called ThreeCaf Brands Canada Inc. Timothy's produces its own coffee beans, roasting and producing multiple formats of coffee in its own plant. For this reason, the company offers a freshness guarantee and other supporting company policies. Since 2015 the Toronto roasting plant was closed and consolidated into the Van Houtte roasting plant in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Expansion into the United States

In the mid-1990s, Timothy's expanded into the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, concentrating in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Other stores were located in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. At one point, it was New York City's second-largest coffeehouse chain, after Starbucks. After the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

in 2001, the company closed its US operations and the company re-focused on the Canadian market and wholesale business operation.

Expansion into South Korea

Timothy's opened its first overseas store in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

, Republic of Korea (South Korea) on May 19, 2007.

Current business

Timothy's has since purchased the existing stores in Canada. It later acquired the

and

retail businesses. Today, the company operates some 40 Canadian stores under the Timothy's name. Timothy's also operates a

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

coffee business, supplies office coffee service companies, packages coffee in K-Cups for

home and office brewers, and has a distribution program in large chain hotels, grocery stores, sports clubs and similar venues. In February 2009, it named a brand of coffee the "Presidential No. 44" blend to celebrate a visit to Canada by U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

Bruegger's/Green Mountain acquisition

On November 13, 2009

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Keurig Dr Pepper Inc., formerly Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (1981–2014) and Keurig Green Mountain (2014–2018), is a publicly traded American beverage and coffeemaker conglomerate with headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts. Formed in ...

acquired Timothy's wholesale business from Sun Capital Partners, Inc. for a cash purchase price of approximately $157 million, in U.S. dollars, subject to adjustment. Concurrently, Bruegger's Enterprises, Inc. acquired Timothy's retail operations for an undisclosed sum. Green Mountain acquired the Timothy's World Coffee wholesale business, but not their retail operations. Timothy's wholesale business will be maintained as a Canadian subsidiary, with operations integrated into Green Mountain's Specialty Coffee Business Unit. Bruegger's Enterprises, Inc., through a wholly owned subsidiary called ThreeCaf Brands Canada Inc., assumed control of Timothy's three restaurant brands: Timothy's World Coffee,

and

. Bruegger's intends to continue operations of all three brands.

MTY Food Group acquisition

In 2018,

MTY Food Group MTY Food Group is a Canadian franchisor and operator of numerous casual dining, fast casual, and quick service restaurants operating under more than 70 brand names, some of them through wholly owned subsidiaries. Headquartered in the Montreal bor ...

acquired Timothy's World Coffee and Mmmuffins retail operations from Le Duff America.

References

External links

Timothy's World Coffee CanadaTimothy's World CoffeeTimothy's CafesTimothy's KoreaTimothy's Coffee Store
{{MTY Food Group Coffeehouses and cafés in Canada Coffee brands Restaurants established in 1975 1975 establishments in Ontario Companies based in Toronto Restaurants in Toronto