Ever feel like sometimes there are camps of loyal brand followers?
I’ll readily admit that I only drink hot drinks from Starbucks and not from Tim Horton’s.
Note to all non-Canadians:
I believe that Tim Horton’s is the brand equivalent to Dunkin’ Donuts in the U.S.
We also have other chains like Second Cup, Bridgehead and alternative coffee shops, but Tim Horton’s and Starbucks are the two major corporations here.
Tim Horton is the name of a famous Canadian hockey player. The chain used to be American-owned (by Wendy’s) but not any longer.
To be fair, I don’t drink coffee, and I don’t like the alternate hot drink selections they have at Tim Horton’s, so if there isn’t a Starbucks around, I just won’t have anything.
(Even Second Cup, or any of those other chains can’t seem to make a decent tea latte to save their business).
But what I really mean is do you ever feel like people fall into one camp or the other?
We identify with brands so much that it becomes a stereotype of sorts. Think of Apple.
Look how loyal some people are to the brand (BF is an Apple fanboy, whereas I am more fickle).
(Disclaimer: This is just what it seems to be not what it actually is. I have no stats, this is just from talking to co-workers and friends).
Tim Hortons’ drinkers seem to be characterized as being very loyal to Canada, working class folk who just want a normal cup of coffee.
Starbucks drinkers seem to be characterized as too-rich yuppies who wear power suits, are always on their smartphones and have too much money to burn to pay for such overpriced, gourmet coffee.
Neither stereotype is flattering, but it made me wonder why people may have such perceptions about each brand and I came up with some factors:
- price of the coffee — $1.00 range versus $3.00 at Starbucks
- marketing/positioning of the brands (see commercials & ads)
- popularization by the media as celebrities tend to always have a Bux Cup*
- variety of drinks and flavourings
- ordering is simple & straightforward vs. varied & complicated
- the people who frequent the place — a class/social image and status thing perhaps?
*Bux = Starbucks
As mentioned above, I am a Starbucks drinker because I prefer having soy instead of milk in my drink, I really love their chai and green tea lattes.
I’ve tried all types of non-coffee hot drinks at Tim Horton’s, and I’ve found them too overly sweet, powdery, watery and not as rich or as intense as what you can get from the syrups from Starbucks non-coffee drinks.
I am not a coffee drinker but I am told by Starbucks coffee lovers that Starbucks is way more intense in flavour, and what they’d expect of really good coffee.
Tim Hortons’ coffee lovers will tell you that Starbucks is too strong, and they prefer the flavour/blend of the Tim’s cups. People will SWEAR by their “cup of Timmies” and refuse to drink coffee anywhere else.
Both “camps” are extremely loyal to their brands and will argue late into the night over which cup tastes better.
What do you think? Are there coffee and brand camps?
And Is there a class divide or am I imagining it?
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I lived in an extremely yuppie area, and I can say that the divide wasn’t between Starbucks and Dunkin’ and other brands. The divide is between independent coffee shops that brew small batches of coffee they roast in-house vs. all the other brands–the really trendy people wanted the truly gourmet coffees and lattes that cost more than either of the chains and wouldn’t be caught dead with either Starbucks or Dunkin’…
When I moved to Canada from Australia I had the Tim Horton’s/Starbucks divide explained to me in almost the exact same words. And I wound up working in a downtown Toronto hospital with a Timmy’s and a Bux in its lobby. Seemingly inevitably the patients, most visitors and the support staff all went to Timmy’s, whereas lined up in heels and designer duds at Starbucks were the doctors — or at least, doctory-looking types.
I buy generic so no difference
I drink black coffee (only, no sugar no milk) and find that the Tim Hortons brew is definitely lighter than the average brew at Starbucks but there are some beans I find enjoyable, I’ll poke my head in on an average day and see if they are brewing one that I like (Estima for example)
I only go to these two options however, when there are no independent coffee shops nearby. In a city like Toronto, you can usually find a decent drip coffee thats tasty and fresh(er) at a shop for a mid-range price between timmies and starbucks.
For latte goers, I don’t know how it works, milk is milk, sugar is sugar. Then you’re just picking syrups.
I think people associate Starbucks with expensive because most people do not simply get a tall cup of coffee. The price of coffee itself is comparible.. Tim horton’s charges $1.25 for a medium and Starbucks charges $1.94 for the same size. For .70 more you get a coffee that will give you the caffeine kick you need and the service to start your day! Tim Horton’s is a hurried car ride, Starbucks is an experience.
** To the below comment about Starbucks coffee being “weak” in Europe, its because in Europe their “coffee” is actually an americano. Espresso is much more intense than brewed coffee.
What are you talking about? In Europe – the home of coffee – espresso is espresso and an Americano… well, it was invented there. Hence the name.
To suggest we make espresso drinks with brewed coffee is flat wrong. If you ask for a black coffee in any country you’ll likely get brew. If you want espresso you ask for it. American’s who drink ‘regular’ coffee are drinking brew too.
You may be confused as freeze-dried coffee is big in Europe. That’s as weak or strong as you make it and is often packages with dried milk and sugar. Vomitous and very popular.
Funny. In NZ the people who are particular about the standard of their coffee wouldn’t step foot in Starbucks. The non chain cafes are varied but once you find a few good baristas you’re set. I suppose it might but partly a reaction against global corporates but you’re treated a bit like a cow that needs to be moved through at Starbucks.
I guess I’m middle class because I go to both.
I prefer Tim’s for plain coffee (and the occasional donut). But, I’ll go to Starbucks for lattes and frapps. Most days, I drink coffee at home to save $ and because it tastes SO much better.
I go to both for different reasons – Tim’s for plain ‘ol coffee and Starbucks for lattes.
When I look at both of their customer base, I agree with you in terms of the stereotypes! I also think that both create their marketing strategies based on those stereotypes and it seems to work. They build their brand with that in mind.
What always makes me laugh is overhearing someone order with two simple words (double-double) at Tim Horton’s and something like 10 words at Starbucks.
I agree with Maz and the European coffee strength. I am a Canadian who drinks Starbucks here, but I prefer to order from the smaller European Espresso Bar Shops too as their coffee has a WAY better flavour and richness. I find Starbucks to be hit and miss with the basic “brewed” coffee as it can sometimes taste burnt. As for Tim Hortons, I have on occasion had their coffee and it gives me this weird buzz. More so than any other coffee…maybe it is their cream? I have heard other people complain of the same thing with Timmy Ho’s. Having said this, I think Tim’s screams Canada…jeez they even put one in over in the Middle East for our boys and ladies serving there as it made them feel “more at home”.
I love coffee in general and most mornings I make coffee at home to save money. I do however enjoy Starbucks and Second Cup coffee over Tim Horton’s because it is strong and thats what I need to stay awake during a 12 hour shift, buts its a treat really because I simply cannot afford drinking there coffee everyday. I would identify myself as more of a Timmies person though, but have simply grown out of them taste wise. My dad loves Timmies so we often catch up over a cup of coffee there, which is nice 🙂
Hi Serena,
I’m not gonna enter the debate as I’m neither American nor Canadian but one of your entries made me laugh : “Starbucks is way more intense in flavour, and what they’d expect of
really good coffee.”. Here in Europe we don’t think the coffee in Starbuck is proper coffee as it’s real weak. Any Starbuck lover ordering a coffee from Italy, French or Spain is in for a shock…
I drink at both places because they each serve different needs I have.
To be fair, neither one of them make a stellar cup of coffee/product. Starbucks over-roasts their lower-quality beans and Tim’s is just run of the mill. There are so many better options out there. But I still drink both since they’re convenient and familiar.
Also, Tim’s was originally started by Tim Horton and his wife. It was Canadian to begin with, then the US company bought it for a while, and now it’s back to Canadian ownership. I grew up in the headquarters town and know about 5000000000000000 people that work there. LOL
I think there is even a little bit of that coffee divide in Michigan, though there aren’t as many Tim Horton’s as there are Starbucks in most cities. There is also a donut class divide in some cities with both Tim Horton’s and Dunkin Donuts, with some people refusing to eat donuts from one or the other. In college, I went to the two for different things/times, I guess. If it was the middle of the afternoon and I wanted a (soy) latte or chai latte, I’d head to Starbucks that was just off campus. If it was evening/night and I needed some coffee to get me through a long night, I’d go to Tim Horton’s for a (much cheaper, but still good enough for me) regular coffee and a donut…or two…or three. I noticed more people studying or obviously on break from work in Tim Horton’s, and more people sitting around chatting or listening to their iPods at Starbucks, with the occasional person studying.
We also had other coffee chains and local coffee shops on/off campus, and each one I tried had a slightly different feel to it. I guess people who are studying are going to go where it’s most quiet and other people are studying, and with something like 45,000 students there’s a market for many different coffee shops!
I think that another important factor that influences the perception of Tim’s vs Starbucks is that Starbucks is limited to cities, whereas almost every small town in Canada has a Tim Horton’s. That instantly creates a divide between rural and urban. Just by having so many stores, in so many towns, TH has made a brand based on catering to a wide range of people, some might even say a common denominator (and I realize that saying that equates to a social division in and of itself).
Interestingly, I worked in a town without a Tim Horton’s and when we were doing community visioning work and asking people what they wanted in the town in the future – the number one response: Tim Hortons. Many people felt a TH was a sign of a strong town economy.
Tim Horton’s to Dunkin Donuts isn’t a totally fair comparison. They’re similar in product and price, but the love for Tim’s in Canada far overshadows any national US enjoyment of Dunkin Donuts. Tim Horton’s is like a national institution in Canada. Have you ever known of any other company for which people will wait in a 30 person deep line for a $1 product when they could walk across the street to get the exact same product for the same price at a different store?
Anyway, I know the stereotypes are inaccurate, just like any other stereotype, but you know, sometimes, they exist for a reason and appear in hilarious ways. When I was in journalism school, we had this one class of about 25 people. Somehow, the class divided evenly into two: Half wanted to produce awesome, thoughtful, well-written and meaningful writing (this was me), and the other half wanted to write about fashion and entertainment and basically just be famous. Somehow, the two groups sat on opposite sides of the classroom (it was totally unintentional; there was no rivalry o anything) and to look at the class, you’d see a very even divide: One half was drinking only Starbucks, and the other only Tim Horton’s. I’m sure you can assume which was which.
(For what it’s worth, I drink Starbucks as much as the next yuppie, I suppose, but my heart totally belongs to Tim Horton’s.)
I’m sure there are brand camps, and I bet Starbucks and Hortons intentionality build their brands to target different consumers.
For a market as large as coffee (#1 selling beverage in the world), the pie’s probably big enough to segment into several chunks. Blue collar society likes drinking coffee. Fancy power suit brokers like drinking coffee. But there’s no way these two groups share the same tastes and self image.
here in California, they also have Peets – which is more intense than Starbucks in terms of taste but the brand division is really strong – Peets drinkers refuse to go to Starbucks and vice versa. I’ve noticed that in my area, Starbucks is ALWAYS busy but somehow I meet more people who say they like Peets better… 🙂
Being from Canada, Timmy’s hold a special place in my heart, so when I go home to visit, I always end up at Timmy’s with my friends. I’ve noticed that clientele depends on the location of the timmy’s.
You’re absolutely right that there is a class divide in the people who drink from Tim Hortons and Starbucks. I actually don’t think the Tim Horton’s stereotype is unflattering, but then again I also know a LOT of people who fall into it. I used to be an extra large 2 milk 2 sugar girl during university, but I’ve had to stop drinking coffee for the sake of my skin. Starbucks roasts their beans longer than most people in north america do, which is why it tastes burnt. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it’s just suited to different taste buds.
I’m completely with you on the tea lattes though, I can only occasionally find one that beats Starbucks, and those are usually at little coffee shops off the beaten path.
I think your stereotype of Starbucks patrons definitely holds true in the US especially when you get to Boston. When I lived there I was shocked by how many Dunkin Donuts there were – they were on every corner like Starbucks in any other city. Dunkin Donuts’ prominence, though, only exacerbated the division of people going to Starbucks since these guys would have to go out of their way to find one, bringing in only the most dedicated Starbucks patrons. Ever notice how Starbucks and Apple groupies overlap as a group? Maybe these people are just very opinionated and brand loyal.
Starbucks tries to perpetuate the image of being a luxury brand (I’m in the US, so no experience with the other place). I think people like the image Starbucks and drinking expensive coffee/espresso offers; I’ve been behind a number of people at Starbucks who order some fancy drink that really has little espresso in it and ask for fractions of the espresso, so they end up drinking frothy milk and syrup essentially.
It really depends on what coffee drinker you’re talking about. Here, I notice some backlash towards Starbucks, because it is a huge corporation that made this whole image of cafe life popular and trendy. I personally am not a fan of Starbucks for a bunch of reasons (if I want an espresso drink, like a plain latte, they’re terrible); I go there if I’m at school, because they are the only option. However, I prefer to support the local option if they’re decent and accessible.
I love Canada’s (not the USA) McDonald’s Coffee the most (over Timmies & Starbucks!)
there is definitely a class divide for coffee drinkers. I see it at work plain as day. I work at a University and my office is located in the Phyical Education and Facilities building. All of the workers here have Tim Horton’s, but to be fair there is a Tim Horton’s on campus. There is no Starbucks on campus, but EVERYONE in the Advancement and Communications building can be seen walking around with a Starbucks in hand.
I actually like the regular black coffee at Starbucks, which most people find too strong or bitter.
I hate the coffee they have at Tim Horton’s. And I don’t understand why some people buy their drinks only from that place. Granted, I never buy coffee, but more cappuccinos, lattes, etc. And at T. H. they’re absolutely awful!
If you want a regular cuppa Joe, maybe T. H. is the way to go, since there’s nothing special about just coffee and water. I also don’t like the atmosphere at T. H. I feel like I’m in a McDonald’s. I think in 4 years I’ve been in Mtl I’ve entered a T.H exactly 3 times. Once it was to buy a doughnut, not coffee.
I just don’t like their non-coffee drinks. 🙂
I’ve even tried drinks at Second Cup or other coffee places, and it just
doesn’t taste like at Starbucks