Tim Hortons Faces 700 Dunkin’ Canada Store Plan From Foodtastic
tim hortons faces a new national challenger as Foodtastic signed a master franchising agreement with Inspire Brands to bring Dunkin’ back to Canada. Peter Mammas says the plan calls for 600 to 700 locations, a scale that could reshape where Canadians buy coffee and donuts.
The first Dunkin’ location is expected to open in late 2026 or early 2027, and Foodtastic will hold exclusive rights to develop the brand nationally through corporate and franchise-operated stores. For consumers, the opening gives a second large chain a path back into a market where Tim Hortons has long been the dominant name.
Foodtastic and Inspire Brands
Tuesday’s agreement gives Foodtastic control over a relaunch that had already made the brand familiar in Quebec in the 1990s before Dunkin’ officially left the Canadian market in 2018. Mammas said the company believes it can build the brand across the country, including nearly 200 planned locations in Quebec.
“It’s going to take a little while to find sites, to find franchisees,” Mammas said in an interview on Tuesday. That line points to the real constraint in the rollout: the agreement creates the rights, but not the storefronts, and each location still has to be matched with a site and an operator.
600 to 700 Dunkin’ stores
“In my opinion, within 12 months, we’ll be opening one Dunkin ‘ per week,” Mammas said. That pace, if reached, would signal a fast early buildout after the first store opens, but it would still follow a phased launch rather than an immediate national spread.
Nearly 200 of the planned locations could be in Quebec, giving the province a heavy share of the rollout. That concentration matters because the brand already has recognition there, which may help Foodtastic move faster in a province where the name was once well known.
31 per cent coffee prices
Coffee prices have risen roughly 31 per cent over recent years, and Mammas is betting that lower-cost food and drink options will draw customers. He said he is not worried about competition from Tim Hortons, adding, “I think it’s getting old and young people don’t identify with Tim Hortons,” and, “They’re even making pizza; they don’t know where they’re going.”
That argument sets up the main test for the relaunch: whether a revived Dunkin’ can win traffic by leaning on cold drinks and a narrower identity while Tim Hortons keeps its broad national reach. For readers, the practical takeaway is simple — the store count is ambitious, the first opening is not immediate, and the next visible step is site selection and franchise recruitment.
