Tim Horton plans to conquer Chinese coffee market with 1,500 new restaurants

Canadian coffee chain, Tim Hortons, plans to open 1,500 new stores in China over the next 10 years, according to its parent group Restaurant Brands.

Restaurant brands which also owns chains such as Burger King and Popeyes said that the restaurants will be opened under a master franchise joint venture with Cartesian Capital Group, a global private equity firm.

“We have two main priorities at Tim Hortons: building and strengthening our brand in Canada and expanding our iconic Canadian brand to the rest of the world," said Alex Macedo, president of Tim Hortons.

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“China's population and vibrant economy represent an excellent growth opportunity for Tim Hortons in the coming years. We have already seen Canada's Chinese community embrace Tim Hortons, and we now have the opportunity to bring the best of our Canadian brand to China with established partners who have expertise in the industry and the country.”

In 2012, private equity firm Cartesian Capital partnered with Restaurants Brands and the Kurdoglu family to develop the Burger King brand in China.

Since then, there are now around 900 Burger King restaurants currently operating in China.

“We are excited to expand our partnership with Restaurant Brands International to bring Tim Hortons to China,” said Peter Yu, managing partner of Cartesian. “Tim Hortons has a long, rich history of providing guests with quality food and premium coffee. We plan to expand that tradition to China, drawing on 20 years of experience building businesses in China and around the world.”

Today, the Canadian company has more than 4,700 restaurants in Canada, the United States and around the world.

Yet, Tim Hortons is just the latest in a string of coffee chains to enter the growing Chinese market.

Today, Starbucks has more than 3,000 stores in China and it aims to triple its China revenue and double cafe numbers to 6,000 by 2022.