This doughnut and coffee restaurant is coming back to Florida. Take a look at the plans
A second Tim Hortons could be coming to Florida.
An application for the Dunkin’-like cofee and doughnut chain has been filed with Manatee County’s Development Services to build just east of Bradenton’s Marketplace at Heritage Harbour.
Construction plans call for a 1,611-square-foot building on the north side of State Road 64 East, according to building records. A Circle K convenience store and Aldi grocery store are nearby, according to property records.
The new application comes a few months after preliminary paperwork was filed with the county’s planning services portal for a Tim Hortons in nearby Ellenton.
Opening dates for both of Manatee County’s planned Tim Hortons restaurants have not been announced.
Tim Hortons in South Florida
In the 1980s two Tim Hortons ventured into Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach., but by the early 1990s, they shut down. In 1992, the owner of the Pompano Beach location on 1900 E. Atlantic Blvd., a block west of U.S. 1, told the Miami Herald the removal of a left-turn lane four years earlier led business to drop 15% at his location.
There haven’t been any Tim Hortons in Florida since. But could Tim Hortons be heading back to South Florida?
In 2023, Hollywood’s mayor, the Consulate General of Canada in Miami, business group Enterprise Florida, and the chain itself all pointed to that happening in the future.
Tim Hortons history
Founding: The chain was founded in 1964 by Toronto Maple Leafs hockey player Tim Horton and business partner Jim Charade in Hamilton, Ontario, as Tim Horton Do-nut.
Menu and branding: Over the years the chain — which serves coffee, doughnuts, sweet nuggets called Timbits, sandwiches, wraps and chicken strips — tinkered with its branding, adding and then losing an apostrophe, as well as the “Donuts” in its name.
Owners: 3G Capital, under its Restaurant Brands International name, owns Tim Hortons. The parent company also owns Popeyes, Miami-based Burger King and Firehouse Subs.
Locations: Loyal customers are known to call Tim Hortons by its nicknames — Timmie’s or Tim’s. Timmie’s is Canada’s largest quick-service restaurant chain, with locations in 15 states, including Georgia and Texas.
Coffee: People elsewhere may think, “Oh, Tim’s is like our Dunkin’ Donuts?” In a sense, yes. Like Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, Tim Hortons’ bagged coffee or K-Cup pods can be purchased at grocers nationwide including Publix, Winn-Dixie, Target, Walmart and others.
Namesake: Horton played 24 seasons for the National Hockey League, from 1949 until his death at age 44 in a 1974 car crash.
