Tims China Reports Record Q3 Revenue as Store Count Reaches 763

This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on November 17, 2023.

Tims China, operator of Tim Hortons China and Popeyes China, reported third-quarter 2023 revenue of RMB 436.4 million, up 42.7% year on year and its highest single-quarter revenue since listing.

For the first three quarters of 2023, revenue reached RMB 1.185 billion, already above the RMB 1.011 billion recorded for full-year 2022. Profitability also improved: adjusted EBITDA at the company-operated store level was RMB 29.31 million, positive for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company-operated store-level adjusted EBITDA margin reached 7.5%, a quarterly high.

Store Network and Member Base

Tims China continued to push targeted store expansion and its “Coffee Plus” strategy during the quarter. As of September 30, 2023, the company operated 763 stores across 56 cities in China, with 16.87 million registered members.

The company opened 63 new stores in Q3. Expansion focused on both new city entries and format innovation. First stores opened in markets including Changchun in Jilin, Shenyang in Liaoning, Lanzhou Jinhua, Yantai in Shandong, Handan in Hebei, and Taizhou in Jiangsu, extending the brand’s national footprint into more lower-tier markets.

Tims China also opened several distinctive locations, including its first temple-side coffee store, Tims Xisi, and its first classical garden store, the Yangzhou Slender West Lake Garden Tims Go location.

Franchise Rollout

On the franchise side, Tims China formally launched its “partner program,” opening single-store franchising for the Tims Go format in Beijing and Shanghai for the first time. The company expected the first batch of individually franchised stores to open by the end of 2023.

Food-Led Daypart Growth

Following the breakfast bagel series, Tims China extended warm food into lunch with a value bagel-burger set priced from RMB 29.9. According to the company’s financial report, the share of orders containing food rose from 43.8% in Q3 2022 to 54.5% in Q3 2023.

Popeyes China

As of November 15, 2023, Popeyes had opened seven stores in China, all in Shanghai, with average daily sales above RMB 29,000. Its expansion approach followed Tims China’s city-clustering model: build density after entering a city, focus in the short term on first- and second-tier cities, and expand later into lower-tier markets for additional growth.

Tims China CEO Lu Yongchen said the company would operate both brands carefully and aim to build Tims China into a multi-format, multi-brand restaurant group.

Lu said Q3 2023 growth was driven by new store openings and continued strong same-store sales, with revenue exceeding RMB 400 million for two consecutive quarters. He added that Tims China would continue strengthening brand competitiveness, product innovation, and operations to improve brand influence and profitability.

Note: forward-looking store-opening plans and listing-related figures are historical as of the original November 17, 2023 article.