Troops To Get Tim Hortons On Base

KANDAHAR (Saturday, March 11, 2006) - Tim Hortons knew expanding into the United States would be difficult, but it's nothing compared with the chain's next destination: Afghanistan.

The company, owned by Wendy's International Inc., has agreed to a Canadian general's request to open a store for the 2,500 Canadian military personnel stationed at the Kandahar Air Base in southern Afghanistan.

"When troops arrived a few weeks ago, they saw a lot of other chains and wondered why we weren't there," said Greg Skinner, Tim Hortons' corporate-affairs manager. Tim Hortons will open there in April.

The base already hosts a Burger King, Pizza Hut and Subway.

The company received letters saying "bring us our Timmy's," he said. "They wanted a taste of home."

Tim Hortons is Canada's largest coffee-shop chain, with more than 2,600 locations in Canada and 290 in the U.S.

Initially, the company was skittish about opening a store there, but decided it was "the right thing to do," Skinner said.

A trailer normally used to serve customers while Tim Hortons sites are being renovated will be retrofitted for the Afghan climate and shipped from Trenton Air Base in Astra, Ontario, to Kandahar.

The company is working out the logistical difficulties, such as securing power and water supplies, keeping food cold and shipping it to the base.

The shop will serve coffee and baked goods to the 6,000 troops from seven countries stationed there.

Everything will be made on site. The shop will be operated by the Canadian Forces Personnel Support Agency.

Tim Hortons shipped coffee overseas to military personnel after the Pakistan earthquake and the tsunami in 2004, but this is the chain's first attempt to open a store so far away.

"We've never done anything like this before," Skinner said. "It's going to be difficult, but we'll be there as long as the troops need us."