Tim Hortons Canada is serving as the model for how RBI wants the rest of its chains to perform, CFO Sam Siddiqui told investors on Thursday.

The coffee chain’s Canada segment saw comps grow 4.9 percent in Q2, well ahead of the broader industry and a lot more than any other chain’s home market in RBI’s portfolio. The sales—which helped expand share in coffee, breakfast, and baked goods—were fueled by a balance of traffic and average check. Morning daypart sales lifted 4.5 percent year-over-year, driven by a brewed coffee that has over 70 percent market share, and breakfast sandwiches and wraps, which have more than 60 percent market share.

In terms of operations, the brand delivered some of the best weekday morning service times that RBI has seen in the past five years. There’s opportunity to get even better with a scan and pay app feature, shoulder-to-shoulder restaurant visits, and layout optimization through store renovations and new builds.

READ MORE ABOUT BURGER KING’S Q2 PERFORMANCE

“What’s generating growth at Tims in Canada is just relentless improvement across the business,” Siddiqui said during RBI’s Q2 earnings call. “What builds a great restaurant business is continually improving your food, improving your service, making your restaurants look great, having a great relationship with terrific, motivated franchisees focusing on success for them and for us. And we’re seeing that with Tims.”

Tims has also made strides in growing its afternoon daypart, a journey that began in 2022 with the launch of Loaded and Anytime Snackers. These menu innovations have contributed two points to afternoon food and market share growth. This allowed for the expansion into flatbread pizzas in mid-April after two years of testing, alignment with franchisees, and the addition of new ovens. Flatbread pizzas are helping Tims increase its exposure to the family guest occasion and improve throughput during underutilized periods, like after 2 p.m. and on the weekends. The combination of flatbread pizzas and savory pastries should help the chain achieve greater franchise profitability and double-digit afternoon food market share in the near future, said CEO Josh Kobza.

Along with food, Tims’ cold beverage category mixed 40 percent among total drink sales in Q2.

“I think Tim’s performance has really been remarkable,” Kobza said. “Even in a somewhat challenging consumer environment, they’re outperforming the industry by a wide margin. And they’ve been doing it consistently for a long time. And like I said, I think that’s really a credit to [Tim Hortons Canada and U.S president Axel Schwan] and the rest of the Tims’ team and our restaurant owners. I think they are getting all the basics right, and they are building their business and I think really taken the industry forward in a lot of the new categories.”

Like the U.S., Canada has seen consumer softness. Inflation is somewhat better, but there’s more unemployment, Kobza explained. The biggest difference, however, is that Tims is “doing a great job outperforming the market even in a difficult market. And that’s been the case for a while now.”

Additionally, the brand has performed well because of its reputation around everyday value. Brand surveys show Tims is No. 1 in value for money. Currently, the chain has a $3 breakfast sandwich deal with the purchase of any coffee.

“Tims continues to do just exceptionally well in Canada,” RBI chairman Patrick Doyle said. “The Canadian market is no easier right now than the U.S. from an overall perspective. It’s just outperformance by [Tim Hortons Canada and U.S president Axel Schwan] and the team. We are taking share. We are just hitting on all cylinders up here.”

Tim Hortons Canada finished with 3,870 restaurants. The coffee chain also had 1,329 internationally.

Outside of Canada, the coffee brand is looking to grow further in the U.S. and China. RBI announced in July that it bought Popeyes China and planned to partner with Cartesian Capital Group—which cofounded Tims China alongside Tim Hortons—to pour up to $50 million into the beverage business. 

“I think that we absolutely believe in the long-term potential of the coffee market in China,” Kobza said. “We recognize it is very competitive right now. I think that’s a reflection of the size of the opportunity. But I think any of those businesses that is going to be competitive in China, you’ve got to get to critical mass. You’ve got to get to large scale to be competitive. So I think it is really important over the medium to long term that we pursue a pretty aggressive growth path there. At the same time, we are working on making sure that we are operating the business in a really profitable way. So the team at Tims in China has taken a lot of actions to improve the profitability of the business, the profitability of the restaurant base. And I think we are seeing some good progress now.”

Elsewhere in RBI’s portfolio, Popeyes U.S.’s same-store sales lifted 0.6 percent in Q2. The company’s new wing platform helped push overall QSR share growth year-over-year. Additionally, the brand has converted around 50 kitchens under its new “Easy to Run” model. The simplified kitchens and automated ordering are leading to better order accuracy, driver wait times, and team member and guest satisfaction. Popeyes is on track to have over 4,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada by 2028 and reaching $300,000 in average profitability for franchisees.

The chicken chain ended Q2 with 3,086 U.S. stores and 1,298 international outlets.

Firehouse Subs saw relatively flat comps. It has added 44 net new restaurants since Q2 2023, and more than 40 percent of sales come through digital channels. The company finished the quarter with 1,206 domestic units and 19 international locations.