More Trouble With Timmie’s Menu Boards

November 13, 2019 by Dave Haynes

A reader sent along this photo shot this morning while on the way to work in the pedestrian walkway system that runs below street level in Toronto’s business district.

The Tim Hortons screens at 55 University aren’t dead, though one is in a bad way. The software appears hung up, so instead of mission-critical menus, there is a nice, calming blue.

Most loyal Tim’s customers know exactly what they want, especially at breakfast – Coffee. NOW! But this is not good. You can’t get incremental sales if you can’t show what else is available.

The menu display system was run for many years by EK3/Cineplex, and was pretty damn reliable. But the coffee chain’s new owners – legendary cost-cutters – found a different vendor who would do the work at the number the owners wanted. RBI is pretty much at war with its franchisees, who bought into Tims at a time when having one of these shops was pretty much a license to print money.

This is one of the results since RBI bought the company – dead or hung screens all over the place. Or screens with error messages.

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