And there is a very long queue…
Not that Singapore is short of coffee chains. However, this is symbolic as coffee brands all across the world look to snag a pie of the lucrative Singapore coffee market.
A bit of background as to Tim Hortons. It is owned by Restaurant Brands International which also owns 3 other brands, Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs. The Singapore market is familiar with Burger King and Popeyes with rumours that Firehouse Subs is poised to make a foray into the Singapore market.
This is not my first encounter with the Tim Hortons brand. I first patronised Tim Hortons in Bangkok. It was at MBK Center. While it still markets itself as a coffee chain, the doughnuts are the ones that draw the crowd. Well, that is seemingly the case for the outlet at MBK. That was what I remembered about Tim Hortons in Bangkok.
Tim Hortons officially opens its doors to the public today, 17 November 2023, at Vivocity. And as expected, there was a queue! Perhaps this stemmed from the fact that there was a Channelnewsasia article informing readers that the first 100 daily customers from November 17 to 19 will get a free weekly regular-sized cafe latte for six months. Not that Singapore needed an impetus to queue. We would do it willingly, free weekly latte or not.
“You will need to wait for 45 minutes to get to the front of the queue to do a takeaway”.
This was what I was told when I entered the takeaway queue. The queue was long and there were many persistent customers who braved the elements. The queue starts outside and not within Vivocity and it was raining.
After some consideration… I think doughnuts can wait. The queue should die down after a month and perhaps I can even get seats. Perhaps I was not enticed by what I saw on offer…
While this looks so pleasantly enticing (the destruction of my calorie-restrictive diet will have to take a back seat for now), I am sure the initial hype will die down.
Perhaps I just did not want my doughnut that badly. As for those who are keen on the offer of free lattes for six months, you have two more days to snag the offer.
Creative director is the resident dessert king at Little Big Red Dot. I wonder if he actually queued till the end.
Yours sincerely,
Daryl
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