Tim Hortons ramps up local hiring
Tim Hortons new campaign will help Canadian restaurant owners hire 10,000 new local team members, supporting natural turnover and growth of Tim Hortons restaurants—including 80 new restaurants opening this year across Canada. Tim Hortons Communications team stated that this ties into the brand's “strong, ongoing commitment to hire locally, whenever possible, in every community we serve.”
According to its press release, anyone entitled to work in Canada is welcome to work at their restaurants. This includes Canadian students, international students, people with disabilities, mature workers, Indigenous people, new Canadians and members of the local community of all ages.
As Canada emerged from COVID in 2021, there were acute labour shortages across the country. To address this, the government increased access to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Tim Hortons was one of the companies encouraging the government to do so at the time to help restaurants facing staffing challenges and lobbied them to maintain greater access when they announced plans to limit applications.
However, today in 2026, with high youth unemployment nationally, lobbying for expanded access is no longer necessary. The company insists its restaurant owners' use of the program has already declined steadily since 2024 and that they will continue to work within the labour frameworks the federal and provincial governments frameworks.
Of the approximately 110,000 team members across the Tim Hortons system, the company estimates roughly 4,000 team members hold positions under the Temporary Foreign Worker program—representing approximately 3.6% of all restaurant roles.
These are positions in communities where restaurant owners faced documented labour shortages and went through the full government approval process before hiring. Restaurant owners understand the need for continued rigour and scrutiny for any new temporary foreign worker applications.
