According to a new poll, McDonald's and Tim Hortons are the two favorite fast food restaurants for Canadian diners - McD's for burgers, and Hortons when it's time to get some desserts. The news of the Canadians' allegiance to McDonald's and Tim Hortons comes at a peculiar time, as the biggest competitor to Ronald McDonald's house, Burger King, has only recently purchased Tim Hortons, and is reported to be thinking of expanding the donut company oversees, maybe to every BK franchise across the world.
The study is part of a large survey, which had researchers asking 6,000 Canadians to name their favorite restaurants and menu from the list of BrandSpark International's Best Restaurant Awards of 2014. The results showed McDonald's and Tim Hortons are the country's favorite fast food restaurants, and that they're actually imbued in a war of sorts: they serve the two most popular coffee drinks in the country, with Starbucks nowhere to be seen.
McDonald's and Tim Hortons serve mostly different kinds of food, except when counting McDonald's breakfast menus - still, they mostly don't compete directly against each other, as Hortons is known mostly for its dessert menus. In the survey, the Canada restaurant chain took the spots for categories like best tasting coffee; best desserts; and best breakfast.
It's interesting that McDonald's and Tim Hortons are the two most popular fast food chains in the Northern American country, while Burger King is nowhere to be found in the top list. It has been said before that Burger King's move to buy Hortons is not only a strategy to expand its market towards more desserts and coffees in their restaurants across the world, but also to gather more customers in Canada, where the chain is not as widely popular as it should be.
Another interesting result in the polls is the love that Canadians profess to Wendy's: the fast food chain was voted to have the best salad and the best tasting hot and spicy menu items.