Tim Hortons publish first annual CSR report

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports are things that I spend a good amount of time reviewing for the blog and I think the best way to engage the public or indeed your customers is to provide a report that is relevant, enjoyable, easy to understand and digest and above all making a difference. Far too often some of those important factors seems to be overlooked by companies with the focus seeming being on getting some information ‘out there’. Exactly a year ago we wrote about the path that Tim Hortons were taking and last Friday Tim Hortons published their first annual ‘Sustainability and Responsibility report’ and after looking it over I’d say it achieves each of the targets I’ve laid out above. It’s one of the best examples of a CSR report which will engage the viewer/reader/customer to the extent where one would feel excited about what the company has achieved in addition to its plans for the future.

If you live in Canada or have ever visited, there is no need for me to introduce you to Tim Hortons as the company is by far the largest and most successful coffee and doughnut shop in the nation. In just over 40 years the company has expanded to more than 3,000 locations throughout Canada and almost 600 in the United States with further expansion planned in the years ahead. The result of the growth has been remarkable with the company accounting for more than 75 percent of the Canadian market for baked goods in addition to 62 percent of the coffee market in the country. Net revenues have climbed to now be in excess of $2 billion (CAD) per year. The company is a national institution and as such their commitment to CSR will have great impact combined with large expectations.

Tim Hortons have published a full version of their CSR report in addition to a summary of key points which are each available as PDF downloads via the corporate website, I would encourage you to have a look if you can especially as the information and results in addition to being very encouraging are also presented in such a interactive way that promotes transparency relating to their current achievements and future goals. Beyond the results themselves where the report truly excels is in its presentation which will engage any reader far more deeply than two columns of numbers and percentages, even writing about it doesn’t do it justice but I’ll try.

You can use your mobile device to take a picture of a QR-Code which then shows the anatomy of the Tim Hortons paper cup, a very important part of their business when you sell millions of cups of coffee every single day. The full version of the report includes a fun interactive recycling map which looks at the 650 restaurants which offer full paper recycling facilities. You can also take a virtual tour of their ‘green restaurant’ a prototype already in use that includes the best sustainable practices in construction and design which the company hopes to ultimately roll out to all new locations and refits.

The report also offers a summary of the various CSR initiatives that the company is involved with broken down into different sections that review guest and employee guarantees, sustainable partnership practices, energy use, responsible supply chain management and of course environmental stewardship. There are so many encouraging results that I don’t want to steal the thunder of you visiting the report itself but considering that coffee is at the heart of their business I think that the data below taken from the summary report is certainly worth sharing as it focuses upon partnering with small holder farms and strong commitments to increasing the amount of acreage guaranteed to be managed in an environmentally responsible manner.

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