Tim Hortons selects site for second area restaurant

Tim Hortons’ plans for Indianapolis area are slowly taking shape, as the Canadian-based coffee and doughnut chain has selected a site for a second local restaurant.

IBJ reported April 14 that Tim Hortons plans to enter the area by building a restaurant at 8301 Rockville Road, near Avon and adjacent to a new GetGo convenience store.

Now, Tim Hortons has filed plans to build a second location, at 4954 Lafayette Road, just north of Interstate 65 on the city’s northwest side.

At 1,850 square feet, the restaurants will be similar in size, and both will be constructed on vacant lots.

The two April filings come more than a year after parent company Restaurant Brands International Inc. announced that it plans to open new locations in areas including Indiana, Cincinnati, and Columbus, Ohio, adding to its roughly 650 restaurants in the United States.

RBI said then that it reached an agreement with Hobart-based Luke Family of Brands to develop Hortons in Indianapolis and Lafayette.

A spokeswoman for Hortons declined to comment earlier this months on plans for the west-side store and didn’t respond Friday morning to a message inquiring about the restaurant that is planned for Lafayette Road.

Tim Hortons has more than 4,600 locations in nine countries and is the largest quick-service restaurant chain in Canada.

Luke’s holdings include Luke Oil, Luke Builds and County Line Orchard.

In Canada, Tim Hortons is often referred to as "Tims" or "Timmys." Late hockey legend Tim Horton, who played for the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, opened his first restaurant in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1964—back when doughnuts and coffee were 10 cents each. By 1967, the brand had begun franchising and adding locations. It debuted its first store in the United States in 1984, in Tonawanda, New York.

Burger King acquired the chain in 2014 as part of a deal that the burger chain used to form a new parent company with a Canadian headquarters. The $11 billion transaction, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., created Restaurant Brands International, which is based in Tim Hortons’ longtime home base of Oakville, Ontario.