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12 saturdayjan 122002 c i iis economist sun stouffville tribune battle of the baked goods forcing doughnut shops to examine sales strategies by jerome watt staff writer mmmm doughnuts when it comes to doughnuts canadians are well supplied- on a percapita basis- there are more doughnut shops in canada than any other country in the world and york region residents enjoy a cup of coffee and cruller as much as the next canuck air the major chains are repre sented in the region tim hortons has 42 stores country style has 38 affd coffee time has about 43 krispy kreme the new kid on the block doesnt have any stores in the region but is considering opening its next store in richmond hill its a tough market and each chain has different strategies to get a slice of the doughnutconsuming population the leader in canada tim hortons has broadened its selec tion growing from a doughnut shop to a luncheon spot as well when we opened in 1964 it was just coffee- and doughnuts spokesperson for tim hortons diane slopekweber said the whole lunch thing has become popular soup and sandwiches are now on the menu with tim hortons moving beyond the doughnut store to offer fast casual service despite the diversified menu coffee is still the fuel that fires up tim hortons sales- coffee is definitely a large per centage of pur sales she said people will drink coffee through out the day slopekweber also attributes pajt of tim hortons success to its franchisees ninetyfive per cent of the stores are franchised the com pany offers an eightweek program to train owners helping ensure each store offers product consisten cy country style with its head office in richmond hill had its share of financial difficulties last year the doughnut chain has been a hole lot of competition staff photomike barrett seoghye kwon runs a small country jstyleyogen fruz outlet in hillcrest mall in richmond hill under bankruptcy protection since president patrick gibbons hopes to gibbons added the company december turn things around failed to keep pace with the chatig- country style is shutting down we had a number of locations ing market wed lost touch with 50 of its 200 outiets but company that werent viable he said the business he said gibbons who joined country style three months ago blamed the companys problems on outdated stores he said the future is in offer ing quick and convenient service to customers with drivethru loca tions a drivethru is 60 to 70 per cent of your business he said you are at a significant competitive disad vantage without one gibbons also believes diversify ing the menu to include soups and deli items is important by offering these items gibbons believes the doughnut chain wont stray too far from its core products coffee and doughnuts a drivethru is 60 to 70 per cent of your business you are at a significant competitive disadvantage without one patrick gibbons president country style coffee time is also diversifying the items it offers were expanding our menu and looking at other items john logarakis vicepresident of pur chasing and international develop ment for coffee time said were no longer a doughnut shop people want something a little healthier v like the other chains coffeeis- coffee times biggest seller at country style doughnuts make upjess than 10 per cent of sales gibbons plans on pushing country styles coffee which he said is the only chain that grinds it fresh in the store through more advertising gibbons admits there are other competitors in the coffee market such as starbucks- and second cup but says they cater t6 different consumer v they tend to be deemed more specialty coffee he said they are much more a specialty market they typically depend on walkin traffic were much more main stream markhambased kremeko inc a private company developing krispy kreme in eastern canada sec krispy page 13 wk dr hkjii b hif bbfrl hsstji jk tfpiplfr l v h ffljt w- t w traffic ticket experts is staffed by expolice officers who will act as your agent in court defending all traffic tickets speeding accidents careless impaired etc call for fj3ee cbnsultation guaranteed service- fixwents 905 9403000 4418 hwy 7 east unionville 1 1 a i 3 i