Did u know your Donuts are not "Made" at Tim's anymore??

It sounds strange to me because Tim Hortons NEVER baked their donuts. They have always been deep fried. I know this for a fact because many many years ago, I was a donut maker at Tim's and one of my dd was too. Not the lawsuit, the wording. I heard that they had started bringing all their products premade, I'm thinking that would put a lot of the evening bakers out of work.

However it's made, my fave is still the walnut crunch

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3499/...538798dbe7.jpg

ack, no wonder their mushroom soup tastes like plastic. i used to have their tomato soup once in a while, but now that i make my own at home, even their tomato soup seems nasty to me.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Natalka

However it's made, my fave is still the walnut crunch

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3499/...538798dbe7.jpg

---

This was mine....until "the change". I just don't like any donuts anymore because of the change.

I used to work at a Pillsbury factory in Eastern Ontario (now closed) that made frozen commercial goods. This would be circa 2000/2001. At that time, some of the products we made included:
* Tim Horton's Croissants (cheese, chocolate and regular)
* Loblaws Croissants
* Sam's Club (Walmart) Croissants
* Dunkin' Donuts Croissants
* Tim Horton's Turnovers (all flavours)
* Tim Horton's Cookies
* Subway Cookies

After working at the factory, I stopped eating most commercial baked goods. Seeing how it was made and having to smell the raw dough all day made these foods most un-appetizing.

I also heard about the donut thing; it started with Timbits that were pre-made and then re-heated in something resembling an easy-bake oven on a larger scale. A friend of mine worked at a Tim's at around teh same time that I was working at the factory. It just gives it all a bit of an "ick" factor for me...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by i_forget

The only thing that the bakers ever baked was the donuts, the tea biscuits and muffins. Everything else was always done in this manner. The only partial exception were the old cinnamon buns, croissants and Danishes which were "proofed" before they were baked....they all came in boxes frozen.

There is a bakery not far from my house that does the baking for Tim's. you can smell the donuts in the air when you drive by in the morning.

I miss the old donuts, the taste and quality was so much better.

I don't see how in this case doing the mass production saves anything. They still have to employ people to finish the baking and the glazing and put the fondant on items. They still have to ship items from the bakery to the store, they still have to have all of the machinery to bake it in the store as well as have a separate building that now houses the main bakery. They probably save labour costs because I know 15 yes ago the bakers I knew were making $200 a night salary.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sweet sparrow

I thought it was admitted back in 2003 or thereabouts by one of the owners? Soon after the change, I noticed the donuts tasting more "doughy" than "bready". I also noticed a difference in their cherry cheese danishes (still sold?) as well and haven't eaten anything but their bagels for most of the last decade.

I shudder at how many donuts I must have packed away to have noticed a difference in taste.... :eek: Though I do miss the donuts, I hope I'm a little healthier for it.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by anastasia1009

I worked for Timmy's and everything is flash frozen even there bacon and all baked good. They take the items out of a box in a freeze and put in in there special oven to heat it up. Only thing not frozen was the coffee, tomatoes and few other things. Even there soup is frozen and cooked ti a certain temp in a plastic.
I don't eat there anymore. But Wm does the same and everything is frozen.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Midnightly

yup i knew this.. even the soups come frozen.. or powdered (i remember hearing that the chili was actually a mix) pretty much nothing is made fresh.. the "fresh" baked buns and bagels at walmart grocery.... nope they come frozen.. all the cakes, pies... frozen.. safeway still bakes fresh in store i'm pretty sure..same with save on foods.. atleast for some things..

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hollyquaiscer

It sounds strange to me because Tim Hortons NEVER baked their donuts. They have always been deep fried. I know this for a fact because many many years ago, I was a donut maker at Tim's and one of my dd was too. Not the lawsuit, the wording. I heard that they had started bringing all their products premade, I'm thinking that would put a lot of the evening bakers out of work.

---

The change happened in 2002-2003 (The last year I worked for them). The cookies were something I actually enjoyed making (they were 100 percent fresh there). Eventually it's all switched over. Bakers shifts were changed to start later and have everything ready for 6am etc. We used to bake and decorate cakes there too (from scratch). My location didn't lose any bakers (they were just shifted around) but there was less staff on because typically someone would be decorating cakes in the day and we would be baking cookies and cakes at night.

Chili was frozen in my day, and many many of the soups were dried and rehydrated. The frozen never bugged me because I didn't ever think that a franchised fast food place like timmies actually chopped mushrooms and mixed beef etc. Dried and rehydrated potato discs taste weird though.

I was a night shift muffin maker/prep worker around 2000/2001.
I cut all of the toppings and veggies for the sandwiches, handmade the chicken salad filling and the tuna salad filling. Mixed and baked muffins n cookies (forgot about those!), then thawed, proofed and baked off all of the Danishes and stuff, plus did the bagels and dressed the donuts.

i hated working there. I made more $ than everyone else, but the work was hard and it was a lot to do for one person, even in a smaller store.

I worked for tim hortons when they went through the transition. Every Tim Hortons has a special oven for reheating the frozen doughnuts. Its fool proof. The buttons have pictures of the type of doughnut you're reheating. They only can cook a few at a time, so that way they rarely have to throw out old doughnuts. Its pretty genius, but really sad that there's no personal touch and you're eating something made in a factory in a different city. I guess that why you hear "Time for Tims" in their commercials, and not ,"Always Fresh" lol.

I really miss the banana creme filled donuts.

I like Coffee Times donuts better anyways.

We buy timbits once or twice a year (on trips), and never anything else, so I wouldn't notice any difference. When they start being made in China and exported here frozen, then I'd panic. Um....they're not. Right? :yikes:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lynn49

We buy timbits once or twice a year (on trips), and never anything else, so I wouldn't notice any difference. When they start being made in China and exported here frozen, then I'd panic. Um....they're not. Right? :yikes:

---

I believe their first manufacturing facility was in Oakville but don't quote me on that...definitely in Ontario (at the time!). :-D

I'm pretty sure that Maidstone bakeries does the baking in my area.

from their site

Tim Hortons donuts and baked goods are prepared at our bakery in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Prior to serving, they are baked and finished (with fillings and/or glazes/icings) at your neighbourhood Tim Hortons restaurant. Team members can bake in small batches throughout the day, so that guests should find their favourite products on the shelf more often. We believe this baking system offers our guests the best product, each and every time.

It does offer the fact that you can get your favorite donut all the time....when baking them at night, if we used 5 pounds of lard and yeast, then that's all you got, during the day, once they ran out of that type of donut, that was it until that evening, so that fact is correct. Something just doesn't sit right with me though in todays job market place, that they would put people out of work, not a lot, but still. Timmies has been good to my family (in the sense that we had 2 bakers, 3 supervisors, and a cousin and her dh that are franchise owners in bc), so they have treated us well, but anytime jobs are lost it's sad. At least the baking is still done in Canada. My dh's favorite donut is the walnut crunch as well, even though he hasn't had one in years. We will stop in from time to time for coffee if we're on a road trip and used to always make Timmies a pit stop when we were out on our motorcycles, but we haven't been there in quit some time.