Buying an existing Tim Hortons

What Tim Hortons says about existing restaurants

The franchising page’s approval section opens: “To become a Tim Hortons restaurant owner, you must first be approved as an owner. Approved owners are generally considered for opportunities to acquire existing restaurants.” The final step says you “may be selected to purchase a Tim Hortons restaurant”, and a footnote adds that “eligibility does not guarantee the opportunity to purchase a restaurant” (as published, read Oct 22, 2026). The page names no restaurants and no prices. The route it describes is approval first, then a restaurant, and it does not say how a restaurant a seller advertises elsewhere fits into that route — ask Tim Hortons directly.

What the approval steps involve

Tim Hortons names five steps: an online application, a discovery call, screening that includes “a background check and financial verification”, interviews and Restaurant Experience Days, and final approval. Its financial minimums are CA $150,000 in liquid assets and CA $500,000 in net worth, and it expects an owner to commit full-time and “divest from other business ventures”. A buyer who cannot meet these may not be approved, whatever the seller will accept, so it makes sense to start the application before spending on legal or accounting work for a specific restaurant. This is a point to confirm with the franchisor, not a rule it states.

The listings on Deavo

The Tim Hortons cards below are listings written by sellers or the brokers acting for them, and an asking price is what the advertiser wrote, not a valuation and not a Tim Hortons figure. Some titles also name other businesses at the same site, and the cards say when another brand matches the same title. Tim Hortons is not a party to the listing. The seller, not Deavo, answers questions about the lease, the equipment and the sales history, and a buyer should ask for the lease terms and whether the landlord must also consent to the sale.

The franchisor still approves the buyer

Tim Hortons says an owner “must first be approved as an owner”. Ask to see the transfer clause in the franchise agreement before you commit. Who has to approve a franchise resale explains the two approvals that run on separate tracks. Ask what the transfer fee is, whether you must complete training (does a resale require retraining?), and whether the restaurant must be renovated before or after closing (do I have to renovate a franchise resale?).

Disclosure before you sign

Deavo’s Tim Hortons listings are in Ontario. Ontario’s Arthur Wishart Act (Franchise Disclosure), 2000, section 5, requires a franchisor to provide a prospective franchisee with a disclosure document that the franchisee receives “not less than 14 days” before the earlier of signing the franchise agreement or any other agreement relating to the franchise, or paying any consideration relating to the franchise. Among the exemptions in section 5(7), clause (a) covers “the grant of a franchise by a franchisee” if several conditions all hold, including that the grant “is not effected by or through the franchisor”. Section 5(8) says a grant is not effected by or through the franchisor merely because the franchisor has a right, exercisable on reasonable grounds, to approve or disapprove it, or because a transfer fee must be paid to the franchisor in an amount set out in the franchise agreement or not exceeding its reasonable actual costs of processing the grant. Whether a given sale falls inside the exemption depends on its facts, so put the question to a franchise lawyer before you sign. See what disclosure a resale buyer gets.