Starbucks vs Tim Hortons: units, growth & AI adoption
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AI Adoption Score: FranchisePulse’s own editorial metric of how deeply a system has deployed AI (methodology). The Index publishes no link between that score and franchisee profitability.
Starbucks leads on AI adoption (85/100 vs 63/100, Q3 2026), while Starbucks is the larger system by unit count (40,990 vs 6,232). Tim Hortons is growing faster year-over-year (+3.1%).
What this matchup actually shows
The 22-point headline gap is not evenly spread. The widest divergence is operations AI, where Starbucks leads by 26; the two are closest on marketing AI, separated by just 18. Starbucks leads on every pillar, not just on the total.
On scale, Starbucks runs about 6.6× the units of Tim Hortons and also leads on AI. 26 tracked systems score between them, from Domino's (83) down to Circle K (64).
| Pillar | Starbucks | Tim Hortons | Gap | × weight | Leads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operations AI | 86 | 60 | 26 | 9.1 | Starbucks |
| Data infrastructure | 90 | 66 | 24 | 7.2 | Starbucks |
| Marketing AI | 88 | 70 | 18 | 3.6 | Starbucks |
| Training & Support AI | 76 | 55 | 21 | 3.2 | Starbucks |
| Metric | Starbucks | Tim Hortons |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | QSR / Coffee & Bakery | QSR / Coffee & Bakery |
| Headquarters | USA | Canada |
| Units (approx.) | 40,990 ◂ | 6,232 |
| Unit growth YoY | +2.0% | +3.1% ◂ |
| AI Adoption Score | 85/100 ◂ | 63/100 |
| Operations AI | 86 ◂ | 60 |
| Marketing AI | 88 ◂ | 70 |
| Training AI | 76 ◂ | 55 |
| Data infrastructure | 90 ◂ | 66 |
| Region | North America | North America |
| Index rank | #2 ◂ | #30 |
Starbucks
#1 of 7 in its sector · +23 vs sector average · best data infrastructure 90, lowest training & support AI 76
Starbucks is licensed and company-operated rather than franchised in the classic sense: at the end of fiscal 2025, 52% of its 40,990 stores were company-operated and 48% licensed, and an April 2026 joint venture moved 60% of its China retail business to Boyu Capital, shifting those roughly 8,000 stores toward a licensed model. Its published AI is narrower than its Deep Brew branding once suggested: Green Dot Assist, a generative-AI assistant for baristas built with Microsoft, and an AI inventory-counting tool rolled out to more than 11,000 North American stores in 2025 and retired in May 2026.
Tim Hortons
#2 of 7 in its sector · +1 vs sector average · best marketing AI 70, lowest training & support AI 55
RBI franchise brand with 6,232 restaurants across 21 countries/territories as of FY2025, founded in 1964. Its largest international market is mainland China, run by separately listed master franchisee TH International (1,047 stores, net growth slowing to about +2.4% in 2025). RBI says it applies artificial intelligence tools brand-wide to the drive-thru and ordering experience, but discloses no Tim Hortons-specific AI rollout or results.
What actually separates them
The 26-point edge Starbucks holds on operations AI (35% of the score) is worth about 9.1 points, against 7.2 for Starbucks on data infrastructure.
Sector context
In Coffee & Bakery (7 tracked, average 62/100 against 63 for the Index), Starbucks ranks #1 and Tim Hortons #2 on AI, both above the sector average.
Franchise Intelligence Index
Starbucks, Tim Hortons and 59 more systems, benchmarked in full.
Cite as: Starbucks vs Tim Hortons, FranchisePulse Franchise Intelligence Index, Q3 2026