Temporary foreign workers account for more than 80% of the workforce at some Tim Hortons locations, according to a Juno News investigation that confirmed the staffing concentration at individual restaurants in the chain.

The figure puts hard data behind what has long been discussed anecdotally in Canada's restaurant sector: that quick-service operators, particularly in smaller markets and tight labor conditions, have come to depend on the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program not as a stopgap but as core staffing. At the locations identified, the program supplies four out of every five employees.

Tim Hortons operates as a franchise system, and the reported staffing levels apply to individual restaurants rather than to the brand as a whole. Canada's TFW program is administered by the federal government, which sets caps on the share of a worksite's workforce that an employer may draw from the program. An 80%-plus TFW share at any single location raises the immediate operational question of how those restaurants would function — or whether they could remain open at all — if program access tightened.

What does an 80% TFW share mean for operators?

For franchisees, the exposure runs in both directions.

• Labor supply risk. A location where four-fifths of staff hold temporary work permits is acutely sensitive to any change in federal TFW policy, processing times, or permit renewals.
• Cost structure. Labor typically ranks among the largest line items in quick-service restaurant P&Ls. TFW hiring has allowed operators to fill roles that domestic recruitment has not covered at prevailing wage rates.
• Continuity. Turnover, permit expirations, and employer-specific permit conditions all become concentrated risks when one hiring channel supplies most of the workforce.

Why Tim Hortons franchisees rely on the program

Quick-service restaurants across Canada have reported persistent difficulty filling entry-level roles since the pandemic. The TFW program lets employers hire foreign nationals for positions where they can demonstrate an inability to find domestic workers. In labor markets where fast-food chains compete for a limited pool of applicants, franchisees have increasingly turned to that channel to keep stores staffed and hours covered.

The Juno News confirmation indicates that at some Tim Hortons sites, that reliance has gone beyond supplemental hiring and now constitutes the bulk of the roster.

What comes next

The federal government has faced periodic political pressure to rein in TFW use, particularly in food service, and staffing concentrations of the scale now confirmed are the kind of data point that tends to sharpen that debate. For Tim Hortons franchisees, the practical stakes are straightforward: any tightening of program access would force a rapid rebuild of hiring pipelines — or reduced hours — at locations where more than 80% of staff hold temporary permits.