‘Rich getting richer’: Pakistan’s packed Tim Hortons reveals growing disparity as crisis brews

Tim Hortons has become a top social media trend in Pakistan with one customer saying ‘I’m here to taste the coffee … I don’t know about the price’

In less than a month, Pakistan’s currency lost a quarter of its value against the US dollar, but with a population 230 million it remains a fast-food growth market

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People wait for their turn to get in Tim Hortons Cafe and Bake Shop in Lahore. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:00am, 15 Feb 2023Updated: 12:26pm, 15 Feb 2023

Some Pakistanis are queuing for hours to grab coffee and pastries from Canadian chain Tim Hortons, which opened its first outlet in the South Asian country this week just as its economic crisis took a turn for the worse.

In less than a month, Pakistan’s currency has lost more than a quarter of its value against the US dollar, and fuel prices have risen by almost a fifth as the government implemented fiscal measures that are prerequisite to unlocking funds from an International Monetary Fund bailout.

Inflation in January spiked to 27 per cent year-on-year, the highest in more than a decade, and the government only has enough foreign reserves to pay for just over three weeks of imports.

Higher prices don’t really matter for the class of people coming here

Ahmad Javed, customer

All that hasn’t stopped scores of Pakistanis from thronging to the cafe since it opened on Saturday at an upmarket Lahore shopping centre.

Tim Hortons is owned by Restaurant Brands International Inc (RBI), a Toronto-based company that also owns other fast food brands including Burger King and Popeyes.

“Higher prices don’t really matter for the class of people coming here,” Ahmad Javed, a medical student who used to go to Tim Hortons while he was living in Canada, told Reuters as he queued up.

“Rich people in Pakistan are getting richer, the poor are becoming poorer while the middle class is struggling.”