Tim Hortons Testing Up-sized Cups In Kingston

For the next month, residents of Kingston, Ontario, will be one of a two-part Canadian test market for up-sized brews from the popular donut and coffee chain, Tim Hortons. Sudbury is the other test location.

Persons who order a ‘medium’, will find that they’re given this in a large-size cup, and persons who order a large, will be given what is normally an extra large. For persons who would normally order the extra large ( 20-oz. (591 mL)), they will now be presented with a giant-sized 24 oz. (710 mL) cup. The former small cuppa – 8 oz. (210 mL) – is no more. The cheapest hot Tim’s coffee in the two test towns is now a 10 oz. (296 mL) cup, for $1.33 (i.e. the price of what was ‘medium’ last week).

According to reports, the up-sized servings are meant “to test consumer preferences and that the trend we have seen has been to larger sizes.” There have been denials that the move is an attempt to match Canadian offerings with those at Tim Horton’s outlets in the United States (which sell coffee only in the larger sizes).