Christina’ blog post Do we really need that much caffeine in life? discusses how Tim Horton’s ‘upgraded’ their cup sizes (ex. old medium is now a small, and there is a new extra large cup), and argues that the new extra large cup is unreasonably big and probably will not catch on in Canada. Although I agree that the new extra large cup, which holds the equivalent of 2 beer bottles, is undoubtedly unhealthy, the fact of the matter is that the product they are selling is coffee, which differs from any other product.
Coffee contains caffeine which is a stimulant millions of Canadians, and almost everybody else in the world, ‘depend’ on everyday to start and keep up with their days (According Medicinenet.com, 90% of adults drink it daily) . I personally drink coffee rarely, but many of my friends have picked it up recently, and I probably will be drinking it everyday once I land that job that starts early every morning.
Caffeine is a drug, just like tobacco and alcohol, and it is known to create dependence. Many people are dependent on caffeine, but unlike other drugs, it is not looked down upon in society. Like other drugs, a tolerance is also developed from caffeine, meaning that the stimulant effect from coffee is lessened over time if you consume caffeine on a regular basis. This results in people drinking larger amounts of coffee over time.
I am not saying that coffee is unhealthy, or that people should stop drinking coffee. I believe that (almost) nothing is bad if consumed in moderation, but pretty much everything is bad if abused (and a person who drinks coffee everyday is not necessarily abusing it). Just saying that from a business perspective, coffee is an awesome product which can easily be sold in larger quantities (in a recent survey, only 53.75% of the participants claimed that they would not purchase the new Extra Large cup).
Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the world, people get addicted to it, and then develop a tolerance for it… Why haven’t they come out with the extra extra large cup yet!?
(Starbucks also recently released a new cup size, called “Trenta”, which holds as much volume as an adult stomach! Although it is for iced drinks only, this shows that there is demand for ridiculously large beverage sizes. http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/01/17/graphic-how-big-exactly-is-starbucks-new-trenta-size/)
Line at the Tim Hortons next to Sauder is worse
One reply on “Tim Horton’s Extra Larging”
Awesome post on the change at Tim Horton’s. I’m a huge coffee drinker, but I prefer Starbucks – did you know the Trenta size can fit an entire bottle of wine? That’s something I definitely don’t want to see in Canada!