Don’t a lot of people still think Ron Joyce runs the company?
Sure, as it should be. If you’re the founder, that should never be taken away. This company will always have a part of Ron Joyce, as it will always have a part of Tim, because of the name obviously.
What part of it is Paul House’s?
The people, I would say. I don’t like profile and credit because we have an immense amount of smart, dedicated people.
Do you resent being overshadowed by Mr. Joyce?
Why would I? He built the company. It’s his company, not my company. I have no issue with that.
It’s interesting both you and Mr. Joyce came out of Dairy Queen, you as a manager, he as a franchisee.
This company wouldn’t be where it is today if Ron hadn’t been in Dairy Queen. Prior to Dairy Queen, Ron didn’t know anything about food service. When Ron joined Tim, Tim didn’t know anything about food service. Ron got that knowledge from Dairy Queen, which was a pretty good franchise in those days.
So why isn’t Dairy Queen on top instead of Tim Hortons?
It was a chain like a lot of others developed back in the old days. Chains that came along later learned from what they did right and wrong. We improved on certain things, more on the discipline side. Any big company has to be run with discipline.
But one thing Ron did was set a wonderful platform. I always said Ron built the car — we just learned how to drive it real fast.
Did you take business at university?
I took economics, but I’ve been in business training from the day I came out of the womb. My mom was a very good business person. In farming [at Stoney Creek, Ont.], we needed to scratch to make a living and that’s the best education.
I went to university so that the franchisees will listen to me about what my mother taught me about business. It’s about displaying the product properly, getting good service, good quality and know your customer. We did that every day we sold things at the Hamilton market.
Don’t you wake up some mornings wishing you had an MBA?
Why? What would I be if I had an MBA?
You might be able to sell yourself better to Bay Street and Wall Street.
Why? This is not about Paul House. This is about building something important, and being able to relate to people. Listen, I went for an MBA for one term at McMaster.
What happened?
I got married. I had no money. I had a bad summer on the farm and I didn’t even complete the first term.
But people who go through life with regrets — man, oh, man, I have regrets for them. I don’t have any frigging regrets at all.
I don’t know if an MBA would have made me more sophisticated. More knowledgeable, sure. But would it have helped me in what I’ve done? No.
Where I’ve added value is I understand the street, I understand the retail business, I have a good feel for it and a good feel for what the consumer wants. And I have people surrounding me with equal knowledge to that.
You just added the chairman’s title, replacing a Wendy’s director. Coming out of the IPO, does this signal the end of the Wendy’s connection?
It’s done. We still have two members on our board who are also on Wendy’s board and they will migrate off the board in the course of this year. So this was all planned.
Does independence mean a big change in operations?
No. When we joined Wendy’s, it was terrific for us as a management team. They left us alone, they let us run the company. The late Gordon Teter, who was Wendy’s CEO, said to me, ‘Paul I’ll keep Columbus away from you,’ and he absolutely did that.
How do you maintain standards and quality as you get much bigger?
It all comes back to people. It’s delegating responsibilities and so forth, and keeping in communication with your partners, the franchised owners. It’s not any one thing. The things we are doing today are the same things we always did.
But some customers say service is not up to the old standards. How do you deal with that?
If we have any complaint at all, we’ll have our district manager in there in a relatively short time. We’ll be on the phone with the owner; they don’t want to hear it. Any restaurant at any given time can have a service issue. It’s one person letting somebody down. We get customer complaints, but compared with the volume we do, we don’t get that many.
Do you visit the outlets yourself?
I used to spend a tremendous amount of time in the field, but with the size of the company and the role I now occupy, I don’t have the same time. But whenever I get a chance, I’m around the stores. I’m sure this weekend that I will be in two or three stores as I wander around.
Even though we live in a wonderful world of communications, there is still nothing like personal contact. My first boss at Dairy Queen travelled extensively, and he was a white-knuckle flier. He once said ‘Mom and Pop don’t read memos. They want to see me, feel me, touch me.’
That’s what we try to do — get out there, and make sure the owners know we are engaged and have a passion for what we’re doing.
Are there other organizations you admire?
I have great admiration for Canadian Tire — they do a great job. But there is less and less in the retail format in Canada that I’m pleased with. I find some of the great names — I won’t mention them — have fallen off from what they once did. But I still love going into an owner-operated restaurant.
Besides Tim Hortons, what restaurant in the world do you like best?
My favourite now is Burlington’s West Plains Bistro — a small place, personalized service, bistro kind of food. There are always a couple of specials on the menu. I have a nice dinner, glass of wine and chat about the business with the owners, George and Irene.
At 63, do you have a succession plan?
Any one of my direct reports is very capable of being the next CEO. If it should be one of them, it would be a very seamless transition.
How much longer for you?
I don’t know. Work has never been a chore for me, and I get in too much trouble when I get time on my hands. When I’m not working, I’m really working; I’m out looking at real estate and other things. I like real estate because I’m a farm boy.
I like to hunt and fish, but I don’t do so much of that. I get bored very easily if I’m not busy, so this keeps me very busy.
Do you read any business books?
I do, but nothing right now. I find that as I get older it’s harder for a book to keep my attention — it had better be pretty good.
Did you read Ron Joyce’s Always Fresh?
No.
Why not?
I wouldn’t write a book . . . no, I did not read it. I’d just as soon you didn’t publish that, but that’s your call. It’s a personal thing.
Paul House
Title: Chairman and CEO,
Tim Hortons Inc.
Born: Stoney Creek, Ont., 1944
Education: B.A., McMaster U., 1969
Career highlights:
Post-university: Operated service station with brother
1972: Joined Dairy Queen as a
district manager
1985: Joined Tim Hortons as vice-president, marketing
1995: President and COO
2006: Chief executive officer
February, 2007: Named chairman
Source: globeandmail.com