CompanyGraph
Restaurant Brands International Inc.
QSR · NYSE Arca · United States
Franchises four quick-service restaurant brands across 120+ markets by extracting royalties and mandatory supply-chain markups, with the Canadian Tim Hortons network as the load-bearing unit.
Tim Hortons' physical density across Canadian commercial real estate generates supply-chain throughput large enough to enforce mandatory purchasing programs on franchisees, and those purchasing requirements embed franchisees in proprietary ingredient and packaging systems that raise switching costs with each renewal cycle. The contract payments extracted from this locked-in Canadian base fund the standardized training and operational systems that replicate across Burger King, Popeyes, and Firehouse Subs internationally — but because brand systems replicate cheaply across new locations only after market-specific regulatory adaptation, menu modification, and local master franchise structures are in place, international expansion cannot substitute for Canadian volume at equivalent cost. Canadian market saturation therefore caps new unit openings, which caps supply-chain throughput, which limits the per-unit cost advantage that keeps the mandatory purchasing programs viable for franchisees. A sustained contraction in Canadian same-store sales that drives franchisee attrition would shrink purchasing volume, raise per-unit ingredient costs, and erode the density advantage that the entire multi-brand structure depends on.
How does this company make money?
Money flows in through franchise fees collected on new unit openings, ongoing royalty payments calculated as a percentage of each franchisee's sales, advertising fund contributions from franchisees, and markups on ingredients and packaging sold to franchisees through mandatory purchasing programs.
What makes this company hard to replace?
Territorial rights contracts prevent franchisees from switching to competing franchise systems within their protected geographic areas. Mandatory supply chain purchasing requirements embed franchisees in proprietary ingredient and packaging systems that have no direct substitute. Multi-year franchise agreements with renewal options lock in the fee structures that govern each franchisee's ongoing obligations.
What limits this company?
Canadian market saturation limits new Tim Hortons unit openings, capping the supply-chain volume growth that underpins mandatory purchasing programs and the density advantage that keeps per-unit ingredient costs below what a new entrant could match. Because international geographic expansion requires market-specific regulatory adaptation, menu modification, and local master franchise structures that cannot be automated, no other brand in the portfolio can substitute this volume base at equivalent cost.
What does this company depend on?
Tim Hortons depends on Canadian commercial real estate to maintain its location density, franchisee capital availability to fund new unit development, supply chain contracts covering coffee beans and baked goods ingredients, master franchise agreements that govern operations in international markets, and advertising fund contributions from franchisees that sustain brand marketing.
Who depends on this company?
Tim Hortons franchisees in Canada depend on brand recognition to generate customer traffic, and a collapse in brand support would remove the primary draw for their businesses. Master franchisees in international markets hold territorial rights whose value disappears entirely if brand support or operational systems are withdrawn. Supply chain vendors that manufacture branded packaging and ingredients exclusively for these networks have no alternative customer base for those products.
How does this company scale?
Brand marketing and operational systems replicate cheaply across new franchise locations through standardized training and supply protocols. Geographic expansion hits regulatory and cultural adaptation costs that cannot be automated, because each new country requires market-specific menu modifications and local partnership structures.
What external forces can significantly affect this company?
Fluctuations in the Canadian dollar affect the economics of international expansion and the cost of cross-border supply chain inputs. Immigration policies in target expansion markets constrain labor availability for franchise operations. Trade regulations governing cross-border distribution affect how supply chain goods reach international franchise locations.
Where is this company structurally vulnerable?
Because the supply-chain density and mandatory purchasing leverage are both functions of Canadian unit count, a sustained competitive or economic contraction in Canada that reduces same-store sales below franchisee viability thresholds would trigger franchisee attrition, shrink purchasing volume, raise per-unit ingredient costs, and erode the density advantage — unwinding the differentiator from its geographic root upward through the entire multi-brand fee structure.
Supply Chain
Seafood Supply Chain
The seafood supply chain is shaped by three root constraints: wild catch uncertainty where ocean fisheries are biological systems whose yields depend on weather, migration patterns, and stock health — none of which are controllable; extreme perishability where seafood degrades faster than almost any other protein and the cold chain must begin on the vessel and cannot be interrupted; and traceability gaps where seafood passes through auctions, processors, and distributors across multiple countries, making origin verification structurally difficult.
Coffee Supply Chain
The coffee supply chain moves beans, roasted coffee, and espresso from tropical farms to global consumers, shaped by three root constraints: coffee trees take years to mature and produce one harvest annually, roasted coffee degrades in weeks while green beans store for months, and production is concentrated in the tropical belt while consumption is concentrated outside it.
Beef Supply Chain
The beef supply chain is shaped by three root constraints: a biological growth cycle that delays production response by 18 to 24 months, a cold chain dependency that requires unbroken refrigeration from slaughter through retail, and processing concentration where four companies handle roughly 85% of US beef — a structure driven by the capital intensity and regulatory burden of large-scale slaughter facilities.