Head to head · QSR / Fast Food✓ VERIFIED · 2026-07-12
Subway vs Tim Hortons: units, growth & AI adoption
Tim Hortons leads on AI adoption (63/100 vs 58/100), while Subway is the larger system by unit count (36,000+ vs 5,800+). Tim Hortons is growing faster year-over-year (+3.1%). Data verified Q3 2026.
| Metric | Subway | Tim Hortons |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | QSR / Fast Food | QSR / Coffee & Bakery |
| Headquarters | USA | Canada |
| Units (approx.) | 36,000+ ◂ | 5,800+ |
| Unit growth YoY | +1.1% | +3.1% ◂ |
| AI Adoption Score | 58/100 | 63/100 ◂ |
| Operations AI | 55 | 60 ◂ |
| Marketing AI | 66 | 70 ◂ |
| Training AI | 52 | 55 ◂ |
| Data infrastructure | 59 | 66 ◂ |
| Region | North America | North America |
| Index rank | #31 | #25 ◂ |
Subway
One of the most-franchised brands globally, mid-pack on AI adoption: digital ordering and loyalty personalization are live, unit-level AI operations tooling is still limited.
FULL SUBWAY PROFILE →Tim Hortons
RBI coffee brand with a large China expansion program; loyalty-data AI is the strongest capability.
FULL TIM HORTONS PROFILE →Franchise Intelligence Index
Compare every tracked system — full benchmarks, updated quarterly.
SOURCE: FRANCHISEPULSE FRANCHISE INTELLIGENCE INDEX, Q3 2026 · FREE TO CITE WITH ATTRIBUTION + LINK