Meet Michelle Siman

We interviewed a proud Tim Horton franchisee and TCBC supporter, Michelle Siman.

Here is the interview:

Angharad Hatt: Can you tell me a bit about who you are, your family, a little bit about you?

Michelle Siman: I’m Michelle. Our Family, my dad, has been part of the Tim Hortons family for 25 years actually, as a broker. So like, growing up, Tim Hortons was all around me, I was pretty much raised with it. There was at one point where I decided I’d go work elsewhere and see what else the world has to offer. And I ended up finding myself coming back to the Tim’s family side. Then I ended up, I worked actually before I worked, I worked in my, I guess as a manager at one of my dad’s locations. But then I decided I’m going to go work for corporate. So I worked for the head office for about eight years. And then I decided to leave the corporate side and then join my dad on the franchisee side. So I got to see both sides of Tim Horton’s world.

Angharad Hatt: How did your parents originally get into it then, how did they get started?

Michelle Siman: So my dad works- He was in the accounting department for the metros. And this was at the time when, so I guess it was A&P at the time before it was called Metro. So A&P, I guess, Dominion. He was in charge of the accounting department and with the accounting of the real estate. That was back when they were trying to put Tim Horton’s franchises inside the supermarkets. Then he ended up like finding that one of the landlords was trying to charge the Tim horton’s more rent than all the other landlords in the plaza. So through that, I guess, there was a court case and he ended up getting to know a couple of the executives on the Tim Horton’s side and my dad was really close with his boss at the time who was also close with the Tim Horton’s guys. My dad ended up eventually telling his boss, you know what, I love the job I’m doing but I feel like I can see the potential that Tim Horton’s has. He asked his boss if it was okay if he jumped ship and left to go work for them. That was how he ended up, I guess, pulling money so he could end up buying a franchise.

Angharad Hatt: Wow, that’s incredible! You talked a little bit about growing up and your parents being involved, and just being surrounded by that. But as you got older and you started to take on that role yourself, what exactly was it that appealed to you to following in your parents’ footsteps and continuing to stay involved with the Tim Hortons franchise?

Michelle Siman: Honestly, like Tim Horton’s world, it was like a family. The people who work there, the manager, even on the corporate side, everybody just gets to know each other. You’re very welcomed. You feel like you’re part of the community. And then as your little community and little family of Tim Horton’s, you’re able to then reach out to the greater community. It’s just it’s like a small little world, but like, it expands so much and it touches so many different people.

Angharad Hatt: In talking to a few other people, that’s a common word that I’m hearing a lot, “family” and how it just feels like a family being a part of that, so that’s great. How many franchised locations do you have? If you don’t mind me asking?

Michelle Siman: We have nine. We actually had 10 but we closed one right at the onset of COVID.

Angharad Hatt: As we start to get back to normal a little bit now, but before when the pandemic had hit, it hit employers and employees really hard in a lot of different ways. But during that time, and especially now as we’re starting to come out of that a little bit, how did you work on creating an energetic, supportive and optimistic team during those times?

Michelle Siman: So I felt that I had to put on my, my therapist, and my psychiatrist hat on, and really be there, because our staff, they needed the emotional support, they needed someone to act as a leader. And then when there were there was a lot of fear. And everyone was very scared. And it was tense. And there are unprecedented times, and everyone’s scared to even come to work and leave their houses and it was all just about showing face, talking to people offering them different support or, like real counseling options if they wanted to talk to somebody. I mean, we had people who live alone, with people who have families, people who take care of people who are, I guess more at risk, like older adults. And it was literally just coming in all the time. Just literally asking, “How are you?” “How are you today?” “How do you feel?” “Are you scared? It’s okay to be scared”, “Are you worried?”. like that’s a normal feeling, just basically talking about our feelings and emotions to let everybody know, like, you’re not alone like everyone else is feeling this way too. As long as we all stick together, we know we’re not your personal family, but we’re your Tim Horton’s family. So we still give out paychecks the normal way, we don’t do that direct bank deposit. So we would write letters on the back of different paychecks. Normally, in the past, they would always be like, “Hey, these are the new upcoming promotions”. Like, “this is what you need to know for work” but we switched it around and we made it all about you want to contact us for counseling or motivational quotes, or just ways to make them feel connected and together, that were part of them so that they’re not alone. It really helped and then just teaching them because like, there’s one thing to say, “Hey, here’s your mask wear this.” We had to do thorough training. Like, here’s how you wear your properly, here’s when you should wear it, here’s when you should get a new mask, these are the different mask options available. It’s more about the team behind everything and these are the reasons why and it’s just going through all the information and telling them “don’t listen to the news so much, we have to focus on the facts.” Just a lot of coaching and being there, like showing the support so that they’re not alone and that they don’t think they’re the only ones risking their lives.

Angharad Hatt: That’s amazing, and I think that comes back to what you said a little bit earlier how, you know, the Tim Hortons franchise, it feels like a family. That during these times it switched from just being a name and being, you know, this is the owner to really nurturing that family environment at all those locations. it’s more than just an employee and a boss, it’s a family unit. That’s amazing that you’ve done all that. Going out towards the community, what role have you played in your local community”

Michelle Siman: this was before COVID for this specific example, but we’ve had local schools come in for tours and they would do research on recycling programs which is now being revamped again. of course, we’re now doing the paper, paper straws and we’re getting more and more of our packaging. So we’re continuously always working on recycling. But I know the school, the school teachers, they love it when they got to bring their kids in and to show them these are the different receptacles, how you can do compost, and garbage waste, compost come over cycling, just all those different things. Here’s how it is at a business, and you can do it at your home, too. I know the kids really liked that one. Then, of course, they also got to see a whole bunch of donuts and Timbits being made. We’ve also, and this is right before COVID as well, had school co-op programs. I think only certain schools do that, but for their grade 12 years, one of their classes would be they have to get hours as a co-op. So we would take on just one student at a time because it gets difficult with more of them and there’s a lot more responsibility because they are underage. But we’ve worked with them, help them get their high school diploma, work experience. Then just other generic stuff that we still be doing is just providing to local events. School events, there are a lot of movie nights or open houses. I mean, a school has put on a new musical. But even more recently, we’ve been dropping off products at fire halls. There was a massive factory fire near one of our Tim’s so we made sure we have products for all of the firemen and women who were working. It was a really long fire so we dropped of product to them, dropped off the product to the police station because we’re very close to one of them in our area. So that was just the product, and then we also have done product drives. So we’ve done a food bank collection. We’ve done feminine product drives like tampons and pads. That was the one we actually just finished like two months ago. And then in the holidays, we do a toy drive. And then specifically like what we’ve done with like the children’s Breakfast Club is obviously selling our smile cookies, and then also did the coat drive that you guys did last year.

Angharad Hatt: Wow, That’s amazing! Thank you for doing all of that, that’s fantastic. When doing those outreach events, what do you enjoy about doing those? Or why do you do them in the first place do you think?

Michelle Siman: To see a smile on someone’s face and like, how appreciative they are, as full of gratitude that they’re able to receive assistance. Just seeing how happy someone can get from our effort. And it’s so great like, now you have a connection with somebody. So now when they come into your store, like in the future later on, “Oh, hey, I know who you are! You ran that event”. Now we’re on a first-name basis rather than you’re just a normal customer coming in for their coffee order. Like, oh, you’re part of our family like we know who you are. There’s a face to your name. We can memorize your order better. It just builds relationships into the future.

Angharad Hatt: Are you part of a local BIA?

Michelle Siman: So we’re part of the Kingsway. Unfortunately, only one of our locations qualifies for that, but that is one of them that we are in.

Angharad Hatt: You mentioned it briefly when talking about all the outreach events that you do, but in regards to The Children’s Breakfast Club, How did you get started with us?

Michelle Siman: So we originally only heard about you guys through our Tim Hortons head office. And that’s just how we first heard about you because of the other charities that we’ve helped out on, like, for example, Ernestine’s, youth without shelter. There are a few other Etobicoke charities that we’ve helped out, so yeah, we heard about you through our head office, originally through the smile cookie campaign. But then once we got to learn more of the folks at Children’s Breakfast Club, that, of course, being part of your social media, like following you guys on Instagram, and seeing everything else that you guys offer, and you provide and what you do. It’s just easy for us to see, oh, you’re such a good cause we can see where our efforts and the funds are going. And that you offer more than just giving kids a meal for school. But it’s more than that. And you guys are so approachable, friendly, and you just make it easy for us to help.

Angharad Hatt: Well, we appreciate your support. And that’s why I assume you continue to support the children’s Breakfast Club and what we do?

Michelle Siman: Oh, yeah, we’re big fans.

Angharad Hatt: Did you have any closing comments, anything that you wanted to add?

Michelle Siman: I definitely just want to thank you, guys. Like, I know, when we had won- I mean, we sort of do it as a competition, like who could sell the most smile cookies to raise money for charity. I mean, it’s how you get people excited, the staff excited. You know, “We want to support, we want to be the best.” But it was so incredible and amazing. We came to one of the Christmas events that The Children’s Breakfast Club was holding and you guys framed a picture for us, of all about smile cookie. And we brought that back to our restaurant and we showed it off to our staff and they loved it. Like it was just, it’s something that we keep posted in the restaurant so the guests can see it. And it’s just an amazing thing to keep that excitement around these charitable events going.

Angharad Hatt: Again, we’re very appreciative and supportive of what you guys do so thank you.