# Toronto Coffee Shops A Health Risk?



## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

All I can say is I'm glad I don't drink coffee in Toronto:

"CBC's Marketplace scrutinized a year's worth of health inspection reports for Starbucks, Tim Hortons, Second Cup, Coffee Time and Country Style.

For every 100 health inspection visits, Coffee Time received 78 infractions.

Some of the reports filed against Coffee Time and obtained through the Freedom of Information Act were surprising, says CBC reporter Erica Johnson.

"We discovered things like improper handwashing or complete lack of handwashing. We found meat that had to be thrown out because it wasn't hot enough, other food had to be thrown out because it wasn't cool enough," said Johnson. "[There was also a report of] an operator smoking while the inspection was going on. We saw rats jumping out of items on the floor; there were reports of dead flies on doughnuts."

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/02/21/coffee-marketplace.html?ref=rss


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

Coffee Time ≠ "Toronto coffee shops"


Starbucks, Second Cup & Tim Hortons seem to have the market covered pretty well.


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## RunTheWorldOnMac (Apr 23, 2006)

Anyone who has ever been in a coffee time knows the respresent "Ghetto". They are always dirty, filled with riff-raff; went there on odd occasions where coffee was needed; plus when you look in when driving by you clearly see they are a rat-hole.

A couple years ago Coffee Time I am sure represented 80% of the coffee shops in the GTA.


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## Rob777 (Dec 17, 2002)

There was a problem with some Calgary locations as well. Not as many as Toronto, but the VP of Coffee Time did admit there were some issues with a few franchises in Alberta.


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

Yeah for sure Coffee Time does not = Toronto coffee shops - what a downright stupid jump.

You only have to go in a Coffee Time to know there's issues compared to the upscale franchises and most independents.

It's the bottom of the barrel as the sruvey correctly shows and I would think most people around the GTA KNOW.
The survey just confirms the "impression".


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

John Clay said:


> Coffee Time ? "Toronto coffee shops"





MacDoc said:


> Yeah for sure Coffee Time does not = Toronto coffee shops - what a downright stupid jump.


Your comprehension is sorely lacking this morning, guys.

Quote from the story:

"Food inspectors put 35 per cent of Coffee Time's restaurants on probation over two years. Coffee Time says problems at every location were fixed and all restaurants were subsequently given a pass."

The title plural "shops" refers to Coffee Times numerous "shops" as noted in the paragraph above, not a single shop. The thread title is also a question since they investigated shops other than Coffee Time and only in Toronto. Results for those other shops have yet to be released.


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## mrjimmy (Nov 8, 2003)

SINC,

Are you posting this because of your concern of we Torontonians or as _a little dig_.

Or perhaps some other reason? Slow news day? 

Who can trust that blasted CBC anyway?


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

mrjimmy said:


> SINC,
> 
> Are you posting this because of your concern of we Torontonians or as _a little dig_.
> 
> ...


Call it a warning for you who live there in case you missed it.

Must you read in what's not there? And who knows what the upcoming results will show about the other chains?

And for the record, Marketplace, the source program of the story has always been a favourite CBC show of mine and they do a good job of exposure on this type of investigation. You also "read in" that CBC thing. Again I say for about the hundredth time now, I do not trust CBC TV news specifically, not the entire CBC.


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## RunTheWorldOnMac (Apr 23, 2006)

... thinking about it I have yet to see or rather smell a clean Tim Hortons as well....


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## mrjimmy (Nov 8, 2003)

SINC said:


> Call it a warning for you who live there in case you missed it.
> 
> Must you read in what's not there? And who knows what the upcoming results will show about the other chains?
> 
> And for the record, Marketplace, the source program of the story has always been a favourite CBC show of mine and they do a good job of exposure on this type of investigation. You also "read in" that CBC thing. Again I say for about the hundredth time now, I do not trust CBC TV news specifically, not the entire CBC.


Ooooh touchy.

I was just asking...


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

good thing i quite coffee years ago and don't have pay the outrageous price or visit the rat holes....


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## MacDoc (Nov 3, 2001)

So pissing in the upwind to pollute the entire planet is just fine so you can have low taxes and big provincial security blanket but but someone is OH SO CONCERNED about the GTA coffee shops being clean.

What a whacked worldview.  Why don't you spend some effort on agitating for reducing the tar sands GHG to zero instead.

Maybe Coffetime will claim it will "destroy their economy"....seems a common excuse these days going around.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

I was waiting for this discussion about coffee shop hygiene to make a natural progression to rants about global warming.


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## Sonal (Oct 2, 2003)

From the article: "About 35 per cent of Toronto Coffee Times on probation."

AND "While four of the five restaurants [i.e., Starbucks, Tim Hortons, Second Cup, Coffee Time and Country Style] in the Marketplace probe fared well in food-safety handling, Coffee Time had an unusually large proportion of violations"

There are probably 10-15 coffee shops within a 15 minute walk of where I live.

Only 1 Coffee Time, and it's brand new (opened up while the local Timmy's is undergoing renovation.). I never go there, since there are so many better choices around.

So if that one chain has a high number of violations, and the rest fared well, I think I will be fine drinking coffee in Toronto coffee shops.


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## Loafer (Jan 7, 2004)

You know you're in a dodgy part of town if their's a Coffee Time around.

I'm particularly fond of a place on Pape, just round the corner from me called "Coffee Lime" that has exactly the same colours and type-face as Coffee Time.
I want to go in there and tell them "If you're going to rip off another coffee shop's brand at least make a good one so you actually get some customers!"


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## JumboJones (Feb 21, 2001)

Kopi Luwak anyone?

http://www.thecoffeecritic.com/fusion3/html/kopi.shtml


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## RunTheWorldOnMac (Apr 23, 2006)

Saw a newscast about that a few years ago. You are basically eating cat plop; it sells for around $200 a cup. I am sure I can sell you the Canadian version for much less. I tried to feed my cat some Folgers crystals hoping his stomach enzymes mixed with cat litter dust would add a light earthy aftertaste...after numerous attempts I gave up because the coffee taste like crap; literally.

For someone to drink this they should first have their head examined.


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## maccam (Jun 28, 2006)

The end of Alberta.

That's okay Stinq, oops, sorry man, I mean Sinq.... Seems Alberta boys aren't interested in real girls so it's only a matter of time before the whole place is empty and worrying about coffee shops won't matter, but thanks for your concern. :lmao: :lmao:


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Jumbo: I just saw the Kopi Luwak in a store tonight--inside a locked cabinet at $480 per pound.

Loafer: Coffee Lime cracks me up. Coffee break, Coffee Tim. The variations are endless--perhaps Coffee Time is too lazy to pursue trademark violations. We never see a Starbox.

Another favourite--now out of business--Taco Ring.


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## JumboJones (Feb 21, 2001)

I don't think the rat kopi luwak at Coffee Time would be worth as much.

Or Starbux, but I have a Pizza Bell by my house, somehow doesn't have the same ring to it.


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## SINC (Feb 16, 2001)

maccam said:


> The end of Alberta.
> 
> That's okay Stinq, oops, sorry man, I mean Sinq.... Seems Alberta boys aren't interested in real girls so it's only a matter of time before the whole place is empty and worrying about coffee shops won't matter, but thanks for your concern. :lmao: :lmao:


Interesting sense of humour there "ma'am".

You see, I can "add or drop a 'c' or two" from your name to make you too, look like a dick. beejacon


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

Should have made this into a poll to see where people get their coffee,
Coffee Time would probably get zero votes.


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## miguelsanchez (Feb 1, 2005)

Loafer said:


> You know you're in a dodgy part of town if their's a Coffee Time around.
> 
> I'm particularly fond of a place on Pape, just round the corner from me called "Coffee Lime" that has exactly the same colours and type-face as Coffee Time.
> I want to go in there and tell them "If you're going to rip off another coffee shop's brand at least make a good one so you actually get some customers!"


Cloney Time

Loaf, I grew up in that neighbourhood! I know that shop very well, as I pass by it every time I visit my parents. Check out the link "wanna sound like" for a pic of that store's front and other Coffee Time clones.


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## TroutMaskReplica (Feb 28, 2003)

i think the coffee time clones are actually former coffee time locations that have been shut down.

coffee time is a company with VERY inconsistant branding. i've counted at least a half dozen variations of their logo. they've actually abandoned the old coffee time logo with the engraved look, in favour of one of those wacky fonts that came with adobe illustrator 9 or 10.


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## TroutMaskReplica (Feb 28, 2003)

here's the new logo (pathetic):


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## JumboJones (Feb 21, 2001)

TroutMaskReplica said:


> here's the new logo (pathetic):
> 
> http://www.fishtv.tv/coffee%20time%20logo.bmp.png


I did some work for another local coffee store and he wanted me to copy their designs, he especially liked the swirls. Need less to say, 1 the idea isn't working very well and he is stuck with a whole bunch of useless packaging materials, and 2 I don't have any of that work in my portfolio! :lmao:


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

One of the reasons that franchises like to change their designs is because they can stick the franchisees with bills for expensive alterations at above-market prices.

A few years ago, Coffee Time franchisees complained about marketing budgets for the chain as a whole, which were non-existent. Anyone remember the brief emergence of a mascot--a guy dressed as a paper coffee cup? Pitiful. 

I was surprised to see a Coffee Time established at the corner of Yonge and Lawrence--holding on now for about two years.


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## TroutMaskReplica (Feb 28, 2003)

i probably shouldn't have called the logo pathetic. i don't know what kind of constraints the designer had to operate within, or how difficult the client was.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Maybe they should try a "swoosh" in their logo...

The local Coffee Time (does this mean I'm in a "bad neighbourhood?" There are at least two Starbucks, a high-end Timothy's, a Second Cup, a second Second Cup, and about 5 Tim Hortons within a mile of here) reminds me of that song from a few years ago: "A knife, a spoon, a needle and a fork, that's the way we spell New York." I used to do a radio show where I would introduce the song with those lyrics, but substitute "North York."


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Trout: You weren't criticizing the designer, just the results. Constrained, over art-directed, the owner's untalented nephew--whatever--the results are not sublime.

Besides, the management of Coffe Time will probably be grateful that you placed their logo online, even in the context of this thread.


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## JumboJones (Feb 21, 2001)

HowEver said:


> Maybe they should try a "swoosh" in their logo...


Like the new George Brown logo! I thought the swoosh was a thing of the past, guess not.

http://www.georgebrown.ca/images_new/images/building_languages_plus_log.jpg

Sorry for the tangent.


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## satchmo (May 26, 2005)

It's not just coffee shops. Practically every restaurant in the city has some rodent or roach presence. If you eat out, you've probably eaten food that's been contaminated in some way. 

Starbucks looks clean, so it's that whole out of sight, out of mind thinking. But I'm sure they're not so squeeky clean. However, I think the concern is the degree to which Coffee Time shops are infested.


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## mrjimmy (Nov 8, 2003)

Check this story out. It gives me the Willards:

http://www.thestar.com/article/185059

Imagine what we've ingested since restaurants (etc.) have existed! It's widely reported now but in the past? Only if a rat was found swimming in your soup perhaps...  

I think as a general rule, we are a pretty hearty species who can weather the likes of a little feces here and there.

It's all the cleaning solvents that _I'm_ worried about.


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## maccam (Jun 28, 2006)

> You see, I can "add or drop a 'c' or two" from your name to make you too, look like a dick.


 :lmao: 

That's the spirit! Gawd this place is boring......:lmao: 

Now why don't you run along and head on over to CT and get yourself a nice moldy bagel 'n cream bacteria k? Head back home and get back at it with the rest of your buddies from Alta? Use lotion, no chaffing.......:lmao: :lmao:


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## modsuperstar (Nov 23, 2004)

I'll stick up for Coffee Time, as it holds a fond place in my heart. We used to have one in Paris, ON that was very well run and employed many of my friends over the years. While I do agree that most Coffee Times are much shabbier then Tim Hortons, their coffee, cappucinos and bagels sure beat the pants off the stuff they serve at Timmy's. The location in Paris closed down not because of any health issues, just because the owners weren't interested in running and staffing a 24 hour coffee shop in a small town anymore.


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## maccam (Jun 28, 2006)

> It gives me the Willards


  

That anything like the Willies?


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## mrjimmy (Nov 8, 2003)

maccam said:


> That anything like the Willies?


I take it you get the joke then?

http://imdb.com/title/tt0310357/


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## martman (May 5, 2005)

mrjimmy said:


> I think as a general rule, we are a pretty hearty species who can weather the likes of a little feces here and there.


A few years ago I got camplobacter poisoning, which typically comes from rat or mouse turds. The bacteria is ingested and continues to multiply for three days till you get real sick. The symptoms include high fever and severe gastritis. After about a week the fever went down but the gastritis lasted months. After an attack of camplobacter you never completely recover. I wouldn't be so flippant about "a little feces here and there" if I were you. As an aside I never for sure figured out how I got this but a Toronto area donut shop is suspect. Interestingly enough it wasn't a Coffee Time but a Coffee Team shop (they got sued and had to change their name soon after (they used the same font etc.))


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## mrjimmy (Nov 8, 2003)

> A few years ago I got camplobacter poisoning, which typically comes from rat or mouse turds. The bacteria is ingested and continues to multiply for three days till you get real sick. The symptoms include high fever and severe gastritis. After about a week the fever went down but the gastritis lasted months. After an attack of camplobacter you never completely recover. I wouldn't be so flippant about "a little feces here and there" if I were you. As an aside I never for sure figured out how I got this but a Toronto area donut shop is suspect. Interestingly enough it wasn't a Coffee Time but a Coffee Team shop (they got sued and had to change their name soon after (they used the same font etc.))





mrjimmy said:


> I think as a *general* rule


________


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## talonracer (Dec 30, 2003)

Eeep. I think I'll stick with my kicking horse coffee, thanks. My kitchen might be a bit messy, but I know there's no feces kicking around. Although, we did get a bit crazy last weekend.. uh oh!


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