“In many ways I guess if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have sold it,” says Joyce upon reflection of his 35 year career building one of the most successful businesses in Canadian history. “I would have stayed with it. But that is hindsight.”
By 1995, the number of Tim Hortons outlets across Canada had grown to 1,000. Joyce was 65 years old and among his seven children, he saw no successor for his company. He began to think about getting out of business when Wendy’s International Inc. approached him with a proposal for a friendly takeover in exchange for 16.5 million Wendy’s shares, a seat on the board of directors, the title of senior chairman, and a salary of $850,000. Joyce agreed.
Despite becoming the single largest stakeholder of the hamburger restaurant chain with a 14 percent stake, Joyce realized almost immediately that he had made a huge mistake. “I sold the thing I built and loved,” he says. “It took me awhile to get over it.” He calls the first five years after the sale “pretty tough,” and the biggest regret of his career.
To make matters worse, not only did Joyce miss running his business, but he also disagreed with many of the new management’s decisions. He may have been on the board of directors, but his voice was ignored. And, while Wendy’s struggled in the marketplace, Tim Hortons became the company’s most profitable arm, but management missed the opportunities to expand into the U.S. The final straw for Joyce came when Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas appointed what Joyce calls a “yes man” as the company’s new CEO. “It was just another example of how weak the company’s management was,” says Joyce.
Joyce began to think about attempting a hostile takeover of the entire company, but decided current management was too strong for it to work. He then tried to get outside investors to meet with Wendy’s management to get the company back on track, but Wendy’s executives refused. Finally, in 2001, Joyce decided to cut all his ties and sold his Wendy’s stock for $250 million.
Now, no longer was Joyce not in charge of his “baby”, but he did not agree with the people that were. All of a sudden, his long and prosperous career had been short with a tragic ending. What now? Would Joyce accept living out the rest of his life with regrets and only the memory of the success and happiness he once knew?
No, Joyce was nowhere near done with himself. Instead of retiring with regret and living out his days playing chess, Joyce kept on. He devoted himself to the Tim Horton Children’s Foundation he had created, as well as to the other major passion in his life: golf. Using $60 million from his doughnut career, Joyce created a new one for himself, that of golf resort owner. He purchased a prime piece of real estate on the coast of Nova Scotia and is working hard to get the resort to pay for itself. He has also established a thriving air charter business, with a private runway off his golf course.
“It’s something I wanted to do,” says Joyce. “I’m a guy who needs challenges…and I’m having fun.”
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