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TORONTO — Tim Hortons’ elected franchisee board has struck back at a vocal group of franchisees who formed last year to oppose the practices of their new corporate parent, calling the groups’ complaints to the federal government earlier this month the “final straw” and warning that a flood of adverse media stories are turning consumers against the brand.

“The negative commentary that continues to come from inside our franchisee family results in negative public attention that is corrosive and damaging to our brand, our livelihoods and that of our teams,” said a letter sent Tuesday to Tim Hortons franchisees across Canada and signed by all 19 members of the Tim Hortons Canadian Franchisee Advisory Board.

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“Ask yourself why a guest would feel good about patronizing a brand (restaurant owner/company) that repeatedly fights their battles in public? Guests are turning away from restaurant owners, not supporting them,” the letter added, calling the ongoing franchisee dissent tantamount to “business suicide.”

The group of 19 restaurant owners in question are elected in four-year staggered terms by other Canadian franchisees. They liaise regularly with company brass, but have remained publicly silent amid a mounting outcry from the Great White North Franchisee Association, a dissident franchisee group that formed last year out of a shared belief that the elected board was rubber-stamping new management’s directives rather than addressing their raft of concerns about head office’s practices.