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OAKVILLE, Ont. — During a recent visit to the Tim Hortons headquarters, Daniel Schwartz happily pokes fun at some of the more regimented hallmarks of the chain’s owner, Restaurant Brands International Inc., right down to the optimal look of an office desk.

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Stopping by a row of communal desks where chief executive Schwartz and chief financial officer Josh Kobza sit several times a month alongside the office’s 400 or so other workers, he points to one that is empty save for a solitary Kleenex box.

“This,” he said while gesturing with an exaggeratedly proud sweep of his arm, “is an ideal desk,” alluding to the company’s directive for neat employee workstations. He pauses, then slides the tissue box several inches over onto a cluttered adjacent desk. “There,” he said, regarding the barren white expanse before him with a broad smile. “Now it’s perfect.”

Schwartz and Kobza are keen to show how the “3G Way” — the efficiency-driven management style espoused by the Brazilian entrepreneurs behind 3G Capital, Restaurant Brands International’s largest shareholder — is playing out at Tim Hortons as they prepare for the annual general meeting of shareholders on June 5.

The headquarters is certainly a far cry from the earth-toned cubicles and perimeter of walled offices that were expunged in the building’s sweeping renovation two years ago and is symbolic of the change that has rankled a number of Tim Hortons’ Canadian restaurant owners.