Tim Hortons' (THI) homeless policy?

Tim Hortons (NYSE: THI) can't seem to get enough of bad PR lately.

Only two weeks ago Canada was in an uproar when Tim Hortons fired a single mother employee from a London, Ontario location because she gave a child a free Timbit (a doughnut center). Tim Hortons has since rehired the woman.

Then, on Wednesday, Teresa Lee, a Good Samaritan who happens to be a Toronto investment manager, bought breakfast for a pregnant homeless woman. When she was about to leave and go to her job, an employee admonished her, saying the homeless woman cannot stay to eat the purchased breakfast in the restaurant. According to the employee, "Tim Hortons at King and Victoria Sts. does not let homeless people eat inside, even if they are eating Tim Hortons food, because they 'make a mess.'"

Well, the chain claims it has no policy on the treatment of the homeless. Since 95% of the Tim Hortons stores in Canada are independent franchises, it is up to franchises to "make delicate judgment decisions when dealing with any disruptive customers to ensure the store is pleasant, comfortable and safe." Tim Hortons has apologized to Lee, the investment manager, but failed to apologize to the homeless woman.

It's quite surprising to see Tim Hortons, which has been called "a Canadian icon of best practices from a franchising perspective," getting it so wrong lately. Tim Hortons is a Canadian icon, not just from business perspective, but from a cultural one too.

If there was one thing Tim Hortons definitely didn't need to learn from Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), it was this. Starbucks had a few incidents involving homeless and bad PR itself. Tim Hortons has hurt its brand image with this negative publicity. So while indeed it comes down more often than not to judgment calls, those calls have been wrong of late. Perhaps Timmies should have a specific company policy on the treatment of the homeless after all.