A new Tim Horton’s location at 1515 Washington St. is hosting a grand opening this week. The new franchise location offers a unique experience with a double drive through and no indoor dining. Pictured is the new Tim Horton’s location in Jamestown. Submitted photo

A new Tim Horton’s location at 1515 Washington St. in Jamestown is holding its grand opening today.

Blake Tarana, owner of the Jamestown Tim Horton’s franchise locations, said the new Tim Horton’s location will have special gifts for the first 300 visitors on Friday. The new location will also host a guest appreciation week starting Monday.

“On Friday, the first 100 people are going to receive a $10 gift card, and then the next 200 people will receive a free thermal mug,” he said. “All day, we’re going to have $1 10-pack of Timbits.”

Tarana said that from Monday, Jan. 16, to Sunday, Jan. 22, the new location will have different promotions every single day to show appreciation for the community’s support. Asked about the soft opening of the new location, Tarana said it has been successful so far.

“It’s going well,” he said. “We’re definitely seeing more and more traffic every day. As people realize we’re opening, we’re starting to see more people.”

The soft opening has given the new franchise location a chance to add more items to its limited menu. Tarana said the new location started without lunch options but has added a limited lunch menu with cold sandwiches, which he said has been a success with customers. The limited menu at the new Tim Horton’s is due to the restaurant’s unique design as a double drive through only location.

“This one is actually a prototype for Tim Horton’s,” Tarana said. “We are one of the first to build in the United States. It’s 880 square feet, and there’s no inside lobby, so you can’t come inside the building. It’s a double drive thru. You can place an order on our mobile app, and there is a window in the front of the building. Either you can pick your mobile app order up there or we can take your order at the window.”

With two Tim Horton’s restaurants featuring traditional dine-in seating less than a mile from the Washington Street location, Tarana said the decision to have a drive through only model made sense. Between all the Tim Horton’s locations in Jamestown and Lakewood, Tarana said there are more than 200 seats available in his restaurants.

“We figured this store would be good especially for people if they had drinks or quicker orders they wanted to come through with,” he said. “We would be able to service that with the intention of a limited menu and getting them in and out quicker.”

Despite Jamestown already featuring multiple Tim Horton’s locations, Tarana explained that there was a need to create another franchise location on Washington Street to reach more potential customers in the area and reduce wait times at other Tim Horton’s locations. With multiple businesses located on Washington Street, Tarana decided it would be “a good spot” to build the “prototype” drive through only location. Tarana added that property was available when the opportunity arose to develop another franchise location, leading to the launch of the newest Tim Horton’s restaurant in Jamestown.

Asked whether he has any future plans of developing more Tim Horton’s locations in the area, Tarana said his expansion efforts will be concentrated in the east for the time being.

“We’re going to be building three stores this year in the Olean area, and then after that, we’re planning to keep going down east,” he said. “There’s always the possibility for more expansion if the right possibilities or right areas ever pop up.”

While Tarana’s future expansion plans will be concentrated outside of the Jamestown area, he explained that the Jamestown community is important to his franchise. One of the ways Tarana tries to give back to the community that supports his business is by helping with local charity endeavors.

“The people in Jamestown have done a lot for us, so we like to make sure we do a lot for Jamestown,” he said. “We do a lot when it comes to charities. Every year we do Camp Day where we donate all of our coffee bills for the day, and we send local kids all out of Jamestown and Olean to camp in Kentucky. We pay for everything. We like to make sure that we’re a part of the communities that we’re in, and we like to thank the people who have supported us.”

In addition to providing local children with the opportunity to attend camp, Tarana said his local Tim Horton’s franchise raises money through the “smile cookie” campaign. As a result of this fundraiser, Tarana said $25,000 has been donated to UPMC and $50,000 has been donated to the Zone at Northwest Arena.