DUNNVILLE—In April 1976, the marketing team behind Tim Hortons’ latest creation, a bite-sized donut hole destined to become an iconic Canadian treat, was struggling to come up with a name.
Billionaire entrepreneur and early investor in the Tim Hortons chain Ron Joyce described the scene in his 2006 book, Always Fresh: The Untold Story of Tim Hortons by the Man Who Created a Canadian Empire.
“We hired an advertising agency to help coordinate the marketing, but we still faced a significant hurdle: the new donut had not been named. We wanted something distinctive that would immediately resonate in the minds of our customers. Something that was representative, but catchy,” wrote Joyce.
It was during a late-night brainstorming session that Layton Coulter, Tim Hortons’ Construction Coordinator at the time, uttered the phrase, “It is really just a tidbit.”
The rest is history. Sweet, tasty history.
Coulter, who currently resides at Edgewater Gardens, celebrated his 100th birthday on Wednesday, June 3, 2026 with a lunch at Debb’s Cuisine on Queen in Dunnville alongside his daughter Janice Dulyk, two grandsons visiting from out-of-province, and his great-grandson Yaromir.
Born the youngest of seven on a farm in Wallace Station, Nova Scotia, Coulter learned carpentry from his father after leaving high school in Grade 9 to help on the farm.
Two of his brothers served in World War II, but Coulter narrowly missed active duty. He had been conscripted to serve, but the war ended as he arrived in Halifax to ship out.
Dulyk said, “He left Nova Scotia in 1948 to find work, travelling as far west as Edmonton, working on the railroad initially, but eventually landing in Hamilton to seek employment.”
It was in those early years that he first met Joyce, with the two bonding over their shared Nova Scotian heritage.
“Ron had been brought up in Tatamagouche, NS, not far from where my father lived, and under similar circumstances…. Ron lost his father in an accident when he was quite young, and also came to Hamilton for work,” said Dulyk, noting the friends ended up marrying cousins, keeping them close over the years.
Joyce, the first Tim Hortons’ franchisee, brought Coulter on board early, circa 1964 – the same year the first store opened its doors at 65 Ottawa Street North, Hamilton.
As Tim Hortons expanded rapidly across Canada through the ’70s, Coulter oversaw restaurant construction coast to coast.
“We’d build 100 in a year,” he recalled.
He also became fast friends with the iconic NHLer who started it all. Coulter was with Joyce at Tim Horton’s final game, playing with the Buffalo Sabres against his former team the Toronto Maple Leafs, at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1974. Horton perished in a car crash on the QEW just outside St. Catharines while heading back to Buffalo the following morning.
“Everyone was extremely upset,” recalled Dulyk of the aftermath of the tragic death.
Coulter stayed with Tim Donut Limited until the late 1970s, when he and his wife Sonja opened a take-out restaurant in Huntsville, The Satellite, which sold hamburgers, and of course, donuts.
The couple purchased a Lake Erie property near Dunnville in 1954 and spent decades returning each summer, even after moving to Alberta in 1993 to be closer to Dulyk and their grandchildren. They later returned permanently, building a home on the property where they lived for more than 20 years.
Coulter has been known for his unconventional approach to problem-solving, unwavering commitment to friends and family, and his disciplined approach to life.
“His attitude was to always keep busy working,” said Dulyk.
In his off time, Coulter loved to curl and later took up golfing, eventually nabbing a hole-in-one at the Dunnville Golf Club where he was a member for many years.
While it’s doubtful the team of kids enjoying a Timbit treat after their soccer game or the family fighting over the last chocolate glazed in the box on a long road trip have ever stopped to consider who named the iconic treat, Coulter’s offhand suggestion nearly 50 years ago continues to be enjoyed by Canadians every day.
