TL;DR: Tim Hortons decked out a Toronto location in full Hogwarts style — Platform 9¾, Sorting Hat and all — and brought in Quiz Coconut to host trivia. They planned for 25 people. Eighty showed up in costume, multiple teams scored a perfect 30/30, and it came down to a tiebreaker.
Let’s get one thing straight: nobody expected a Tim Hortons in North York to become the most magical building in Toronto for one night. And yet, here we are.
Tim Hortons rolled out Back to Hogwarts across 230-plus locations this fall — House-themed donuts, Golden Snitch Timbits, cups that summon a Patronus when you pour a cold drink in them (yes, really). Cute. Fun. Very Instagrammable. But the flagship location on Caledonia Rd decided donuts weren’t enough. They built an actual Platform 9¾. A Great Hall display. A Sorting Hat photo booth glowing in the corner like it was waiting to judge your soul.
A room like that doesn’t just need customers. It needs a trivia night. So Tim Hortons called us.
Enter Luke, Our Man in the Wizard Hat
We sent our host Luke to run the show, and the plan was simple: expect a chill crowd of about 25 people, ask some Harry Potter questions, hand out a prize, go home.
Eighty people showed up.
In costume. Full costume. Robes, wands, round glasses taped together in the middle like they’d personally survived a run-in with a Bludger. The line for the Sorting Hat photo op was somehow longer than the line for coffee.
Nobody Told These People It Was “Just Trivia”
Here’s the thing about Harry Potter fans: there is no such thing as casual trivia. We watched team after team blaze through the questions like they’d been preparing since the Battle of Hogwarts. Multiple teams landed a flawless 30 out of 30.
Thirty. Out of thirty.
Which meant the night couldn’t just end on the scoreboard — it needed a tiebreaker to sort the wizards from the actual wizards. The room went dead silent for it, then erupted the second a winner was crowned. Gift cards changed hands. Bragging rights were, presumably, permanent.
The Real Magic Wasn’t the Decor
Sure, the Platform 9¾ wall and the glowing Sorting Hat did their job pulling people in. But the thing that turned a quiet Tuesday into 80 costumed strangers screaming Quidditch trivia at each other? That’s the part decor alone can’t do.
Give people a space worth showing up for, a reason to compete, and someone who knows how to run a room — and they’ll show up dressed as Hermione on a weeknight. We’re just saying.
Got a space, a launch, or a wildly themed collab that deserves more than a quiet crowd? That’s the kind of night we build. Contact us for a quote on your next trivia night!
