Canadian café and bakery business Tim Hortons has appointed Kevin Hydes to lead its development in the UK.

Hydes has left Costa Coffee to take up the position of UK chief finance and commercial officer at Tim Hortons, which last month opened its first UK and European site in Argyle Street, Glasgow.

He joins Tim Hortons after 11 years at Costa, most recently in the role of international and brand development director, where he was responsible for managing and developing Costa-owned operations in Poland, Singapore and France, and franchise operations across Europe, the Middle East and south-east Asia.

“It’s not often you get the chance to help bring an international brand as exciting as Tim Hortons to the UK,” said Hydes. “The opportunity to lead and grow the business in a competitive market like Great Britain was too good to miss.”

Hydes brought an “enormous wealth of experience from his time at Costa Coffee”, said Gopi Dhaliwal, Tim Hortons’ chief operations officer for the UK and Ireland.

“His expertise of quickly scaling food and drink retail brands will be vital to our long-term ambitions in Great Britain.”

Tim Hortons said customers had travelled from across the country and queued overnight for the opening of the Glasgow store.

The Tim Hortons restaurant brand was launched in 1964 when Tim Horton, a National Hockey League star, opened the first store in Hamilton Canada. In 1976, the business launched its signature Timbit donut bites and, in the 1980s, it extended into the US.

Burger King and 3G Capital acquired Tim Hortons in 2014 to form Restaurant Brands International.