- by Steve Briggs

In the early 1970s, Tim Horton and business partner Ron Joyce strolled into Vern’s doughnut shop on 3rd Ave. E. in Owen Sound and spotted small round doughnuts at the counter.

Curious, the pair chatted with owner Vern Barber who revealed he had been making the tasty fried treats for a few years, using the batter from the holes of his ring doughnuts.

“There was always leftover dough from our doughnuts and we used to throw them together and make them into Dutchies,” Barber said in a weekend interview.

“Then, one day, I decided to try rolling them into a ball and throwing them in the deep frier.”

Named Vern Bits, the bite-size confectionary was a hit and, in 1971, Barber purchased a cutting machine from the United States which made creating them even easier.

“We started just churning them out like crazy,” he said.

Not long after Horton and Joyce visited Vern’s, the Timbit was introduced — in April 1976 — at Tim Hortons restaurants.

The Timbit, which will soon turn 40 years old, has gone on to become an immensely popular product. Tim Hortons says it has sold enough of the snacks to stretch to the moon and back five times.

“We were the inspiration behind the Timbit,” Barber said. “It’s a true story.”