TORONTO —Executives of Tim Hortons, a Restaurant Brands International, Inc. restaurant chain, expect pairings of foods and beverages to fuel sales gains at lunch and dinner.

“We’re pushing forward with a strong innovation pipeline to improve our presence in food-driven dayparts like lunch and dinner,” said José E. Cil, chief executive officer of Restaurant Brands International, in an Oct. 25 earnings call. “We’ve experienced promising results to date in our efforts with Craveables and our new and improved artisan sandwiches, helping drive lunch ahead of pre-pandemic levels this quarter, and as we move forward in Q4 and into 2022, you’ll see us continue to build off the credibility we’ve been establishing and drive further long-term growth opportunities in food-led dayparts.”

Freshly grilled wraps have sold well at lunch, too, he added.

“Probably the daypart that has the biggest opportunity is dinner, which is still behind pre-pandemic levels, down a bit there, but as we look at the offerings that we’re developing with artisan sandwiches and wraps and others, we think there’s a path to get back to pre-pandemic levels and then growing from there, which is an exciting long-term opportunity for the business,” he said. “Where we think we need to focus on, as I mentioned, is to succeed in lunch and dinner. We need to drive food and beverage offerings that make sense and pair well with food during those dayparts, which is what led to some of the innovation in cold beverage, supporting our new food platforms as well all year long.”

Comparable-store sales for Tim Hortons rose 9% in the third quarter ended Sept. 30. System-wide sales of $1.77 billion marked an 11% increase from $1.52 billion in the previous year’s third quarter.

Companywide, Toronto-based Restaurant Brands International achieved net income of $221 million, or 71¢ per share on the common stock, in the quarter, which was up 52% from $145 million, or 48¢ per share, in the previous year’s third quarter. System-wide sales of $9.38 billion were up 11% from $8.34 billion. Total revenues increased 12% to $1.5 billion from $1.34 billion.