The coffee and donut shop franchise Tim Hortons has been a Canadian retail institution since its founding in 1964, in the town of Hamilton, Ontario. It now boasts over 3,300 locations throughout the nation - more than 500 of which are located in the United States.

For much of its history, however, it had limited its payment options to cash alone. This has changed in recent years, and the latest development in the franchise's evolving payment processing options came earlier this week.

According to the Financial Post, Tim Hortons now accepts Visa credit cards at its physical locations and also takes the card company's credit and debit options online for those who want to update their Tim Card balance. Ronald Walton, Tim Hortons' chief operations officer, stated that this was in keeping with the business' mission to provide superior customer service.

"We are committed to providing our valued guests with a wide variety of delicious menu selections and with the addition of Visa, we can now offer them an even wider variety of payment options too," Walton said in a recent statement.

Tim Hortons first began to accept credit cards in 2007, only allowing the use of MasterCard. In 2010, it expanded its policy to include debit cards.