When Daniel Schwartz took over as chief executive of Burger King last year, he set about pinching pennies.

Schwartz, 33, had little affinity for traditional corporate luxuries. So he sold the company jet, shut down an annual $1 million party held at an Italian villa and moved executives at the company’s Miami headquarters from posh offices employees called Mahogany Row to an open floor plan full of cubicles.

Schwartz further reduced expenses by selling more restaurants to franchise owners, reducing the amount of money and employees needed to run the business.

Since Burger King went public in 2012, the company’s value has more than doubled.

But after years of cutting costs at Burger King, Schwartz and 3G are now prepared to spend big money on the brand. Burger King is in advanced talks to buy Tim Hortons, a Canadian chain of coffee-and-doughnut shops, for more than $8 billion, in what would be the largest-ever acquisition of a restaurant chain.

If completed, the deal would provide several clear benefits for Burger King and 3G Capital, which would remain the majority owner. But the deal would also steer the company into fraught territory for fast-food restaurants by bringing together multiple brands under one roof.

Previous attempts at consolidation in the restaurant industry have sputtered. Wendy’s and Arby’s combined in 2008 but split just three years later. Wendy’s also once owned Tim Hortons, but sold it in 2006.

Darden Restaurants, which owns brands such as Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, has come under pressure from activist investors, and it sold the Red Lobster chain to a private equity firm this year. In each case, extracting cost savings from a disparate group of brands was easier said than done.

“The portfolio approach has not worked well in casual dining,” said Lynne Collier, an analyst at Sterne Agee, referring to midprice chain restaurants like the ones owned by Darden.

But, Collier said, portfolios of diverse fast-food brands might be more promising. And instead of simply combining one burger company with another, Burger King appears to be willing to diversify its offerings beyond standard fast-food fare.

In doing so, Burger King would be attempting to emulate the success of Yum Brands, the company that owns KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Yum is among the best-performing restaurant companies in the world, benefiting from strong international sales.