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See's Candies is Warren Buffett’s ‘dream’ investment

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Re: See's Candies is Warren Buffett’s ‘dream’ investment

#151

Post by bentcorner »

mcculley wrote: post #109
briandear wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a pretty clever startup idea. Consumer Reports, but for everything. Then a seal that manufacturers can put on their product that certifies the assay of ingredients. Does a Coke actually have 120 calories? Is a Vitamin actually what it says? Is the bottle actually recycled? Consumer Reports is often opinion based with some quantitative data and they don’t review everything. Is you olive oil actually from I…

We need a UL/Consumer Reports for Internet-connected devices that documents and certifies their use of personal data and bandwidth. The regulators are not going to be able to keep up with the changes.

Computer component manufacturers have already caught on. New products are built to spec and then later on in that product's manufacturing life cycle, the parts it's built with are changed to reduce cost but the SKU is kept the same.

Re: See's Candies is Warren Buffett’s ‘dream’ investment

#152

Post by backtoyoujim »

skippyboxedhero wrote: post #115
diego_moita wrote: post #71

> Buffett cautioned Huggins to never sacrifice quality for profit. Funny how that's the complete opposite of another celebrated investor: Jorge Paulo Leman from Brazil's 3G Capital Partners (Heinz, Popeye's, Anheuser-Busch, Tim Horton's, Bugger King, etc). Their game is to buy brands with very strong customer loyalty and slash costs (and quality). In the long run they'll destroy the brand but until then will make eno…

That isn't their strategy. The largest part of their strategy has been cutting central costs (which are, not coincidentally, obscenely large at consumer goods companies). That has been their strategy since the early days. The cost-cutting that you are seeing across the industry started because 3G exposed the fact that a lot of companies were running with incredible amounts of fat. But during that time, you have also…

By "fat" I assume that you mean "people with jobs that pay enough to let them buy things like expensive chocolates ?"

Re: See's Candies is Warren Buffett’s ‘dream’ investment

#153

Post by argonaut »

mbesto wrote: post #117
hackernewds wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there one similarly for sunscreen and lotions for toxicity?

Yes! https://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/

EWG doesn't test anything, they merely analyze the list of stated ingredients.

Re: See's Candies is Warren Buffett’s ‘dream’ investment

#154

Post by jmcgough »

noduerme wrote: post #77
diego_moita wrote: post #71

> Buffett cautioned Huggins to never sacrifice quality for profit. Funny how that's the complete opposite of another celebrated investor: Jorge Paulo Leman from Brazil's 3G Capital Partners (Heinz, Popeye's, Anheuser-Busch, Tim Horton's, Bugger King, etc). Their game is to buy brands with very strong customer loyalty and slash costs (and quality). In the long run they'll destroy the brand but until then will make eno…

When were Popeye's or BK "quality" brands? I don't remember them getting any worse since RBI bought them.

Reviewbrah famously went on a rant about RBI (after they ruined one of his favorite Popeyes items) and how they turn everything into garbage: https://youtu.be/5d5NJgO38AE?t=362

Re: See's Candies is Warren Buffett’s ‘dream’ investment

#155

Post by rogerclark »

noduerme wrote: post #77
diego_moita wrote: post #71

> Buffett cautioned Huggins to never sacrifice quality for profit. Funny how that's the complete opposite of another celebrated investor: Jorge Paulo Leman from Brazil's 3G Capital Partners (Heinz, Popeye's, Anheuser-Busch, Tim Horton's, Bugger King, etc). Their game is to buy brands with very strong customer loyalty and slash costs (and quality). In the long run they'll destroy the brand but until then will make eno…

When were Popeye's or BK "quality" brands? I don't remember them getting any worse since RBI bought them.

With the release of their chicken sandwich, Popeye's had one of the most successful fast food product launches in the past few years. This launch was so successful that nearly every major restaurant chain launched their own chicken sandwich afterward, and it completely turned around the public image of Popeye's.

Popeye's was mentioned in two Grammy-nominated songs in 2022, and dozens of other rap songs in the past few years.

Re: See's Candies is Warren Buffett’s ‘dream’ investment

#156

Post by Aunche »

Animats wrote: post #12

It's the slow and steady increase in prices that made it so profitable. About 5x over inflation during Buffett ownership. This has happened to far too many items over the last few decades. Most of the things drugstores sell are cheap to make, but have steadily increased in price in the US over the last few decades. Vitamins used to be priced according to manufacturing cost. Slowly, the low-cost vitamins have been up-…

Do you have any evidence that the profit margins of Vitamin C are increasing? At least on Amazon, it looks like the price has been fairly consistent for the past 8 years. I wouldn't be surprised if the largest cost of Vitamin C is the opportunity cost of shelf space. It can't imagine it being a common purchase.

https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B0000DJAVX

https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B0019GE9HE

Re: See's Candies is Warren Buffett’s ‘dream’ investment

#157

Post by danielmarkbruce »

photochemsyn wrote: post #45

Warren Buffett seems to specialize in the kind of monopolistic sectors that many other countries have chosen to nationalize, as there really isn't any 'competitive free-market model' that applies - namely, the power grid and the the railroads.

He still has to buy the assets. He's not the only guy in town who can spot a monopoly. It's a tough game buying obviously good assets.

Re: See's Candies is Warren Buffett’s ‘dream’ investment

#159

Post by fma »

Animats wrote: post #12

It's the slow and steady increase in prices that made it so profitable. About 5x over inflation during Buffett ownership. This has happened to far too many items over the last few decades. Most of the things drugstores sell are cheap to make, but have steadily increased in price in the US over the last few decades. Vitamins used to be priced according to manufacturing cost. Slowly, the low-cost vitamins have been up-…

Thought the article points out Berkshire Hathaway owns 5.6% of Apple, Apple represents almost a 50% of Berkshire's holdings. If you ask me, quite a concentrated portfolio risk for a fund that is perceived to be stable.

But anyways - in regards to products & inflation...

"...our research shows that Apple have risen iPhone prices 26% higher than local inflation rates. "

https://www.self.inc/info/iphone-price-index/

Re: See's Candies is Warren Buffett’s ‘dream’ investment

#160

Post by unmole »

01100011 wrote: post #23

I'm pretty sure the peanut brittle has crack cocaine in it. Avoid at all costs unless you want to spiral into a never ending addiction. Sees is able to transform cheap ingredients into a premium product. It has a strong brand and pricing power. These are good things to have in a company. Still though, it's a luxury good and not something I'd want to own as we head into a recession. Own things people need, not things…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipstick_effect
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