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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

#191

Post by VBprogrammer »

BoorishBears wrote: post #178
themitigating wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from NY so I consider myself a bagel snob. The bagels at Tim Hortons in Ontario are worse quality than anything I've ever had in the states. They are similar to packaged bagels from the supermarket

Fun fact: there's a few Tim Hortons locations in NYC

Weird fact: there are dozens in Glasgow, Scotland. There was a recent announcement that they will be opening the first one in London soon.

We don't visit for the quality of the food or coffee. When we RVed around Canada a Tim Hortons was a great opportunity to get online and plan our next steps. It now had a kind of sentimental attachment which reminds us of the trip.

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

#192

Post by refurb »

regularfry wrote: post #188
refurb wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK the government tests each food product ? I doubt it. The website suggests random inspections. Just like the US does.

Do you think that the only way to improve on the US's current position is to test every single product?

No, but I failed to see how the current US approach is different than the UK's.

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

#193

Post by hm8 »

spchampion2 wrote: post #15

My late grandmother loved Sees candies, and I frequently gave her a box for Christmas every year. Personally I always thought they were expensive and not as good as some of the artisanal chocolate you can find these days; like a product for older generations with older tastes. And then I discovered their lollipops and little pops - both chocolate and butterscotch. They're uniquely good as hard candies, and I've never…

Their storefront feels dated and retro — probably why it feels something for older tastes. But their lollipops are amazing. I go there just for them. Just today, I bought a box of chocolate-caramel.

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

#194

Post by cafard »

bombcar wrote: post #141
reaperducer wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before the fast food brands revitalized Burger King (and somewhat Carl’s Jr.) were famously a bit of a cut above in quality Yep. And it put one of my relatives on the unemployment line. He was responsible for importing cheap meat from Australia and New Zealand for Burger King and a bunch of prisons. In the early 90's there was a brief wave of "made in USA" pride that swept America, and Burger King changed suppliers a…

I remember the kangaroo meat scandal from that time, forget who it was, maybe Jack in the Box?

There was one in the 1970s regarding McDonalds.

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

#195

Post by vmurthy »

taffer wrote: post #46
Animats wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't create any monopoly for generic drugs, by definition. Sure you can. If you're the dominant player, you can pay or buy out new entrants. Happens all the time in generic drugs.[1] [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/business/a-huge-overnight...

Sounds like the perfect start-up plan: just open a 50 bucks vitamin C store, and the dominant player will buy you out for $$$. Rinse and repeat for infinite money.

You missed out the difficult part of distribution. This isn't exactly easy or cheap. Ask Walmart or any other retailer. Even the direct-to-consumer ones have to spend a lot on distribution.

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

#196

Post by skippyboxedhero »

backtoyoujim wrote: post #152
skippyboxedhero wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ?"

No, I mean people who earn $100-200k/year and do nothing. Consumer products company had hundreds of these people.

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

#197

Post by MichaelZuo »

tsimionescu wrote: post #130
CSSer wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> prelegeri Sorry, I’m having trouble tracking down this term. Could you tell me what it means or what it means in this context?

Oops, that's bilingual predictive auto-correct failing, and me not re-reading my comment... I wanted to say "the problem is retail capture", but somehow it filled in a Romanian word instead... Phone keyboards... Just for completeness, "prelegeri" would be best translated as "lectures" - it made no sense at all in context, it only happened to match a few letters of what I fat-fingered.

I didn't realize bilingual auto correct existed until now. How did you set that up?

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

#198

Post by marcus0x62 »

markus_zhang wrote: post #124
catgary wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What that company did to Tim Horton’s was basically an act of war against Canada.

I haven't been to a TH for ages. Their coffee tastes badly and the food is ... merely food. Back in 2005 when I first arrived in Canada TH was the first store I visited.

I went to a TH in Toronto in 2018 after hearing about it from Canadian friends for years… I would describe the food at that time as ‘technically food.’ The coffee, well, I threw that away and went to another shop.

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

#199

Post by iancmceachern »

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…

He, they, may make money doing this but the cost to themselves is one I would be unwilling to give.

He, they, will always be known for this behavior, that will be there legacy. If you are wealthy, why spend the extra effort beyond being comfortable in gaining more wealth at the expense of companies, their customers. Like what relative improvement does 50 extra million mean to someone like that? It's seeking money for money's sake. Why not use the extra time and energy you have to make the world better, be known for something better, leave a positive legacy? Why do people like this choose to trade their dignity, their legacy, for more money that they don't even need?

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

#200

Post by kafkaesque »

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…

A lot of tourists and foreigners come to Canada and say they want to try Tim Horton's because they've heard it's quintessentially Canadian.

I have to always correct them and tell them it's not Canadian.

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