The Oracle's Rare Misstep
Let’s be honest, for decades the business model was simple. You took cheap ingredients, processed them into oblivion, put them in a colourful box, and spent a fortune on advertising to convince families it was a perfectly reasonable thing to eat. And it worked, brilliantly. Brands like Kraft became titans, their products woven into the fabric of Western childhoods. Buffett bet on that nostalgia, that brand loyalty, lasting forever. He was wrong.
The problem is, while the boardroom was admiring its legacy, the customer was quietly reading the ingredients list. The pandemic simply threw fuel on a fire that was already burning. Suddenly, health wasn't a niche concern for yoga instructors, it was on everyone's mind. People started questioning the Day-Glo orange cheese powder and the shelf life of their ketchup. The legacy brands, built on a foundation of convenience over quality, were caught completely flat footed.