Coca-Cola

“Dr. John Pemberton, a Confederate war veteran who had not only been stabbed, he had also been shot during the war and got army disease just like all these other soldiers and was addicted to morphine for the rest of his life. So after the war, he moves to Atlanta and as part of his entrepreneurial aspirations in this new patent medicine consumer economy, and also to probably solve his own problem, he starts casting about for other drugs that could cure him and others of army disease. And that is how in the mid-1880s, he learns about a new miracle drug, sweeping America, promising to cure all ill including army disease, cocaine.”

“This couponing strategy aligns incentives for everybody in the value chain in a way that had never been done before. Consumers, they love it. They get free drinks of this great tasting beverage. Drugstores and soda fountains, they super love it, because now they're getting more foot traffic. And then once consumers come back and start buying their second, third, fourth, you know, four hundredth drinks, is a highly profitable drink for them to sell.”

“In 1899, two guys from Chattanooga, Tennessee, named Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead, come to Candler with a proposal. They want to bottle Coca-Cola. Candler thinks it over and he's like, that's a pretty good deal. I've got nothing to lose here. So in July of 1899, the three of them sign a contract that includes the following terms for a token contract price of $1, which Candler never collects. The Coca-Cola Company will sell syrup to Thomas and Whitehead at a volume discount price of $1 per gallon. There is no term length on the contract.”

“So they create this design brief and they send it around to 10 different glass companies around the country that says, we want to develop a bottle so distinct that you would recognize it by feel in the dark or lying broken on the ground. The Root Glass Company of Terry Hote, Indiana, designs the bottle that goes on to win the contest. Something got lost in translation and the bottle was designed to look like the cocoa plant. The cocoa pod that you smash open to get out cocoa beans. This is a whole different thing called the coca plant, not the cocoa plant.”

“In 1934, Pepsi, in almost a last ditch effort to try and just do something to stay alive and save the company, tests using recycled beer bottles, which are 12 ounce bottles, to sell Pepsi, also for a nickel. The amount of liquid in the bottle is approximately free. Whether you're serving six ounces of liquid per bottle or 12 ounces of liquid per bottle, not going to impact your margins that much. Pepsi starts selling 12-ounce bottles also for a nickel. Twice as much cola for the same price.”

“By the time America enters World War II in 1941, the military and the US government realize, hey, Coke may actually be one of America's best weapons in this war. The military under Eisenhower grants Coca-Cola employees quote unquote, technical observer status, meaning that they can participate in the supply and infrastructure build out of the military around the world just the same as military infrastructure people. As the American military is advancing in the global theater all around the world, Coca-Cola is right there with them setting up bottling plants and production lines to supply the troops.”

“In 1931, Coke commissions the artist Haddon Sunbloom to create Christmas ad imagery for Coca-Cola featuring Santa Claus. So this being a Coke ad, Sunbloom is like, well, I'm going to make Santa as red as possible in Coca-Cola red, and then I'm going to make him as big as possible to get as much Coca-Cola red in the picture. Before this point in time, you couldn't really get mass-produced color images out to the public. So Santa didn't have a color. Nobody really thought about what color Santa was.”

“McCann does when it comes on board with the Coke account, is it starts conducting scientific market research. And one of the first things they do, is they run a blind taste test between Coke and Pepsi. Consumers, when presented with the two drinks, Coke and Pepsi, in a blind taste test, a statistically significant number of people prefer the taste of Pepsi. They come, they present it to Woodruff. They present the findings, and his response is, do not ever share this with anyone, and do not ever run this test again.”

“New Coke. The company immediately starts getting thousands of letters and phone calls every single day. One of my favorites is a letter that reads, My dearest Coke, you have betrayed me. We went out just last week as we had so often. And when we kissed, I knew our love affair was over. But last week, I tasted betrayal on your lips. You had the smooth, seductive, sweet taste of a lie. You have become corrupted by money, denying your ideals.”

“Berkshire owns about 9.5% of Coca-Cola today. That stake is worth about $28 billion, which is a 22, 23x gross return on the $1.3 billion investment over the course of 40 years, which equates to only just over about an 8% IRR. But Coca-Cola stock kicks off, these days, about $1 billion a year in dividends to Berkshire. So a $40 billion total return on $1.3 billion invested. Including dividends over that same time period, the S&P 500 is up about 11% annually. So the famous Berkshire Hathaway Coca-Cola investment today is actually underperforming the market.”

“Have you ever heard David that Coke tastes better when you get it from McDonald's? The thing that is definitely true is Coca-Cola ships the formula to McDonald's in stainless steel tanks, instead of being delivered in bags. McDonald's does some stuff. They pre-chill the water and they make sure that the hoses are chilled all the way up in the dispenser. McDonald's apparently actually has a different syrup to water ratio that accounts for ice melt. They add a little bit more syrup than the standard recipe, which sounds like it would be heresy.”

“Bill Gates lets it slip on a panel with Warren and Roberto and Don Keough that Warren has always told Bill that Coca-Cola could be run by a ham sandwich. While Roberto is sitting right there. Roberto gets very offended and apparently never talks to Bill Gates again. Now, given what's about to happen here, it's actually highly debatable whether Roberto was a ham sandwich or not.”