NEW YORK — Billionaire investor Warren Buffett got his entrepreneurial start at age 7, buying six-packs of Coke for a quarter, then hawking the beverages for a nickel apiece on hot summer nights.
Now, at age 83, he’s still betting on simple indulgences.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. agreed Tuesday to provide $3 billion of financing for Burger King Worldwide Inc.’s purchase of doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc.
Buffett, Berkshire’s chairman and chief executive officer, has built his career investing in businesses that have broad consumer recognition and appeal. Such wagers, such as a $16.6 billion stake in Coca-Cola Co., allow him to park his capital for years while the companies grow in value, fueled by customers who can’t resist their treats.
“I’m the kind of guy who likes to bet on sure things,” Buffett said last year at Coca-Cola’s annual meeting. “No business has ever failed with happy customers.”
Tim Hortons may fit the bill. The chain, known for its Timbit doughnut holes, has a cult-like following in Canada, where it has more than 3,500 stores. Fans have sent the company pictures of tattoos they’ve gotten of its logo, CEO Marc Caira said Tuesday.
“A Timbit has become as much a symbol of Canada as the beaver or the Mountie,” Caira said. “The Tim Hortons brand has become part of the Canadian fabric.”
Berkshire also owns See’s Candies and Dairy Queen, which sells ice cream and burgers. In 2008, Buffett’s firm helped finance Mars Inc.’s purchase of chewing-gum maker Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.
“More people will be drinking Coca-Cola 10 years from now, or chewing Wrigley’s gum,” Buffett told Bloomberg in 2012. “I know that.”
Jorge Paulo Lemann’s 3G Capital, which worked with Buffett last year to take ketchup maker HJ Heinz Co. private, controls Miami-based Burger King. In the Heinz takeover, Berkshire bought half the common stock for about $4.25 billion and invested $8 billion for preferred shares.
For fast-food chains and candy and soda companies, Buffett “can look into the future and not have to wonder if they’re going to be doing great things,” said Tony Scherrer, director of research at Smead Capital Management, which oversees about $1 billion including Berkshire shares. “Generations to come will be eating Mars candy bars.”
“There’s a real risk that the zeitgeist saying sugar is poison has an effect on consumer habits,” Cook said in a phone interview. “At the margin, it lowers the valuations for these companies. You have to think about, ‘What’s the growth of Coca-Cola going to be over the next 20 years?’ My estimate would be, somewhat less.”
Coca-Cola and Burger King have worked to introduce healthier options. Burger King said this month that most stores in the United States and Canada were phasing out a healthier French-fry option, called Satisfries, that proved unpopular. The same week, Burger King said it would reintroduce breaded chicken fries.
Buffett’s food investments mirror his tastes. His daughter Susie told Bloomberg TV in 2012 that the vegetables in his diet include French fries, hash browns and corn on the cob.
Burger King is the second-largest hamburger chain after McDonald’s Corp. by number of stores. Berkshire owned shares in McDonald’s in the late 1990s, and Buffett told shareholders a 1998 decision to sell the stake was “a very big mistake.”
