DiscoverPitch The PMEP.015: From Fidelity to Fudge: Jonathan Kasen’s Buffett-Inspired Bet on Chocolate
EP.015: From Fidelity to Fudge: Jonathan Kasen’s Buffett-Inspired Bet on Chocolate

EP.015: From Fidelity to Fudge: Jonathan Kasen’s Buffett-Inspired Bet on Chocolate

Update: 2025-10-16
Share

Description

Jonathan Kasen spent over a decade as a portfolio manager at Fidelity, analyzing industrial and energy companies through the lens of four key elements: organic growth, operating leverage, free cash flow conversion, and reinvestment opportunities. Today, he’s applying those same principles to his latest venture: chocolate.

In this episode of Pitch The PM, Jonathan joins Doug Garber to talk about his journey from Wall Street to small business ownership. They dive deep into what makes a great compounder—public or private—and how Buffett’s See’s Candies investment and a shaky car ride with the Oracle himself helped shape Kasen’s thinking.

Choosing a great industry like chocolate is a good start and then management execution is the key to compounding. Kasen’s blueprint at Hillard’s is similar to See’s Candies regional strategy decades ago.

💡 A big thank you to StreetAccount by FactSet for sponsoring this episode. Stay plugged in to key news from your entire watch list all in one place with StreetAccount.

📩 Subscribe to our newsletter for research updates and new high-conviction episodes from top PMs & Analysts: https://pitchthepm.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Doug Garber on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-garber-42aa508

Not Investment Advice.

Comments 
00:00
00:00
x

0.5x

0.8x

1.0x

1.25x

1.5x

2.0x

3.0x

Sleep Timer

Off

End of Episode

5 Minutes

10 Minutes

15 Minutes

30 Minutes

45 Minutes

60 Minutes

120 Minutes

EP.015: From Fidelity to Fudge: Jonathan Kasen’s Buffett-Inspired Bet on Chocolate

EP.015: From Fidelity to Fudge: Jonathan Kasen’s Buffett-Inspired Bet on Chocolate

PitchThePM