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Warren Buffett turns 95 years old today (Aug. 30). The billionaire investor’s diet, however, has never quite grown up. His devotion for Coca-Cola is well known, as is his fondness for ice cream, candy and hamburgers. Buffett has never tried to hide it. “I found everything I like to eat by the time I was six,” he told CNBC in a 2023 interview. “I mean, why should I fool around with all these other foods?”
The Berkshire Hathaway chairman has built one of the world’s largest fortunes. But when it comes to food, he keeps it simple. While other billionaires might celebrate a milestone birthday with a lavish meal, Buffett is more likely to be found at McDonald’s or a local Omaha steakhouse.
Here’s a look at some of the Oracle of Omaha’s favorite orders:
Gorat’s Steak House
Buffett is such a loyal customer of Gorat’s Steak House in Omaha, Neb. that the restaurant has become a tourist attraction. Each May, during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting, Buffett fans flood Gorat’s, generating as much as one to two months of sales in just a few days.
The menu ranges from $12 onion rings to a $99 lobster dinner. But most visitors stick to Buffett’s go-to: a rare T-bone steak with a double side of hash browns, a cherry Coke and, occasionally, a root beer float.
Smith & Wollensky
Steak, hash browns and a cherry Coke is also Buffett’s standard order at Smith & Wollenksy, the New York steakhouse that hosted his annual “Power Lunch” auctions between 2000 and 2022. Proceeds benefited the Glide Foundation, a San Francisco nonprofit. While winners paid just over $25,000 in the early years, bids regularly topped $1 million after 2008. The final lunch set a record at $19 million.
Some of those meals fell on Buffett’s birthday. In 2018, the restaurant marked his 88th with a Coca-Cola-themed cake. A year earlier, Smith & Wollensky had baked a dessert decorated with some of his favorite treats.
Piccolo Pete’s
Not every charity lunch took place at Smith & Wollensky. When guests wanted a quieter setting, Buffett often chose Omaha’s Piccolo Pete’s, an Italian steakhouse that closed in 2016. His go-to meals there were veal with lemon, chicken parmesan or, of course, steak.
It was at Piccolo Pete’s where hedge fund manager Ted Weschler dined with Buffett in 2010 and 2011 after bidding $5.2 million across two auctions. The lunches ultimately led to Weschler joining Berkshire Hathaway as an investment manager.
McDonald’s
Most mornings, Buffett swings by a McDonald’s drive-through on his way to work. His order rotates among three choices: two sausage patties for $2.61; a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit for $2.95; or a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit for $3.17. (Prices were as of 2017.)
In the 2017 documentary Becoming Warren Buffett, he revealed that his wife, Astrid Menks, places exact change in his car cup holder for whichever option he chooses. Buffett said he splurges based on the stock market’s mood: “When I’m not feeling quite so prosperous,” he explained, he opts for the cheapest $2.61 meal.
Dairy Queen
Buffett also has a special connection to Dairy Queen. Berkshire Hathaway acquired the chain in 1998 for $585 million, and Buffett has been a loyal customer ever since. He often visits Omaha locations with his great-grandchildren and typically orders vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate syrup and malted milk powder.
His loyalty has even led to unusual moments. In 2014, he tried to order Dairy Queen ice cream at The Four Seasons before settling for chocolate chip cookies.
Buffett has also introduced fellow billionaires to the chain. In 2019, he worked a shift there with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. And in 2020, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban shared a photo of the two dining together at Dairy Queen—Buffett with a chicken sandwich, Cuban with a Blizzard.
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Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly
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