Sara Lee Corporation
| File:Sara Lee logo.png | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| NYSE: SLE | |
| Industry | Consumer goods |
| Founded | 1939 |
| Defunct | 2012 |
| Fate | Division |
| Successors | |
| Headquarters | Downers Grove, Illinois, U.S. |
Key people | Jan Bennink (chairman) Marcel Smits (CEO) |
| Products | Food, beverage, and household and personal care items |
The Sara Lee Corporation was a U.S.-based consumer goods enterprise with its main office located in Downers Grove, Illinois. The Sara Lee brand gained recognition primarily for its frozen and packaged food offerings, famously promoted with the tagline "Everybody doesn't like something, but nobody doesn't like Sara Lee".
By the year 2005, Sara Lee maintained operations across more than 40 nations, marketing food, beverages, and household products in upwards of 180 countries and employing around 137,000 people worldwide. On July 4, 2012, the corporation underwent a division into two separate firms: its North American segment transitioned into Hillshire Brands, which continued to use the Sara Lee name for bakery and deli items; meanwhile, the international beverage and bakery sectors were restructured as D.E Master Blenders 1753. Subsequently, Hillshire Brands was acquired by Tyson Foods in 2014. Later in 2018, Tyson divested the Sara Lee brand along with related product lines to the private equity firm Kohlberg & Company.
History
The origins of the company trace back to 1935 when businessmen Charles Lubin and Arthur Gordon expanded a modest bakery chain based in Chicago into Kitchens of Sara Lee, named after Lubin’s daughter. In 1956, Kitchens of Sara Lee was purchased by Consolidated Foods Corporation, which later adopted the Sara Lee name for the entire corporation in 1985. Consolidated Foods had its roots in Sprague, Warner & Company, a prominent Chicago grocery wholesaler established during the Civil War era. Under Nathan Cummings's leadership beginning in 1942, annual revenues increased substantially, leading to a corporate rebranding as Consolidated Foods Corporation in 1953.
Sara Lee grew through strategic acquisitions such as Wolferman's English muffin business in 1986 and Adams-Millis Corporation—a major private-label sock manufacturer—in 1988. In 2001, its Bil Mar Foods subsidiary incurred a $4.4 million fine due to distributing contaminated meat products.
When Brenda C. Barnes assumed the CEO role in 2005, she orchestrated relocating the headquarters from Cincinnati to Downers Grove and refocused corporate strategy on core segments encompassing food, beverage, and household products. This restructuring involved divesting nearly 40% of revenue-generating units including apparel, European meat operations, U.S. retail coffee ventures, and direct selling channels. Additionally, the company withdrew from several European stock exchanges due to insufficient trading activity.
Significant divestitures under Barnes’s tenure included selling the direct selling division to Tupperware in 2005; offloading European meat and apparel businesses in 2006; and spinning off branded apparel into the publicly traded entity Hanesbrands. These transactions generated proceeds exceeding $3.7 billion and enabled a sharper concentration on primary markets. In 2008, Sara Lee divested its Direct Store Delivery coffee segment to Farmer Brothers.
Between 2009 and 2010, Sara Lee inaugurated a new research and development facility at its headquarters and agreed to transfer its global body care and European detergent operations to Unilever for €1.275 billion. In November 2010, it sold its North American Fresh Bakery division to Grupo Bimbo for $959 million while retaining rights to use the Sara Lee brand on frozen dessert and meat products.
In January 2011, Sara Lee announced plans to split into two independent companies: Hillshire Brands would manage North American operations—including brands like Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farm—while D.E Master Blenders 1753 would oversee international beverage and bakery brands such as Douwe Egberts. Following CEO Barnes's stroke, Marcel Smits was appointed CEO with Jan Bennink taking over as chairman. The separation was finalized on July 4, 2012.
After the split, Hillshire Brands relocated its headquarters to Chicago before being acquired by Tyson Foods in 2014. In 2015, the EEOC determined that African-American employees at a former Sara Lee facility had been subjected to discriminatory workplace conditions.
In 2018, Tyson Foods sold the Sara Lee brand along with Van's, Chef Pierre, and Bistro Collection labels to Kohlberg & Company; this transaction established Sara Lee Frozen Bakery headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.
Brands
- Food
- Ball Park Franks: hot dogs
- Bryan Foods: meat products
- CroustiPâte: bakery goods targeting the European market
- Deli d'Italia, Deli Perfect, Emeril, Galileo, Gallo Salame, Green Hill, Hillshire Farm, Jimmy Dean, Kahn's, King Cotton, Mr. Turkey, R.B. Rice, West Virginia Brand: various meats and sausages
- Ortiz, Rainbo: bakery items
- Rudy's Farm: pork sausages and breakfast sandwich offerings
- Sara Lee: bakery products, condiments, deli cheeses and meats, frozen desserts
- State Fair: corn dog products
- Beverages
- Butter-Nut Cappuccino, Bravo, Caboclo, Café Continental, Café Damasco, Café do Ponto, Café Pilão, Cafitesse
- Chat Noir, Cain's Coffee, Douwe Egberts (coffee and tea), Harris, Hornimans, Jacqmotte
- Java Coast, Kanis & Gunnink, Kayo, Laurentis, Maison du Café, Marcilla
- Maryland Club, Merrild, Moccona, Natreen/Natrena sweeteners
- Paradise, Piazza d'Oro, Pickwick tea, Prima, Seleto
- Senseo coffee machines and pods
- Soley, Steamers, Suntipt, Van Nelle
Divested
Sara Lee Corporation undertook a series of divestitures to concentrate on its primary business areas. In 2006, the company sold its European branded apparel segment—including Dim, Playtex, and Wonderbra—to Sun Capital Partners.
Between 2009 and 2011, several major sales were finalized: the Global Body Care and European Detergents units were transferred to Unilever for €1.275 billion; its 51% share in the Godrej Sara Lee joint venture was sold to Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. for €185 million; the Ambi Pur air care brand was acquired by Procter & Gamble for €320 million; and the Kiwi shoe care line was sold to SC Johnson for €245 million. Additionally, the insecticides division was divested to SC Johnson for $153.5 million.
In 2010, Sara Lee exited the North American fresh bakery market by selling that business to Grupo Bimbo for $959 million. Following this trend in 2012, Hillshire Brands divested its Australian bakery operations to McCain Foods. These moves illustrate a strategic shift toward focusing on higher-margin food categories and strengthening global core brands.
Discontinued
On November 19, 2008, Sara Lee Corporation announced it would shut down its kosher hot dog and meat processing plant in Chicago by January 30, 2009. Having acquired the second-largest kosher hot dog brand in 1993, this decision marked Sara Lee’s withdrawal from the kosher meat sector altogether. The company discontinued all kosher meat lines including Best's Kosher, Sinai Kosher, Shofar, and Wilno.
By early 2019, some Sara Lee bread and baked product lines that had lost certain kosher certifications in 2017 regained them as part of certification adjustments under Bimbo Bakeries USA.
Political issues
In 2012, Sara Lee contributed $343,600 toward a $46 million campaign opposing California Proposition 37. This proposition aimed to mandate labeling of genetically modified foods. The company backed "The Coalition Against The Costly Food Labeling Proposition," which represented farmers and food producers opposing GMO labeling regulations.
The Sara Lee Foundation
Founded in 1981, the Sara Lee Foundation was created to formalize the company’s dedication to community involvement and philanthropic initiatives.
See also
- List of Illinois companies
- HanesBrands, previously a subsidiary of Sara Lee