History
Prior to 1985, The Sara Lee Corporation was called Consolidated Foods, of which Sara Lee was the best known brand. Consolidated Foods had bought a Chicago bakery chain called Kitchens of Sara Lee in 1956 from Charles Lubin. Lubin had named his bakeries after his daughter, Sara Lee. She was born in 1941, and now goes by her married name, Sara Lee Schupf.
In 1986, Sara Lee bought the manufacturing and mail order operations of Wolferman's, a maker of English muffins, that dated back to 1888.
Brenda C. Barnes was named president and chief operating officer of Sara Lee Corporation in 2004. The Senseo coffee system was launched in the United States, the United Kingdom and Denmark.
In February 2005, the company began executing a multi-year plan to transform Sara Lee into a company focused on its food, beverage, and household and body care businesses around the world. To support that focus, Sara Lee announced plans to dispose of approximately 40 percent of the company’s revenues, including its apparel, European packaged meats, US retail coffee and direct selling businesses.
In addition, as part of the transformation, Sara Lee organized its operation around its customers, consumers and geographies to better serve the ever-changing global marketplace.
Brenda C. Barnes was named president and chief executive officer of Sara Lee Corporation in 2005, and the corporation announced it selected a Downers Grove, Illinois, location as the new company headquarters, which will house the company’s North American operating businesses and the majority of Sara Lee’s corporate staff.
2005 also saw the début of Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Made with Whole Grain White Bread. In October, Barnes succeeded C. Steven McMillan as chairman. The year ended with the sale of the direct selling business to Tupperware.
2006 featured the divestiture of Sara Lee's European meats and European branded apparel businesses. In addition, the corporation spun off to its shareholders the Branded Apparel, Americas/Asia, business, into a separate, publicly traded company called HanesBrands Inc.
Including the spin-off, Sara Lee raised more than $3.7 billion in proceeds as part of the company’s transformation plan. In addition to the monetary benefits, the company is now tightly focused on its core businesses—food, beverage, and household and body care.
By 2009, Sara Lee was pursuing the sale of its Household and Body Care business in their continuing effort to focus on core business. In April, Sara Lee launched a state-of-the-art research and development center named The Kitchens of Sara Lee, a 120,000-square-foot (11,000 m2) campus at the company’s headquarters in Downers Grove, Ill.
On 25 September 2009, Sara Lee announced it accepted a binding offer by Unilever for €1.275 billion to sell its global body care and European detergents business. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and consultation with European employee works councils.
On 9 November 2010, Sara Lee said that by selling its North American Fresh Bakery unit to Grupo Bimbo, it could grow in other areas. The $959 million deal gives Sara Lee the right to continue using the Sara Lee name on frozen desserts and meat products. Grupo Bimbo will use the Sara Lee name for fresh-baked products around the world except for Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The deal also means Grupo Bimbo gets 41 plants and the regional brands Grandma Sycamore's, Heiner's and Rainbo.
On 28 January 2011, Sara Lee announced the company would be split into two units. The company said its North American operations (including Jimmy Dean, Ball Park and Hillshire Farm) would take the Hillshire Brands corporate name, while the international beverage and bakery businesses (including Douwe Egberts, Senseo, Pickwick, Maison du Café, L'OR, Café Pilão, and Marcilla) would constitute a separate unit named D.E Master Blenders 1753. Some analysts claimed splitting the business into two units would make a takeover more likely. Stockholders would have equal shares in both companies. In the same month, Sara Lee received noted media attention regarding their strategy to "refocus on the core" to revamp the company. In a Forbes magazine column, Adam Hartung stated Sara Lee couldn’t "cost-cut, refocus or re-align a business to success with no new products and no growth plan." Also, Marcel Smits, interim CEO since Barnes left due to a stroke, became the new CEO, and Jan Bennink director and chairman. The split was completed on July 4, 2012.
The company will move its headquarters back to Chicago in 2013.
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