May 29, 2009

 
Sara Lee plans to continue to evolve its four major meat product brands with more convenience and more premium products, CJ Fraleigh, chief executive officer of Sara Lee North America, told investors.

Fraleigh noted the company already has evolved its meat business away from commodity meats for food service and retail into higher-value branded products. Sara Lee owns the Sara Lee, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farms and Ball Park brands.

For Hillshire Farms brand, he said Sara Lee plans to extend the product line with more convenience items, including more varied package sizes and more upscale items with new flavours, as it has done with the Hillshire Farms Deli Select Premium line.

Similarly, the Ball Park brand product line will be extended with more premium and Angus-beef products, said Fraleigh. The Jimmy Dean Brand will continue to expand with more breakfast convenience items and in the better-for-you Jimmy Dean D-Lights sub-brand.

Sara Lee chairman and chief executive officer Brenda Barnes told investors the company will also remain aggressive in reducing stock keeping units by continually culling items as a way to permanently reduce production costs.