June 7, 2012

Sara Lee names North America-based company

Sara Lee Corp. revealed "Hillshire Brands Company" as the new name for its North American meat business, which will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "HSH."

The Chicago-based company also named Sean Connolly, CEO of Sara Lee North American Retail and Foodservice, as the CEO of Hillshire Brands.

"As a pure-play company with strong momentum, we needed a name and identity that captures the potential of this new organisation," he said in a news release.  "Hillshire Brands represents our strong heritage in quality and great taste, as well as our ambitions for growing our portfolio of iconic brands in the future."

The new name was inspired by the Hillshire Farm brand, which Sara Lee acquired in 1971.  Friedrich (Fritz) Bernegger founded Hillshire Farm in New London, Wisconsin.

Sara Lee will become two independent, publicly traded companies on June 28. D.E MASTER BLENDERS 1753 will focus on international coffee and tea and Hillshire Brands will focus on meat-centric food products and foodservice operations.  Hillshire Brands will include several popular, market-leading consumer brands including Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, Aidells, Gallo Salame and State Fair.

The company has also adopted a new visual identity for Hillshire Brands.  The identity will be instilled throughout the organisation through signage, stationery and a branded office space currently under construction in Chicago.