The strange history of Sara Lee, told through five notable brands (2024)

Sara Lee Corporation. Once it was the stereotype of the global conglomerate, running multiple brands in multiple sectors in countries across the globe. At times it seemed as if the folks at the corporation's old headquarters in Downer's Grove, Ill., were more like investment bankers than food executives. Few companies in the history of the food business launched, sold, bought, merged, and spun off so many brands so many times.

Now that storied history has come to an end. Sort of.

Hillshire Brands is what's left of the Sara Lee Corp., and now that it has agreed to be acquired by Tyson Foods, the last traces of the corporation will disappear. But the seemingly endless list of brands continues on, and not just at Tyson.

Here's a look at five noticeable brands that were once part of the Sara Lee family.

Senseo

Back in 2012 Sara Lee, already a shell of its former self, was fending off a number of suitors. The folks in Downer's Grove realized that the company couldn't prevent a hostile takeover, so they decided to split the company up.

Part of the company became Hillshire Brands. Another part became D.E Master Blenders 1753 —a collection of global coffee brands such asPilao, Douwe Egberts, and Senseo— an early player in the single-serving coffee market.

Just last month,D.E Master Blenders signed a deal with Mondelez International (which itself came from the old Kraft Foods empire) to combine their coffee operations. That transaction turnsD.E Master Blenders 1753 —perhaps one of the least-recognized names in the food and beverage industry —into the second-largest coffee brewer on earth, trailing only Nestle SA.

Wolferman's

Sara Lee could trace its roots to an entrepreneur named Nathan Cummings, who bought a number of businesses in the years around WWII and later established a grocery-supply group called Consolidated Foods Corp. in 1953. Two years later he bought a series of Chicago bakeries that operated under the name the Kitchens of Sara Lee.

Those two businesses, Consolidated and Sara Lee, remained the core of the corporation for decades. In 1985, that corporation changed its name to Sara Lee Corp. But long before that, the company started buying.

One of the first acquisitions was an English muffin maker called Wolferman's, which dated to 1888 in Kansas City. Those muffins, along with the cakes and desserts sold under the Sara Lee brand, spread widely, first throughout the grocery chains served by Consolidated and then on to the rest of the retail world.

In 1999, Sara Lee sold the brand to Williams Foods. You can still find Wolferman'stoday, but there's nothing about them to indicate a tie to Sara Lee. Wolferman's is now owned by gift-package giant Harry and David,which bought the brand in 2008 from Williams Foods.

Kiwi shoe polish

Sara Lee Corp. went on a brand-buying spree in the1980s, followed by a brand-selling frenzy in the 1990s. And the folks at headquarters weren't limiting themselves to food brands.

In 1984 Sara Lee bought the Kiwi shoe polish company, based in Australia. The problem with that was Kiwi had bought up a number of competitors in the years leading up to the Sara Lee deal.

Regulators in both the United States and England began an investigation into Sara Lee's apparent monopoly power in the shoe-shine market.

Rather than fight, Sara Lee said it was backing out of the non-food business in general and announced a new corporate slogan: "The joy of eating."

Sara Lee eventually found a buyer for Kiwi —the S.C. Johnson company.

Wonderbra

In 1968, Consolidated Foods bought a tiny Canadian lingerie company calledCanadian Lady-Canadelle Inc. The company's flagship product? An underwirepush-up bra called the Wonderbra.

It sold quite well in Canada and in the U.K.

Then, in 1994, Sara Lee Corp. launched a massive marketing campaign in the United States that turned the Wonderbra into a cultural phenomenon —notable for an iconic photograph of model Eva Herzigova, which became the butt of late-night comedians' jokes and served as the subject of business-school studies.

Some 10 years later, Sara Lee began unraveling its clothing businesses. It first sold off its rights to Wonderbra, Playtex, and Dim pantyhose in Europe, and then later spun off its entire North American branded clothing businesses, including Hanes underwear and the Wonderbra, into a new company called Hanesbrands Inc.

Sara Lee Pound Cake

If there was a single item among the thousands sold by Sara Lee Corp. that defined its business, it was the frozen pound cakes bearing the Sara Lee logo.

The dessert can still be found in supermarkets across the nation. A close look will show that the brand is part of the Hillshire Brands company.

Sara Lee Pound Cake will most likely still be found in supermarkets after Tyson buys Hillshire. Odds are the pound cakes will retain the Sara Lee brand too. What's unclear is if the fine print on the bottom will say Hillshire or Tyson, or something else entirely.