- Associated Press Newswire -
Sara Lee Corp. recently announced that it is selling its North American bread baking business to focus on its more profitable meat and coffee lines.
Sara Lee Corp. announced Tuesday that it is selling its North American bread baking business to focus on its more profitable meat and coffee lines.
C.J. Fraleigh, Sara Lee's North America CEO, discussed the coffee business during a conference call with analysts after the company reported its first-quarter results.
QUESTION: It looks like (Starbucks) will be making more of a push internationally in the grocery channel. Have you done any work on what the implications of that might be for your business?
RESPONSE: I don't think we would comment on the specifics there. I would say that we feel we have really strong market positions where we're based right now. And we feel confident about our brand strength relative to any competitor that would come in there.
It is the nature of what we're doing, and in a weak market like the Netherlands, that we've been dealing with competitors for 250 years. So we -- of course we'd take any competitor very seriously -- but ... with the innovation we have, we feel good that we will maintain our strong position.