Our Sweet Beginnings
Sara Lee was 8 years old when Charlie Lubin, a bakery entrepreneur, decided to name his new line of cheesecakes after his daughter, Sara Lee. His company was purchased in 1956 by Consolidated Foods, where Mr. Lubin continued to serve as a senior executive for many years. In 1985, Consolidated Foods changed its name to Sara Lee Corporation. Over the years, Sara Lee has appeared in various television advertisements for our bakery products. In her words, her father told her the product “had to be perfect because he was naming it after me.”
Sara Lee® Through The Years
1960:
By the late 1950's television had proven to be an effective advertising medium and in 1960 Charlie started using it. As people were made more aware of the high quality that went into the making of Sara Lee products, the business continued to grow.
1962:
The demand was so high that the facilities soon became too small. Charlie needed another larger facility. To maintain the highest and most consistent quality, he decided it would require an unprecedented level of automation and sophistication. He found an appropriate site for the facility in Deerfield, Illinois. Ground-breaking for this plant occurred on June 27th, 1962. There were approximately 1,000 civic and business leaders at the ceremony. As construction of the new facility continued, more and more products were being expanded to national distribution.
1964:
The Deerfield plant began production in 1964. As imagined in Charlie's vision, there were extensive R&D labs, a test bakery, complete machine shop, and a beautiful Home Ec kitchen complete with all types of home-cooking and baking equipment to test in-home preparation and cooking times.
1965:
On May 12th, 1965, Factory Magazine (a McGraw-Hill publication) named the Sara Lee Deerfield facility one of the ten top new manufacturing plants in the United States. The Deerfield facility was the largest and most modern bakery in the world.
That year, Sara Lee decided to expand further. That decision led to the development of the Food Service Division, initially targeted to service airlines, larger restaurants, and institutions, such as hospitals and colleges. On August 15, 1965, after a long career filled with innovation and many successes, Charlie Lubin retired.
1968:
Television advertising was still doing well, but Sara Lee thought it needed something more. In 1968, Mitch Lee, creator of the Broadway musical, "Man of La Mancha" wrote the jingle "Nobody Doesn't Like Sara Lee." It was the core of all our new ads, even appearing on all Sara Lee owned trucks.
1972:
Sara Lee presented a cake to the City of Chicago to commemorate the 100th birthday of the Chicago Public Library. The cake was in the form of an enormous book with the Chicago Public Library emblem on the cover.
1976:
On July 4th, 1976, Sara Lee presented the United States with its bicentennial birthday cake. The cake was approximately four stories tall and filled Freedom Hall in Philadelphia.
1978:
Chef Pierre, Inc. was acquired by Consolidated Foods Corporation in 1978.