USA: Sara Lee cuts crusts off new bread

Chicago-based consumer goods giant Sara Lee Corporation is rolling out a new bread loaf product with no crusts. Baked and de-crusted at Sara Lee's bakery in Paris, Texas, the IronKids Crustless Bread will be supported by advertising revenue of more than US$10m. The new crustless bread was formally launched on Sunday at the Food Marketing Institute Show at McCormick Place, and will cost consumers 40 cents more a loaf than the with-crust IronKids equivalent. A spokesman said that "convenience is a very important commodity that parents are willing to pay for".

May 8, 2002

Chicago-based consumer goods giant Sara Lee Corporation is rolling out a new bread loaf product with no crusts.

Baked and de-crusted at Sara Lee’s bakery in Paris, Texas, the IronKids Crustless Bread will be supported by advertising revenue of more than US$10m.

The new crustless bread was formally launched on Sunday at the Food Marketing Institute Show at McCormick Place, and will cost consumers 40 cents more a loaf than the with-crust IronKids equivalent. A spokesman said that “convenience is a very important commodity that parents are willing to pay for”.

Sara Lee acquired the IronKids brand through the US$2.8bn buyout of St. Louis-based Earthgrains Co. in August 2001, a deal which enabled the company practically to quadruple the size of its bakery division to US$3.5bn.