Sara Lee Fresh Launches Artisan Breads

Building on its success in the fresh bread aisle with bagels, Sara Lee Fresh, a division of Chicago-based Sara Lee Corp., is now introducing a new line of premium specialty breads. The new line of Sara Lee Artisan Style breads debuts Monday in West Coast supermarkets.

The company sees its new fresh bread line to be a compatible extension of its brand and DSD (direct store delivery) system. Sara Lee Fresh claims to lead the fresh bagel category by a 3-to-1 margin over the next branded competitor in the 23% of the country where its products are distributed.

"With the strength of the Sara Lee brand we have led the growth of the fresh bagel category," said Brian Dean, VP of marketing for Sara Lee Fresh. "Our plan with the introduction of our new Sara Lee Artisan Style breads is to do the same with the specialty French bread category."

With more than 14 bread and roll items, the new line offers products for eating occasions ranging from breakfast to dinner. Included are 28-oz, double-wrapped sliced breads in flavors that include: San Francisco Style Sourdough, Sweet Buttermilk French, Cracked Wheat French, and a Garlic & Rosemary Sourdough.

Other breads come in 16-oz long loaves, mini-baguette twin packs or sliced rounds in flavors like Honey-Sweetened French, Sun Dried Tomato and Basil Sourdough and Country Italian Ciabatta. Rolls run the gamut from sandwich-sized packed six-to-a-bag to smaller round dinner rolls that are delivered eight per package.

Sara Lee Fresh has manufacturing facilities in Vernon and Watsonville, CA; Arlington, TX; and Seattle. These bakeries produce a wide variety of specialty breads including bagels, baguettes, sliced breads, rolls, pita breads, flatbreads, crumpets and English muffins.