Sara Lee has been rescued by the former owners of Darrell Lea.
👉 Background: Sara Lee is the frozen desserts brand that has become an icon in Aussie households. Unfortunately, after going through a few owners like McCain foods and a private equity firm, South Island Office, Sara Lee fell into administration in October 2023.
👉 What happened: Now, Sara Lee has been rescued by the former owners of Darrell Lea. After their success starting VIP Petfoods and turning around Darrell Lea, they reckon they can turn the Sara Lee brand profitable again.
👉 What else: Clearly, the Sara Lee brand has its fans. There were more than 60 prospective buyers who expressed interest in the dessert brand too.
💡Where there’s a strong brand, there’s a strong opportunity for a revival.
💡Sara Lee may be a distressed company under a $55 million mountain of debt, but it’s also an extremely loved brand in Australia. And, when a business has products that customers love enough, it can be brought back to life.
💡The Quinn family are looking to copy-paste their success with Darrell Lea, which bought for around $25 million when it had collapsed in 2012. They culled jobs and some inefficient parts of the business to bring it back to profitability, and then sold it for $200 million in 2018.
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