Sara Lee chose Hillshire Brands Co. as the new name for its North American business.


Sara Lee Corp., Downers Grove, Ill., chose Hillshire Brands Co. as the new name for its North American business. Hillshire Brands will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “HSH.”  
On June 28, Sara Lee will become two independent publicly-traded companies. D.E MASTER BLENDERS 1753 will focus on international coffee and tea, while Hillshire Brands will focus on meat-centric food products and foodservice operations. The Hillshire Brands company will includeJimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, Aidells, Gallo SalameandState Fair brands.

“As a pure-play company with strong momentum, we needed a name and identity that captures the potential of this new organization,” says Sean Connolly, chief executive officer of Sara Lee North American Retail and Foodservice, who will become chief executive officer of Hillshire Brands. “Hillshire Brands represents our strong heritage in quality and great taste, as well as our ambitions for growing our portfolio of iconic brands in the future.”

The Hillshire name was inspired by theHillshire Farm brand, which Sara Lee acquired in 1971.  
After the spin-off, Hillshire Brands’ Foodservice division will continue to be known as Sara Lee Foodservice.

The company also adopted a new visual identity to help position Hillshire Brands as a leader focused on providing innovative meat-centric brand and snack solutions, but at the same time, create a distinction between the new corporate name and the leadingHillshire Farm brand. The identity will be instilled throughout the organization through signage, stationery and a branded office space in Chicago that is currently under construction.