Sara Lee Announces New Sliced Meat Manufacturing Facility

Sara Lee Corp. announced that it will open a new, state-of-the-art sliced meat manufacturing facility in Kansas City, at 4612 Speaker Road, which will become fully operational by 2011. The plant is expected to employ more than 250 people.

“This industry-leading facility will reinforce our competitive advantage in value-added meats, one of Sara Lee’s top strategic categories and long-term growth drivers,” said CJ Fraleigh, executive vice president and chief executive officer, North American Retail & Foodservice. “It will help us further build our Hillshire Farm and Sara Lee brands, both leaders in the fast-growing category of premium lunchmeat.”

Sara Lee will invest more than $130 million in the 187,000 square foot facility, which will provide the scale to develop industry-leading technological processes and give Sara Lee the capacity for long-term growth in the meat business. “Wyandotte County is open for business and we’re delighted to welcome Sara Lee and Hillshire Farm to our community,” said Unified Government Mayor Joe Reardon. “This is a public/private partnership that creates new jobs for our outstanding workforce at a critical time given our current economy.”

“We’re excited that Sara Lee has chosen to bring this new manufacturing facility to Kansas,” said Kansas Department of Commerce Secretary David D. Kerr. “For a global giant like Sara Lee to choose Kansas speaks volumes about our state, our strong workforce and our reputation for business-friendly policymaking. We thank the company for choosing Kansas, and we look forward to a long and productive relationship.”