Sara Lee’s new owners have vowed to keep their 200 workers on the payroll, despite previously cutting jobs when they restructured the failed Darrell Lea chocolate company.
Sara Lee went into receivership in October last year with debts of $55 million, surprising many Australians who regularly enjoy the brand’s desserts in supermarkets.
but the keys to the iconic Australian frozen dessert brand’s factory on the New South Wales Central Coast were handed over to new owners Klark and Brooke Quinn on Tuesday.
The couple vowed to stay “for the long term” after meeting the staff whose jobs they saved.
‘Sara Lee doesn’t exist without its 200 workers,” Quinn told the ABC.
The keys to the iconic Australian frozen dessert brand’s factory on the New South Wales Central Coast were handed over to new owners Klark and Brooke Quinn on Tuesday, with the pair praising the company’s employees.
“A lot of these guys have been here for over 40 years…they’ve given their entire lives to Sara Lee.”
Quinn’s father Tony, who founded VIP business Petfoods that sold for $410 million in 2015, bought failed chocolate maker Darrell Lea out of bankruptcy for $11 million in 2012.
Mr and Mrs Quinn were credited with turning the company around after a restructuring led to more than 400 employees losing their jobs.
The couple even moved into Darrell Lea’s factory in Ingleburn to help restore their financial health.
“We lived in the factory for three years, seven days a week and, covering all facets of the business, that was a good idea of what to do,” Mr Quinn said. A current issue.
The Quinn family sold Darrell Lea in 2018 for $200 million.
But Quinn, a former racing driver and three-time Australian GT champion, downplayed his business acumen over his recent acquisition and insisted they were in it for the “long term”.
“We won’t be the ones to save Sara Lee,” he said.
“It will be the staff and the communities, it will be the Australians.”
The ABC revealed that nearly $10 million that Sara Lee owes to unsecured creditors will not be repaid.
Quinn said he sympathized with those companies, but stressed that he and his partner “had no say in what happened in the past.”
Mr and Mrs Quinn (pictured) were credited with turning the company around after a restructure led to more than 400 employees losing their jobs.
Sara Lee was established in Australia in 1971 in Lisarow in the New south Wales Central coast.
Following its administration at the end of last year, a desperate search was launched to find a new buyer for the company.
The company operates in Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
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Their most popular dessert is their French vanilla cheesecake.
Australians are celebrating the news that Sara Lee has been saved. Pictured is TV star Sophie Monk, one-time brand ambassador.