Sara Lee closing bakery, will eliminate 151 jobs

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Springfield will lose a slice of its history when the 74-year-old bakery at 1028 E. St. Louis ceases operations July 3. |ret||ret||tab|

With the closing of the Sara Lee/Earthgrains bakery, the community will lose 151 jobs 94 full-time and 57 part-time. About 130 lay-offs are in the production department with the remaining 20 in management and office positions. |ret||ret||tab|

Employees already released will receive pay and benefits for 60 days. The 60-day period began April 24 when the closure was announced. On average a full-time employee earns about $35,000 with benefits, not including overtime pay.|ret||ret||tab|

According to a Sara Lee Corporation report, closure of the Springfield plant, along with bakeries in Tucson, Ariz., and Grand Junction, Colo., will help improve the manufacturing network. A total of 155 workers will lose their jobs at the two other plants.|ret||ret||tab|

"It's really difficult to close bakeries because bakery employees are so loyal and take a lot of pride in what they do," said Matt Hall, senior vice president of communications for Sara Lee.|ret||ret||tab|

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Bakery history|ret||ret||tab|

The St. Louis Street bakery opened in March 1929 as the Colonial Bakery Company. The bakery was built by Louis Bernhardt at a cost of $150,000, according to the March 13, 1929, Springfield Leader.|ret||ret||tab|

The local bakery operated under Campbell Taggart Holding Company, which came under the ownership of Anheuser-Busch in 1982. In 1996 Campbell Taggart split off on its own and became known as The Earthgrains Company. |ret||ret||tab|

Sara Lee purchased Earthgrains on Aug. 14, 2001, in a $2.8 billion deal that included the Springfield operation. At the time of the purchase, Earthgrains' baking department was larger than Sara Lee's bakery division. Now Sara Lee is the second largest bread baker in the nation. |ret||ret||tab|

The local plant's long history in the community makes its closure more difficult.|ret||ret||tab|

"It's a bakery that has been in our system for a long time. It's one of our company's original bread bakeries," Hall said.|ret||ret||tab|

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Future of bread|ret||ret||tab|

Leaving the past in Springfield behind, the Sara Lee Corporation prepares for its future. Hall said closure of the Springfield bakery will help Sara Lee financially.|ret||ret||tab|

"We've been going through the process of trying to match up the production network with the demand for production for decades," Hall said. " There's consolation in the industry."|ret||ret||tab|

There are no plans to close any other bakeries, Hall said. |ret||ret||tab|

In the past five years, 22 Sara Lee and Earthgrains bakeries have closed. Hall said the number of bakeries in the nation today is nearly half of the number of bakeries in the mid 1970s. |ret||ret||tab|

Since 2001, Wonder Bread, locally known as Butternut of Springfield, and Sara Lee both had operations in Springfield. Wonder Bread, part of Interstate Bakery Corporation, is the nation's largest bakery.|ret||ret||tab|

The Springfield plant is the last Sara Lee bakery in Missouri. The bakery produced more than a million loaves of bread each week. Bread made in Springfield was shipped throughout the state. |ret||ret||tab|

Bakeries in Oklahoma City, Okla., Wichita, Kan., Omaha, Neb., Rock Island, Ill., and Dubuque, Iowa, will produce bread for various parts of Missouri. The cost of shipping the bread will be significantly less than that of operating the bakery, Hall said. The large number of bakeries in the Midwest supported the decision to close the Springfield bakery. |ret||ret||tab|

"When you get bakeries that can serve a little larger geography and can run longer production runs, it's just more effective and more efficient to operate that way," Hall said. "So, rather than having (bakeries) in Springfield and Wichita that are not being fully utilized, it just makes more sense to fully utilize the one bakery if you can close the other bakery."|ret||ret||tab|

The Springfield bakery location will be used as a temporary distribution center. Hall said the property is for sale. The company is preparing for another distribution center in the area.|ret||ret||tab|

Forty Sara Lee sales and distribution employees will continue to work in the Springfield area, and their positions will not be affected by the bakery closing. Bakery equipment from the plant will be transferred to other locations or disposed of, Hall said. |ret||ret||tab|

On the same day the company announced bakery closures, it also released its fourth-quarter financial forecast. The forecast predicted the company's earnings to be 36 cents to 38 cents per share compared to 43 cents for the same period last year. The lower-than-expected forecast caused for a 9.8 percent decrease (down to $17.80 per share) in the value of Sara Lee's shares, traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EGR.|ret||ret||tab|

However reports from the third quarter show the company to be in strong standing. Sara Lee's financial reports for the fiscal 2003 third quarter state an increase in cash flow exceeding $1.2 billion compared to $930 million last year.|ret||ret||tab|

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