Meet the couple saving an iconic Aussie brand
When Australia first learnt a well-known dessert manufacturer had slid into administration, worried Aussies thought the tradition of sharing a Sara Lee dessert with loved ones would be gone for good.
But new owners, Brooke and Klark Quinn, refused to let that happen - and they bought the brand in late January for an undisclosed amount.
The Quinn family, who are well known in Australian business circles, are no strangers to the world of confectionery.
The family purchased Darrell Lea in 2012 after the Australian business entered voluntary administration.
The family handed the business to Mr Quinn who turned the brand around after establishing a second factory in Ingleburn.
The pair, from Adelaide, even moved into the Darrell Lea factory for a year in 2014 and worked 16 hours day to reverse its fortune.
They are now hoping to do the same for Sara Lee.
The Australian and New Zealand branch of Sara Lee, known for its frozen cheesecakes, pies, and ice cream, has been trading in Australia since 1971, but went into voluntary administration in October last year.
Many Australians were in disbelief when the news broke, fearing it spelled the end for their favourite desserts.
The Quinn family say long term staff of the iconic brand never once doubted the survival of the business Australians know and love.
Ms Quinn said the optimistic “staff culture” was an important “checkpoint” when herself and her husband decided to save the company from going under.
“Usually when you enter a business that is in voluntary administration, the morale among the staff is just absolutely rock bottom,” Ms Quinn said.
“While the rest of Australia was worried about the survival of their favourite dessert, I don’t think any staff members up at Lisarow (factory), at any point had a single doubt in their mind that someone wouldn’t see the value in (Sara Lee) and snap it up.”
The Quinn family received the keys to the company’s Lisarow factory on the New South Wales Central Coast on Monday, just four months after Sara Lee went into voluntary administration.
The busy parents of four said purchasing the company has been a “fun” yet “exhaustive” process but added the important work needed to bring the brand back into Australian homes has just begun.
“We’re certainly not going to change anything (about the current products). We don’t want to sell any less than what we currently sell today,” Mr Quinn said.
“What we do want to do is understand how we can take these products and put them into different formats and find new markets for them to grow the business.
“It really is about getting more Sara Lee into more Australian hands.”
When the Quinns first found out the dessert manufacturer had fallen into voluntary administration, they went straight to the supermarket to purchase the Sara Lee dessert that is reminiscent of their childhood.
“I went down to the shop and picked up my favourite, which is the apple crumble, and we had some vanilla ice-cream and we took that home and enjoyed it together,” Ms Quinn said.
“It was that time over the dinner table where we thought, you know what, this is a fantastic product.
“Maybe we should have a look at this.”
Mr Quinn said he hopes Australians will hit the freezer aisle and “cook up” the famed desserts that take “half the time and half the cost” of other homemade desserts.
“I would just like to encourage Australians to go buy dessert and take it to the dinner table after dinner and just re engage with that experience,” he said.
“I think that may have been lost somewhere in the generational change.”
