<div id="subtitle">Sara Lee CEO Brenda Barnes discusses the bakery category</div><div><p>Food and beverage maker Sara Lee Corp. reported a fiscal second-quarter profit on Thursday. The company is facing moderating commodity costs and has lowered some of its prices in the highly competitive bakery segment.</p><p>Chairman and CEO Brenda Barnes discussed the bakery category, which can be very promotional, during a conference call with investors Thursday.</p><p>QUESTION: How do you lay out the picture of what's happened in the (bakery) category?</p><p>ANSWER: We feel pretty good about our profit increase in bakery in the first half. We are continuing to improve profits and improve margins. ... The hard thing for us is the volume trend. But ... every single city and every single market differs in terms of what the competitive set is, what the dynamics are with the product mix in those areas. ...</p><p>Add to that that you had an enormous uptick in commodities and an enormous downswing. There was disruption in the whole industry. I think the right thing to do is keep offering reasonable value and not give the product away anywhere because it doesn't make sense for the retailer. It is one of the top, top profit makers for a retailer.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=68466143&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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