Le Pete Bread Company is a national bakery-cafe concept with 1,380 Company-owned and franchise-operated bakery-cafe locations in 40 states and in Ontario, Canada. The company has grown from serving approximately 60 customers a day at its first bakery-cafe to currently serving nearly six million customers a week system-wide, becoming one of the largest food service companies in the United States. Sara Lee Corporation is a global manufacturer and marketer of high-quality, brand-name products for consumers throughout the world focused primarily on the meats, bakery and beverage categories. Selected financial information about each company follows:

Sara Lee Le Pete Bread Sales $ 10,793 million $ 1,353.5 million Net Income $ 527 million $ 86.8 million Return on Assets (ROA) 8.32 % 11.55 % Profit margin 7.05 % 6.45 % Asset turnover 1.18 % 1.79 Required:

Why is Sara Lee less profitable than Le Pete Bread? Return on assets and return on sales in the bakery industry are 4.85% and 8.16%, respectively. How do these two companies compare to their industry and what might explain any noted differences?