"With the acquisition of Butter-Krust Baking, Sara Lee will expand its Mid-Atlantic distribution coverage, complementing our recent entry into the Ohio Valley, to better serve our customers and to reach more than

20 million additional consumers," Brenda Barnes, Sara Lee Corp.'s chairman and chief executive officer, said. "We will leverage the strong relationships that Butter-Krust has developed throughout the region to further expand the Sara Lee fresh bakery brand, which in just three years has become the largest and fastest growing brand in the U.S. fresh bakery aisle."

Sara Lee will retain Butter-Krust's management team to operate the two bakeries. Over time, Sara Lee said it will add Sara Lee branded products to production. To accommodate this extra capacity, Hall said the company will add a bun line to the Sunbury plant.

"It's going to be business as usual for the Butter-Krust operations," Hall said. "We'll be able to take the best of Sara Lee and marry it with the strength of Butter-Krust."

This acquisition is the latest effort by Sara Lee to reach every consumer in the United States. During the past two years, the company has entered major markets in Florida, Idaho, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia using existing production capacity.