1935:
   

     

Sara Lee's founder, Charles Lubin, at the age of 32, and his brother-in-law, bought a small chain of neighbourhood bakeries called Community Bake Shops. Working together, the business grew in popularity and success and the original three stores increased to seven.
  

1939:

Nathan Cummings acquires C.D. Kenney  
  

1949:

Charlie had strong entrepreneurial desires, so he parted ways with his brother-in-law. He named his first product, a cream cheesecake, after his then eight year old daughter and changed the name of the business to Kitchens of Sara Lee. At this point, the bakery had "fresh" routes throughout the Chicago area.
  

1951:

Charlie was always working on new products to market. Since he was a man who took great pride in the quality and taste of his products, it wasn't until 1951 that the soon-to-be famous All Butter Pound Cake was introduced.
   

1952:

A buyer from Texas, on a visit to Chicago, was so impressed with the Sara Lee products that he asked Charlie to ship them to him in Texas. Lubin knew he couldn't ship fresh product that far and his fresh product didn't freeze well.
  

1953:

Charlie perfected a reformulated frozen line of products, which met his extremely high standards for taste and quality. By 1953, Sara Lee led the food industry by developing a process for freezing baked goods that retained product quality while offering mass distribution capabilities. This same year, he designed foil baking pans. Using this type of packaging to bake, freeze, and distribute the product to consumers in the same pan, both reduced production costs and costs to the customers. This was a revolution in the food industry. The concept of being able to do all of this in one pan was one of our earliest "firsts".
      

1954:

Lubin franchised fresh routes to a 300-mile radius of Chicago. The demand for Sara Lee products was increasing and the ability to ship frozen was about to make its mark. One year later, Kitchens of Sara Lee expanded its delivery to 48 US states.
      

1956:

As the Sara Lee name grew, other corporations were taking interest in frozen products. Kitchens of Sara Lee was becoming so well known that Consolidated Foods Corporation acquired it in 1956 and Charlie continued on as the Chief Executive Officer. This same year, another company, destined to become a major part of Sara Lee, opened its doors. Chef Pierre, Inc., founded by Peter C. Dendrinos in Muskegon, Michigan and makers of high-quality frozen pies, was originally called P.C. Dendrinos Frozen Foods Company.
     

1958:

It soon became obvious that the Sara Lee business was outgrowing the current facility at the Spaulding and Carpenter Street plant, so the bakery moved to a new Chicago location on Elston Avenue. This four million dollar baking operation had a production area of 140,000 sq. ft.
  

1960:

By the late 1950's television had proven to be an effective advertising medium and in 1960 Charlie started using it. As people were made more aware of the high quality that went into the making of Sara Lee products, the business continued to grow.
  

1962:

The demand was so high that the Elston Avenue facility soon became too small. Charlie needed another larger facility. To maintain the highest and most consistent quality he decided it would require an unprecedented level of automation and sophistication. He found an appropriate site for the facility in Deerfield, Illinois. Ground-breaking for this plant occurred on June 27th, 1962. There were approximately 1,000 civic and business leaders at the ceremony. Speakers included Charlie Lubin, Nathan Cummings (founder of Consolidated Foods Corp. later to be renamed Sara Lee Corp.), General Mark Clark, President of The Citadel, and Illinois Governor Otto Kerner. As construction of the new facility continued, more and more products were being expanded to national distribution from the Elston Avenue facility.
  

1963:

In 1963, Sara Lee Canada was formed in Bramalea, Ontario, Canada.
  

1964:

The Deerfield plant began production in 1964. As imagined in Charlie's vision, there were new, revolutionary in-house computers and unrivalled materials handling and warehousing systems. Also included were extensive R&D labs, test bakery and complete machine shop, and a beautiful Home Ec kitchen complete with all types of home-cooking and baking equipment to test in-home preparation and cooking times. As this new ultra-modern facility was being planned, centralized control played an unprecedented role. Lubin had foreseen that product quality could be greatly improved if control of each major operation was managed from a single location. This could allow for a level of sustained accuracy never before achieved in the baking industry. And if controlled accuracy was the goal, then what could be better at controlling or accuracy than a computer? So he directed his engineering staff to create just such an environment for Deerfield. This was no small task since it had never been done. 

  

1965:

On May 12th, 1965, Factory Magazine (a McGraw-Hill publication) named the Sara Lee Deerfield facility one of the ten top new manufacturing plants in the United States. The ten winners were chosen, from among more than 1,500 entries, on the basis of overall excellence in planning and construction of production facilities completed in 1964. The Deerfield facility was the largest and most modern bakery in the world. While doing very well in the Retail business, Sara Lee decided to expand further. That decision, in 1965, led to the development of the Food Service Division. This division was initially targeted to service airlines, larger restaurants, and institutions, such as hospitals and colleges. On August 15, 1965, after a long career filled with innovation and many successes, Charlie Lubin retired.
         

1968:

Television advertising was still doing well, but Sara Lee thought it needed something more. In 1968, Mitch Lee, creator of the Broadway musical, "Man of La Mancha" wrote the jingle "Nobody Doesn't Like Sara Lee." It was the core of all our new ads, even appearing on all Sara Lee owned trucks.
     

1970:

With the Retail and Food Service divisions growing significantly, there was a need for another expansion. The Deerfield facility added two new lines, 48,000 sq. ft., and new office space in 1970.
  

1971:

    

Sara Lee Australia was opened in Gosford, New South Wales, Australia.
   

1976:

   

On July 4th, 1976, Sara Lee presented the United States with its bicentennial birthday cake. The cake was approximately four stories tall and filled Freedom Hall in Philadelphia.
   

1977:

Sara Lee entered the United Kingdom with facilities in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, England.
   

1978:

Chef Pierre, Inc. was acquired by Consolidated Foods Corporation in 1978.
    

1984:

Kitchens of Sara Lee now had total distribution in over 70 countries worldwide. At this time a new Bakery/Deli division was established. This division was developed to help service many of the in-store bakeries inside supermarkets today. During this year, Sara Lee purchased a bread-making plant, formerly owned by King's Hawaiian Bakery in Greenville, South Carolina. By June of 1985, almost all of the equipment had been replaced to convert to the process of making bagels.
       

1985:

In 1985, Consolidated Foods Corporation conducted an extensive research study, which showed that among all the businesses owned by the Corporation, the name Sara Lee was most widely recognised as being synonymous with quality products. Following approval from shareholders, the corporation was renamed Sara Lee Corporation. In conjunction with this, Kitchens of Sara Lee was renamed Sara Lee Bakery.
  
This was also the year that President Reagan visited the Deerfield plant for a day. At that time, a continuing drama in the Middle East was unfolding, involving the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro. While Reagan was visiting with Sara Lee employees, secret word came that the terrorists were going to leave Egypt. The President's order to have the terrorists intercepted by the Navy was later dubbed the "Sara Lee Decision." 
       

1988:

Chef Pierre and Sara Lee merged together in 1988, combining Sara Lee's technological leadership in laminated doughs with Chef Pierre's expertise in fruit-based technologies.
     

1989:

To replace the Deerfield plant, a new facility was opened in Tarboro, North Carolina. Also, Wolferman's, Inc., a maker of gourmet English Muffins and other fine baked goods, joined the Sara Lee Bakery family. Headquarters and production facilities remain in Lenaxa, Kansas. The company had previously been purchased by the Sara Lee Corporation in 1985.
    

1990:

In 1990, the Deerfield plant was closed.
 

1991:

By June, 1991, most of the Headquarters staff moved to downtown Chicago, Illinois.
 

1992:

Sara Lee Bakery purchased the International Baking Company in November, 1992. This specialty bread manufacturer distributes bagels, pita bread and other products under such brand names as International, Mr. Pita and Manhattan Deli.
  

1993:     

       
"To be the best and distinguished above the rest." 
-Homer 900 B.C.

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