The company's newest introductions to the Sara Lee branded fresh bakery food family join a growing lineup of white whole wheat products anchored by Sara Lee Soft & Smooth Made with Whole Grain White Bread.
Sara Lee Made with Whole Grain White Hot Dog Buns and Ham-burger Buns arrived in grocery stores in April and have suggested retail prices of $2.29 to $2.49 for an eight-count, 12-oz. package. The buns are baked at 30 Sara Lee bakeries throughout the United States.
Similar to Sara Lee's Soft & Smooth line, the new hamburger and hot dog buns use a blend of enriched white flour and white whole wheat flour to obtain the characteristics of white bread while delivering whole grain nutrition.
The new buns are formulated with a blend of 76% enriched flour and 24% white whole wheat flour, which delivers 6 grams of whole grain per bun. The buns also are "good" sources of calcium, vitamin D and vitamin B folic acid.
"If every hamburger and hot dog bun sold in America last year had the amounts of whole grain that our new Sara Lee buns have, Americans would have added more than 3 billion servings of whole grain to their diets," said Bill Nictakis, president of Sara Lee Food & Beverage's U.S. Fresh Bakery business.
Matt Hall, Sara Lee spokesperson, said the new Made with Whole Grain White buns is the next logical step in the development of the company's bun portfolio, which includes all-white hot dog and hamburger buns, wheat hot dog and hamburger buns, gourmet hamburger buns and 100% whole wheat gourmet hamburger buns.
"In our bun portfolio, a whole wheat blend is the one area where we didn't have a product," Hall said. "These new products are an extension of what we're doing with our bread strategy."
This strategy centers around capitalizing on the whole grain trend while still delivering a product that mimics white bread's taste, texture and appearance. The company says its Soft & Smooth Made with Whole Grain White Bread has become the best-selling loaf of bread in the country since its July launch. Sara Lee also introduced Made with Whole Grain Plain Bagels and Made with Whole Grain Original English Muffins in 2005.