"We are excited about the growth opportunities this strategic acquisition presents to Lifeway Foods," said Julie Smolyansky, Lifeway Foods' president. "This provides Lifeway with an important East Coast presence and distribution center, as well as an additional product line for our current customers, and for our new customers, our existing Lifeway product lines. Lifeway will keep the Ilya's Farms brand name in its current markets and begin production of a line of Lifeway branded gourmet cream cheeses in Chicago using the Ilya's Farms recipes, Smolyansky said.

Smolyansky was recently profiled by Fortune Small Business, which ranked Lifeway Foods No. 38 in its list of fast-growing small companies.