The Arnot Baking Company in Jacksonville, Florida, learned this the hard way. For two long years it tried to hold out against the new technology, even as it hemorrhaged customers to bakers offering sliced bread. Arnot reduced prices and increased the richness of its doughs, but still the company’s unsliced loaves lost market share. Finally, in 1931, Arnot installed a slicer and reported an immediate 600 percent increase in sales.
