A common saying to describe a useful and innovative new invention is often “The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread.” It’s an apt reflection of pre-sliced bread’s popularity when it was first introduced in the early twentieth century. Consumers grew to love it so much that they refused to give it up during World War II.
The Invention of Sliced Bread
While bread has been around for about 14,000 years, the Industrial Revolution changed the market rapidly. Americans were now buying their bread rather than baking it at home. But fresh commercial bread with its “squeezable softness” was much harder to cut neatly than homemade bread.https://www.heritagebanknw.com/home/home
Otto Frederick Rohwedder introduced the first loaf-slicing machine in Chillicothe, Missouri, in 1928. It quickly became a best seller. Bakers protested that sliced loaves fell apart and went stale quickly because the bread contained no preservatives. Consumers didn’t care and started buying more bread than before.
Tacoma Bakeries Start Slicing Bread
The Federal Bakery was Tacoma’s first commercial bakery to produce pre-sliced bread. “Now in Tacoma!” their first ad in the July 15, 1929, issue of the News Tribune declared. It was their same “Federal” milk bread at the same price, they assured customers, just conveniently cut into waste-free slices. Available at six Tacoma groceries, they also continued baking whole loaves.
The bakery’s pre-sliced bread proved popular, and other local bakeries wanted a slice of the market. “In keeping with modern methods,” a February 23, 1932, Daily Ledger ad announced, “AY [American Youth] now comes sliced as well as whole loaf. For those who prefer the convenience of a ready-sliced loaf, AY combines quality with economy, for it is exactly the same fine bread as the famous whole loaf.”…