Toast

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Sliced Bread Presents: Toast - Toys R Us

Toast - Toys R Us

Sliced Bread

BBC Radio 4 - Sliced Bread, Toast - Toys R Us

Why did the major toy retailer Toys R Us have to close all of its UK stores in 2018?

While Sliced Bread takes a break we serve up… Toast. Sean Farrington examines why Toys R Us had to close all of its UK stores in 2018 and hears how it is making a comeback.

Why did Toys R Us have to close all of its UK superstores in 2018? 

While Sliced Bread takes a break we serve up… Toast. A study of the spectacular failures of brands which had promised so much to consumers.    

In each episode, the presenter and BBC business journalist, Sean Farrington, examines one big idea. What did it promise? Why did it fail? What can we learn from it today? 

In this Christmas special, Sean examines the charming story behind one of our best-known toy brands before hearing how it faltered. 

Expert commentators and employees reflect on why the business had been so successful and what went wrong. 

Alongside them is the self-made millionaire and serial entrepreneur, Sam White, to analyse the missteps that changed the brand’s fortunes. 

Together, they hear how Toys R Us is making a comeback in the UK.   

You can email the programme at toast@bbc.co.uk 

Feel free to suggest topics which we could cover in future episodes. 

From big tech to high street retail and, of course, food, Toast tackles the business ideas that, one way or another, ended up cooked.

Sliced Bread returns for a new batch of investigations in February. In the new series, Greg Foot will investigate more of the latest so-called wonder products to find out whether they really are the best thing since sliced bread. In the meantime, Toast is available in the Sliced Bread feed on BBC Sounds.

Toast is produced by Jon Douglas and Viant Siddique and is a BBC Audio North production for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

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While Sliced Bread takes a break, we serve up... Toast.

While Sliced Bread takes a break, we serve up... Toast. Sean Farrington examines the spectacular failures of wonder products and businesses which had promised so much.

While Sliced Bread takes a break we serve up... Toast. A study of the spectacular failures of brands which had promised so much to consumers.    

In each episode, the presenter and BBC business journalist, Sean Farrington, examines one big idea. What did it promise? Why did people back it? Why did they get burnt?  

Some of the world's most successful businesses have also brought us some of the world's most remarkable failures. So, what led them to be toast? And what can we learn from their stories today? 

Sean unpicks all the early optimism, hype and ambition. He learns about the tremendous success of a brand before hearing how it faltered, with help from expert commentators and people who were directly involved. How do they view things now and what, if anything, could have been done differently? 

The self-made millionaire and serial entrepreneur, Sam White, is alongside him, analysing the missteps that changed a brand's fortunes and reaching her own, often instructive, conclusions.  

From big tech to high street retail and, of course, food, Toast tackles the business ideas that, one way or another, ended up cooked. 

Sliced Bread returns for a new batch of investigations in February. In the new series, Greg Foot will investigate more of the latest so-called wonder products to find out whether they really are the best thing since sliced bread. In the meantime, Toast is available in the Sliced Bread feed on BBC Sounds.

Toast is a BBC Audio North production for BBC Radio 4.

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