Toast - Jamie's Italian

About this episode

<p>What went wrong at Jamie Oliver's UK restaurant chain, Jamie's Italian?</p><p>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.</p><p>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?</p><p>In this episode, which was first broadcast in February 2024, Sean and the serial entrepreneur, Sam White, examine the fortunes of Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant chain. It was a big hit when it launched so why couldn't it maintain that success? </p><p>Expert commentators - and Jamie Oliver himself - reflect on what made his restaurants so special and what led to their demise.</p><p>Tracey MacLeod, formerly of The Independent, was one of the first restaurant critics through the door; Emma Lake, Assistant Editor at The Caterer magazine wrote extensively about Jamie's Italian; Peter Harden, the co-founder of Harden's Restaurant Guide, has trawled through reviews of Jamie's Italian to see what changed from the customers' perspective.</p><p>Jamie Oliver's perspective comes through an interview he did with Kirsty Young for the Radio 4 series 'Young Again'.</p><p>If you have an idea for a topic with a toast moment then you can email the programme at toast@bbc.co.uk</p><p>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.</p><p>Toast is produced by Jon Douglas and Viant Siddique and is a BBC Audio North production for Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.</p>