No Risk, No Reward, No Food

"A survey commissioned by Restaurant Startup & Growth magazine suggests that the failure rate for independent restaurants is 23 percent--a far cry from the 90 percent that has been the conventional and largely unsubstantiated figure exchanged in business circles and famously emphasized on the reality show The Restaurant. That's significantly lower than the failure rate for all new businesses--only 50 percent remain operating after four years so you have reason to be optimistic."                                                                                  

                                                                                          www.foodnetwork.com/
Like any other investment, there is always chance for failure. The stigma for failure on restaurant investments is very high as shown by these reality shows which mainly show restaurants going downhill. In the show "Restaurant Impossible", Robert Irvine comes to the rescue of restaurant owners who, in some episodes, are $500,000 in the hole or are even facing eviction. The show makes opening and maintaining a restaurant seem impossible because of all the failures out there. And even after the big remodel of the restaurant and fresh start for the owners, some restaurants still continue to fail. So if you, like me, have a dream of opening up your own steakhouse named "Strand's", we should just give up because of all the failures out there, right? Not at all.

"From poultry to pirogi, steak to grits, Americans are hungry for good food and unique dining experiences. The National Restaurant Association says that in 2005 (the latest year for which statistics are available), the average household expenditure for restaurant food was $1,054 per person, or $2,634 per household. And considering the 300 millionth American was born in late 2006, it's clear there will be plenty of customers both today and in the future. That makes owning a restaurant a good business opportunity for aspiring food-service entrepreneurs, even during economic slowdowns and when consumer prices are rising."

Opening a restaurant is considered to be among the riskiest of investments for plenty of reasons: it takes a lot of money to start it up, you need to make sure the food is worth coming back for, and there's a steep learning curve for those who have no experience in the restaurant industry. However, we are Americans. We. Are. Fat. As stated above, the expenditure per person for dining out is extreme. Throw in the simple fact that people will always need to eat (even when the economy is not so hot), and the perceived "risky investment" now becomes a "you'd have to be stupid to not do it investment".