Why Restaurants Fail

TL;DR — The Cornell Quarterly study that debunked the “90% of restaurants fail in year one” myth: the real figure was about 26%.

Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 46(3), 2005. Using ownership-turnover data from 1996–1999, Dun & Bradstreet records and interviews, the authors found that about 26% of independent restaurants failed in their first year, against the often-repeated 90%. Three-year failure rates were close between chains (57%) and independents (61%), and family life cycle and quality-of-life issues mattered more than expected. A failed owner’s quote: “I suffered from mission drift.”

What it is: peer-reviewed, using data from one metro area (Columbus, Ohio). It is the standard citation on restaurant failure rates.

Where this came from

• r/obscurePDFs post, February 2020 — “Why Restaurants Fail”. Routing record: The obscurePDFs Subreddit

19 pages. A copy is archived locally against link rot; the header links the original source.