New Study Finds Restaurants' Failure Rate Lower than Expected<b></b>

Columbus, Ohio--The common business wisdom is thatrestaurants fail at an alarmingly high rate--maybe as high as 90 to95 percent in the first year. But new research suggests the actualnumbers may not be nearly so grim. A longitudinal study ofrestaurants in Columbus, Ohio, found the failure rate forrestaurants was 57 for franchised chains and 61 percent amongindependent restaurants for a three year period--from 1996 to 1999.This rate was still high, but much more in line with otherbusinesses, said H.G. Parsa, author of the study and associateprofessor of hospitality management at Ohio State University.

Moreover, his review of other published studies also suggestfailure rates of restaurants to be closer to 60 percent or lessafter three to five years, and nowhere near to 90 percent."The 90 percent figure seems to be a myth, a myth that isharmful to the restaurant industry," Parsa said. -AScribeNewswire