Want to hear some good news? Your chances of success are better than most people think. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the survival rates of all new businesses started between 1998 and 2002 find that 66% of them are still open two years after they started.

A Cornell University study of restaurants in three major markets showed a first year failure (or closure) rate of 27% with only a minor (4%) difference between franchised and independent restaurants.

Regardless of how you crunch the statistics, and I might add that quality statistics for the restaurant industry are hard to find, approximately 30% of all new, first year restaurants go out of business on the average. This means you have a 70% chance of first year success if you have a viable, well thought out concept in a worthwhile location. It is important to note that of the 30% of restaurants that close during their first year, most of those operators were under-educated, under capitalized (most common reason), or were not willing to make the time commitments necessary to get the job done.

Why am I concentrating on the first year aspects of survival? Because statistics and logic both say that if you make it past your first year, the percentages are in your favor beyond year one. How can you minimize the risk in your first year?

These Top Tips listed below will aid in insuring your survival:

Tip #1.
Know your market. The easiest and fastest way is to get a Feasibility Study done! I know of a restaurateur who was looking at placing a Mexican restaurant into a major metro area. His Feasibility Study revealed that a quickly expanding localized chain was inevitably going to greatly diminish his potential success, so he changed his concept, thereby avoiding an expensive potential failure. You too can avoid major failure by knowing your market, and concentrating strongly on your biggest competitor. If you can