Seems like pretty big mistakes were made from the start... - A city as suburban as Portland seems suboptimal, even if entry costs are lower. Not to mention it'

Seems like pretty big mistakes were made from the start... - A city as suburban as Portland seems suboptimal, even if entry costs are lower. Not to mention it's actually a fairly small city, with probably far higher supply than demand. Even if it is growing. - Sounds like lots of mistakes were made in the real estate (landlord situation, renovation costs, etc). - And, the ownership situation seems like it could have used some work... If you want buy in from your chef, maybe have them be an owner... All of that on top of the normal rate of failure, which isn't that bad for restaurants. On average, they survive for a little less that five years...