I don't think any of this is new. My dad owned a restaurant over thirty years ago and has talked bad about them (as business investments) ever since. Restaurant

I don't think any of this is new. My dad owned a restaurant over thirty years ago and has talked bad about them (as business investments) ever since. Restaurants have a number of characteristics that indicate they should be poor investments vs other types of small businesses. Here's a few, none of which require wall street's involvement: -They're cool. Who doesn't want to own one? I'd love to own a bar if I thought I could make money in the game. -They're visible. Everyone eats at restaurants, and in fact, a lot of people sit around in restaurants talking about what sort of business to start. -They have good perks. Free beer anyone? -They're familiar. I mean, things turn out pretty good when I BBQ, right? -They're (relatively) cheap to get into. If the minimum is $100k instead of $1M, you'll have more competition. When it comes to small business, look for the opposite of all of those. The more obscure, boring and downright unappealing the better.