> Look to Southeast Asia, even some parts of Europe. Hole in the wall restaurants can make it, because rent is cheap, they don't have city inspectors coming to

> Look to Southeast Asia, even some parts of Europe. Hole in the wall restaurants can make it, because rent is cheap, they don't have city inspectors coming to ding you on fire supression equipment that is 2 inches out of spec. (Also, they don't have waiters and hosts other than the owners) There are food centers set up to foster small restaurants all located together in a high demand area, where the infrastructure is shared and standardized. In Italy, Spain -- restaurants run for generations in corners of small apartment blocks and aren't in fear of getting evicted for a chain. This is because food is cheap, salaries are cheap, and no one is reporting these guys for selling you rat that's labelled as chicken. Plus, on average, most small businesses fail in ~5 years, not just restaurants (though they tend to fail extra hard).