I've often wondered about the selection bias of the "80% of restaurants fail, they're the worst investment" because I had a suspicion that many people start restaurants thinking essentially, "My Mom's pasta sauce is so good, people say they would pay for it. I should open up a restaurant with her recipe." and then proceed to fall flat on their face.

Reading this article, I think I'm right. I wonder what the success rate is of a restaurant is when the owner has even a basic idea of how the various positions in a restaurant work and the important business metrics.