Tagged: Marketing

There’s a popular belief that nine out of ten new restaurants fail in the first year. It’s a myth.

A new study by an associate professor of hospitality management at Ohio State has identified a real figure of six. Six out of ten new restaurants fail in the first year. That’s still pretty high mortality, but not out of line with startups in other business categories.

Nevertheless, I think the only business tougher than retail is the restaurant business. There are just so many different reasons why people don’t come back.

In team sports the coach determines the strategy. The smart ones draft a strategy they believe their players can execute. The only job for the players is to execute the strategy to their greatest ability. Business is exactly the same. 

An article last year in Fortune Magazine was an interview with the worldwide HR czar for IBM. The interviewer asked him what it takes to lead at IBM.

Randy MacDonald said, “There’s a maniacal focus on execution. If you say at IBM you’re going to deliver, you’re held accountable.”