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FoundationsConcept 15 of 15

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DINERCLOSEDSHOPSTARTUP

Why businesses fail · 15 min

Why do businesses fail?

Only 51.4%bls.gov ·2025 of new business locations with employees are still open five years later. It's rarely bad luck: they run out of cash, customers or margin. Here's how often it happens, how it happens, and how to see it coming.

Ticket 01 · The guess

How many restaurants last?

You've probably heard that most new restaurants close in their first year. Of the restaurants, cafés, bars and hotels with employees that opened between spring 2019 and spring 2020, what share were still open five years later?

20%
0%100%
Words to know

Spot something wrong?

Tell us what looks off. No name or email needed.

What kind of problem?

0 / 1000

We'll also send this page, the lesson, ticket 1, so we can find it. Nothing else. Privacy

·
Sources and every number (1)

Sources

  • Business Employment Dynamics: Establishment age and survival data, Table 7, Survival of private sector establishments by opening year (total private and by industry, through March 2025) · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025

Every number

  • 59.3%bls.gov ·2025 · Share of restaurant, café, bar and hotel (accommodation and food services) locations that opened in the year to March 2020 and were still open in March 2025. Private businesses with employees, counted by location, from the BLS survival tables.
  • 85.5%bls.gov ·2025 · Share of restaurant, café, bar and hotel locations that opened in the year to March 2020 and were still open a year later. Private businesses with employees, counted by location, from the BLS survival tables.
  • 80.9%bls.gov ·2025 · Share of all private business locations that opened in the year to March 2020 and were still open a year later. Private businesses with employees, counted by location, from the BLS survival tables.
  • 51.4%bls.gov ·2025 · Share of all private business locations that opened in the year to March 2020 and were still open five years later, in March 2025. Private businesses with employees, counted by location, from the BLS survival tables.
  • 34.7%bls.gov ·2025 · Share of all private business locations that opened in the year to March 2015 and were still open ten years later, in March 2025. Private businesses with employees, counted by location, from the BLS survival tables.
  • 92.8%bls.gov ·2025 · Of the locations that opened in the year to March 2015 and were still open in March 2024, the share still open in March 2025. Private businesses with employees, counted by location, from the BLS survival tables.
  1. Lessons›
  2. Foundations
  • ·Before this: One shop or many?
  • ·Free calculator: Cash runway calculator
Skip to the lesson

FoundationsConcept 15 of 15

Part 1 of 3, 0 done
DINERCLOSEDSHOPSTARTUP

Why businesses fail · 15 min

Why do businesses fail?

Only 51.4%bls.gov ·2025 of new business locations with employees are still open five years later. It's rarely bad luck: they run out of cash, customers or margin. Here's how often it happens, how it happens, and how to see it coming.

Ticket 01 · The guess

How many restaurants last?

You've probably heard that most new restaurants close in their first year. Of the restaurants, cafés, bars and hotels with employees that opened between spring 2019 and spring 2020, what share were still open five years later?

20%
0%100%
Words to know

Spot something wrong?

Tell us what looks off. No name or email needed.

What kind of problem?

0 / 1000

We'll also send this page, the lesson, ticket 1, so we can find it. Nothing else. Privacy

·
Sources and every number (1)

Sources

  • Business Employment Dynamics: Establishment age and survival data, Table 7, Survival of private sector establishments by opening year (total private and by industry, through March 2025) · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2025

Every number

  • 59.3%bls.gov ·2025 · Share of restaurant, café, bar and hotel (accommodation and food services) locations that opened in the year to March 2020 and were still open in March 2025. Private businesses with employees, counted by location, from the BLS survival tables.
  • 85.5%bls.gov ·2025 · Share of restaurant, café, bar and hotel locations that opened in the year to March 2020 and were still open a year later. Private businesses with employees, counted by location, from the BLS survival tables.
  • 80.9%bls.gov ·2025 · Share of all private business locations that opened in the year to March 2020 and were still open a year later. Private businesses with employees, counted by location, from the BLS survival tables.
  • 51.4%bls.gov ·2025 · Share of all private business locations that opened in the year to March 2020 and were still open five years later, in March 2025. Private businesses with employees, counted by location, from the BLS survival tables.
  • 34.7%bls.gov ·2025 · Share of all private business locations that opened in the year to March 2015 and were still open ten years later, in March 2025. Private businesses with employees, counted by location, from the BLS survival tables.
  • 92.8%bls.gov ·2025 · Of the locations that opened in the year to March 2015 and were still open in March 2024, the share still open in March 2025. Private businesses with employees, counted by location, from the BLS survival tables.
  1. Lessons›
  2. Foundations
  • ·Before this: One shop or many?
  • ·Free calculator: Cash runway calculator