One of the most common metrics banded about in the hospitality industry is the number of restaurants, bars or pubs that are closing every week. In the UK alone, it’s believed that over 5,500 restaurants are at risk of closing down in the wake of the county’s impending exit from the European Union.

However, no matter how well researched these statistics are, or how many industry ‘experts’ believe them to be absolutely true, they do, after a while, become rather tiresome.

If you work in this industry, it’s easy to get lost in the quagmire of depressing figures and stats that regularly hit the headlines, but in doing so, you simply risk becoming yet another number among the many supposed failings.

That’s why the following piece by Adam Ozimek writing for Forbes was a rather welcome sight this week. He argues that, in the US, the belief that 90% of restaurants fail within the first year is simply false; massively false.

See what you think for yourself. Fact or fiction?