We alluded above to the effect of business owners’ demographic
characteristics on business success. However, as
numerous studies have focused on this issue (e.g., Van
Praag 2003), we are taking a different approach to demographics
in this study by looking at the demographics of the
market, rather than the restaurateur. That said, owner demographics
clearly influence restaurant success. Several studies
examined a possible gender effect on organizational
survival (Kalleberg and Leicht 1991), for instance. Study
findings include the following: men are more likely to be
self-employed than women (Hisrich and Brush 1984), businesses
owned by men have lower failure rates and are more
profitable than those owned by women (Aldrich 1989; Bird
and Sapp 2004; Cuba, Decenzo, and Anish 1983; Loscocco
et al. 1991), but on average, businesses owned by men and women are equally successful (Chell and Baines 1998;
Kalleberg and Leicht 1991).