Yes, Bill, restaurants do have a high small business failure rate.
Several years ago, I did feasibility studies for several banks that were lending to restaurant start-ups; mostly family-style restaurant. Unlike carwash, most of these investors had previous experience in the business. I learned quite a lot from them.
Family-style restaurant is primarily about location, bend-over backwards customer service, quality at a reasonable price, cost control and having enough seats and parking spaces.
My ex-sister in-law left the airlines industry to own and operate an Italian rest. She has become extremely successful after working her butt off for three years at a pace of about 75 to 80 hours a week.
Some of the other reasons it is a tough business is high employee turnover, cost of goods and customer satisfaction. The turnover rate is almost as bad as full-service carwash. COG is huge and increased by 30% last year alone. Customers are far more finicky about what they eat and how they are served as compared to, say, carwash services.
You couldn't pay me to own a restaurant.
As for Red Lobster, I envisioned their downturn several years ago. Quite frankly, its pretty simple. RL serves up fairly pricy food for the amount you get and its absolutely loaded with fat. I can't remember getting out of there without shelling out almost $50 for two people. Olive Garden is a bargain by comparison.