Turns out that, no, restaurants don't really fail much more than any other small business in general and the failure rate is nowhere near 90% in the first year.
I found two pretty good sources on the topic with similar numbers on the topic :
Bloomberg article The Restaurant-Failure Myth says that research from H.G. Parsa an associate professor in Ohio State University's Hospitality Management program, "found that about one in four restaurants close or change ownership within their first year of business. Over three years, that number rises to three in five."
Forbes article Restaurants Don't Fail, Lenders Do
"According to the National Restaurant Association 30% of new restaurants fail in the first year, and of those that survive, another 30% close in the next 2 years. Sure that is significant but according to the Small Business Administration’s Office Of Advocacy the two-year failure rate for all small businesses is 31%, and after five years the rate increases to 49%."
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