[JohnZ]

While the reasons contributing to a restaurant failure are many and well studied, operating a restaurant in The Villages presents many challenges with associated risks. The seasonal resident phenomenon is certainly well understood and not unique to The Villages since many Florida locations are subject to similar variances in seasonal populaton. Start-up costs in The Villages are inordinately high as are operating costs i.e. land purchase cost, leases etc. Restaurant developers take all this into consideration, of course, and weigh this into their forecasting. But, The Villages "sells" the allure of higher than usual upside sales potential which is very often unrealized. Here in TV, even with a high quality product, good location, good service, if the business transaction volume does not offset those high costs, any business will not be sustainable. It simply boils down to this.....if the sales volume isn't realized.....then the businesses will go away. The upside potential that local businesses were counting on a few years ago will come to be and I'm confident of that. But, with our economy today, which among them will be able to sustain until then?