troubled. Some of this comes about because of problems in the industry itself where it has been clear for some time that there are more eating places than the population can reasonably support. There seem to be too many similar restaurants when some variety might attract more customers. Then too there are a fair number providing very similar fare at quite high prices. Too often the quality of the food and the standard of service do not satisfy today's visitor in terms of value for money.

Our visitors are used to the price structures in restaurants in the United States and find Bermuda's restaurants priced for "special occasions'' rather than at a price which they view as simply "eating out''. In that sense Bermuda's restaurants compete with US restaurants which are often quite reasonable.

The number of failures in recent months are a cause for concern. These closings have not been confined to the higher priced market but seem to spread across the board from small places in the Washington Mall to Romanoff's to the largely vegetarian Seasons In The Sun to the efforts by Four Star Pizza to operate on Queen Street. Romanoff's is gone as is Once Upon A Table. The long-established Bermudian institution, The Plantation Club, has closed and so has the Margaret Rose at the St. George Club. Some may reopen as restaurants if there are brave people out there willing to take the chance.

Some have simply been too large and too ambitious for the available market.

Many of the ideas which operate well overseas require a large volume of customers and Bermuda cannot provide that.

But not all of the failures are due to poor business practices and not all are due to too much competition. Some of it is due to the high cost of running any business in Bermuda. Today it is very difficult to start a business and watch it grow because you have to have deep pockets to get going.

The problem for Bermuda is that the visitor industry is enhanced by providing a variety for people who want to eat outside the hotels. Many visitors also stay in guest houses without dining rooms and do not always want an expensive dinner. Bermudians too are keen to dine around. That does not mean that either is always happy with what is offered or with the price for value.

One possible solution might be for the Restaurants Division of the Chamber of Commerce to steer people who want to open restaurants into a greater variety of fare. It might also be possible to suggest that Bermuda needs more middle priced places serving the people who just want to "eat out''.

Right now it seems as if any successful idea is immediately copied by someone else, leaving both places without sufficient customers.