BISMARCK, ND ( KXNET ) — When you sit down at a restaurant, your only worry might be what’s good on the menu.

But for restaurant owners, it’s eat or be eaten, with about 80% of restaurants failing within their first five years, according to an Ohio State University study.

A combination of ingredients destines most restaurants to fail — from poor financial planning to limited exposure. But for one local Japanese restaurant in the capital city, Nara Ramen and Izakaya, they never imagined that a flash flood would be another hurdle they had to overcome.

“Just a disaster,” said Nara Ramen and Izakaya manager Amy Xu.

On August 13, Bismarck residents were hit with flooded roadways, with some areas receiving nearly four inches of rain in a storm that lasted less than an hour.

Businesses closed down, and while some recovered, Nara was hit hard.

“It happened in 10 minutes,” said Xu. “We could not do anything. It hit us about a couple of times.”

Opening its doors three years ago, Nara is no stranger to challenges like downtown construction and road closures.

But flooding was a different kind of difficulty, with the water causing damage to their baseboard, electrical wiring, and equipment. This caused the business to close for a week.

And even after two weeks since the storm, Nara is still doing repairs.

“It hurt,” said Xu. “It hurt a lot. We are a dining restaurant, not just a take-out restaurant.”

Like many businesses in the area, Nara doesn’t have flood insurance, so the potential for a hefty bill could be in the near future. Still, Xu, who has been in the restaurant industry for 20 years, says they’re weathering through the financial stress.

“We still want to keep business as normal,” said Xu. “And of course, keep the quality, the price, the service. Everything as usual. And then we can still continue to do our business.”

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