On Restaurants and Theaters

I was at a wonderful, new local restaurant today. It opened several months ago, and it was our first visit. The food was excellent, the atmosphere understated and comfortably classy. There was a nice bar with about eight chairs and fewer than ten tables, each of which sat four people. The restaurant is open five days a week for lunch and dinner. The staff seemed to be the two owners–maybe there was another staff person during another shift, I don’t know. About five of the tables were full, including ours.

So here’s my question: how does a business of this scale make enough money to allow the owners (and additional staff person?) to make a living? And if they can do it, what can theater people learn?