- Michael LeBoeuf
Posted on 11/06/2003 7:28:30 AM PST by SheLion
|
| Every company's greatest assets are its customers, because without customers there is no company. - Michael LeBoeuf |
Businesses Harmed by Smoking Bans
Anti-smoking organizations insist that bans are somehow good for people in hospitality businesses. This chart shows otherwise. These businesses have lost a significant portion of their business as a direct result of smoking bans. Many are closed. Many that are still open have told us they doubt they'll survive much longer.
Most of this information comes directly from businesses that have contacted me or my colleagues. Some comes from newspaper articles. Blank spaces in the chart represent data that is unavailable, or that doesn't apply. (For instance, a distributor doesn't receive tips, and many owner-operators of small taverns don't have any employees other than themselves and family members.)
Business Type Of
BusinessClosed? Business
LostTips
LostJobs
LostCity State
Crocodile Cafe Restaurant Closed 100% 100% Tempe AZ Pooch's Easy Street Billiards Pool Hall Closed 100% 100% Tempe AZ Laurel Bowl Bowling Alley Closed 100% 100% San Luis Obispo CA 385 league bowlers quit when the smoking ban went into effect, with a loss of $200,000. Laurel Bowl had been in business for 37 years before the ban. Alexander Mackenzie Inn Hotel Not Yet 92% 16 Fort St. John CAN "Since we were `beaten' into compliance by the WCB, our business has dropped in the lounge from $1,000 a day to $80. " Beacon Hill Arms Tavern Closed 100% 100% Ottawa CAN Dave O'Connor, who successfully ran Ottawa's Beacon Hill Arms pub for nine years, said the ban forced him out of business. "From September to February, we lost close to $80,000 in sales" Bud's Place Tavern Not Yet 23% Cambrage CAN Gardeli's Bar/Restaurant Closed 100% 100% Castlegar CAN Hemingway's Bar/Restaraunt Not Yet 40% 6 Ottawa CAN MacKenzie Lounge Tavern Not Yet 80% Yellowknife CAN Mingles Coffee Shoppe Coffee Shop Closed 100% 100% Kitchener CAN Rupert Pub Tavern Closed 100% 100% Prince Rupert CAN Sky Garden Restaurant Closed 100% 100% 6 Ottawa CAN "It was 100% because of the bylaw. Sales dropped 50%. Our cups of coffee were down 400 to 500 a day, our meals 20 to 30 a day." The Patch Tavern Not Yet 70% St. Albert CAN Tubbys Pizza Pizza Parlor Not Yet 20% 2 Crescentwood CAN Back Stage Cafe Bar/Restaurant Closed 100% 100% 20 Wilmington DE Coach House Bar/Restaurant Closed 100% 100% 8 Wilmington DE Just Mugs Saloon Tavern Not Yet 33% Bear DE Naamans Cafe Restaurant Closed 100% 100% 8 Wilmington DE Elks #1795 Lodge (Private Club) Not Yet 40% 22% Fort Walton FL "Charity money is down 45%. Our Charities are Kids of Florida and the Veterans. That is who is really getting hurt the most by this!" Elks #2256 Lodge (Private Club) Not Yet 20% 30% Pensacola Beach FL "We've lost 70 members because of the ban" Elks #2273 Lodge (Private Club) Not Yet 60% 60% 1 Plantation FL Melons Bar & Grill Bar/Restruant Not Yet 50% Port Charlotte FL The Falls Restaurant Closed 100% 100% Naples FL "We lost 70 percent of our income," Renzello said. "The law put us out of business." 90 percent of her customers were smokers. Bart's Bar/Restaurant Closed 100% 100% Louisville CO Bart's had been in operation for nearly 30 years. Gold Mine Restaraunt Bar/Restaraunt Not Yet 50% 50% 2 Fall River MA "There should be places for both the smoker and nonsmoker. I do not smoke but you are killing our business!!! " Buffalo Wings and Beer Bar/Restruant Not Yet 50% Gaithersburg MD Gentleman Jim's Restaurant Not Yet 40% Gaithersburg MD J.J. Muldoon's Bar/Restaurant Not Yet 20% Gaithersburg MD Middlebrook Restaurant and Lounge Bar/Restaurant Not Yet 50% Germantown MD "I'm so bitter today because I have worked too hard to keep this business going. It's just not fair." Pelican Pete's Restaurant Not Yet 60% Germantown MD Tommy Joe's Restaurant Restruant Not Yet 30% Bethesda MD Nutshell Tavern Tavern Closed 100% 100% Biddeford ME Village Variety Closed 100% Fryeburg ME Grandma's Restaraunt Not Yet 33% Cloquet MN Perkins Restaraunt Not Yet 26% Duluth MN Aessa Bar/Restaurant Not Yet 35% 6 New York NY Argyle's EasyStreet Tavern Tavern Not Yet 12% Cortland NY Athens Cafe Restaurant Not Yet 55% 10 Astoria NY Blessed Sacrament Church Bingo Not Yet 50% Albany NY Brazen Head Pub Tavern Not Yet 40% Monroe NY Brown Shanty Tavern Not Yet 20% 1 Watertown NY Champions Billiards Cafe Brew Pub/Pool Hall Not Yet 33% Parkville NY Chili American Legion Post 1830 Private Club Not Yet 70% Scottsville NY Coleman's Irish Pub Bar/Restaurant Not Yet 19% 4 Syracuse NY Crossroads Steak House Restaurant Closed 100% 100% Kennedy NY Delmar Sportsman's Tavern Tavern Not Yet 30% 1 Massena NY "We had hoped...nonsmokers who haven't been frequenting taverns due to the smoke-filled air would make up for at least some of the financial loss. Unfortunately, at least in our place, this has most definitely not happened. Our sales are at an all time low" Desperado's Tavern Not Yet 90% Wallkill NY "I can count on my fingers the people who don't smoke who come in here. The regulars say they won't come." Dodesters Tavern Not Yet 9% Syracuse NY Eagle Beverage Company Distributor Not Yet 25% N/A Oswego NY "Deliveries to pubs and taverns have decreased substantially, greater than 25 percent." Edigan's Restaurant Closed 100% 100% Binghamton NY End Zone Bar/Restaurant Not Yet 30% 1 Liverpool NY Euzkadi Restaurant Not Yet 50% New York NY Fiddler's Green Tavern Closed 100% 100% New York NY We have just lost too many customers to this law, which I did not vote for, bar owners did not vote for, bartenders did not vote for, and the public did not vote for." Finish Line Bar/Restaurant Not Yet 40% 2 Bellerose NY Fountain Bowl Bowling Alley Not Yet 40% N/A 8 Jamestown NY Golden Rail Ale House Tavern Not Yet 75% Newburgh NY Harry's Hanover Square Bar/Restaraunt Closed 100% 100 New York NY "Overnight, we lost 60 percent of our evening bar trade. For the bar, it was the difference in profit and loss. Sales of expensive cigars had been almost as important as the sales of Scotch" Harry's had been in business for more than thirty years Holmes & Watson's Tavern Not Yet 30% Troy NY Hotel McDonald Hotel Not Yet 70% Bath NY Just One More Tavern Not Yet 30% Bath NY Liberty Lanes Bowling Not Yet 27% Camden NY Mama Lena's Restaurant Closed 100% 100% Binghamton NY Mama Lena's had been in business for more than 40 years. Mel's Place Tavern Not Yet 78% 100% Falconer NY "When we bought this place, we throught we were buying our American Dream. We ran it successfully for 10 years. Now the government is stripping us from making a living. " Middleport Inn Bar/Restaurant Closed 100% 100% 13 Middleport NY "This damn state really knows how to kill people's dreams." Millennium Restaurant Not Yet 40% 3 New York NY Nibsy's Pub Bar/Restaurant Not Yet 18% Syracuse NY Rafferty's Bar/Restaurant Not Yet 35% 2 Syracuse NY Richard's Ole Timer Bar/Restaurant Not Yet 17% 1 Clay NY Roesch's Tavern Tavern Closed 100% 100% 5 New York NY This had been a family business for more than a century Salingers Tavern Not Yet 35% 2 Rochester NY Sevens Bar Tavern Not Yet 10% Malone NY Shamrock Tavern Tavern Not Yet 50% Oswego NY "It's not right. Our livelihood is being taken away." Slade Restaurant Not Yet 40% New York NY Slick Willie's Billiard Hall Not Yet 25% Tonawanda NY Stumble Inn Tavern Closed 100% 100% Champlain NY Taylor's Trackside Bar/Restaurant Not Yet 50% Remsen NY Temple Israel Bingo Not Yet 50% Albany NY According to Herb Holland, some of the regulars told volunteers that they would abstain from playing bingo, to protest the smoking ban. He hasn't seen them since. The Lilly Pad Tavern Closed 100% 100% Falconer NY The Lodge at the Lake Inc Bar/Restaurant Not Yet 50% 1 Broadalbin NY The Loft Tavern Not Yet 30% Frewsburg NY "Our town has no attractions to draw in outsiders. We have only locals to rely on as patrons and 95% of them smoke. It will be worse when the snow sets in." The Roadhouse Tavern Not Yet 40% Brewster NY Thompson Road Tavern Bar/Restaurant Not Yet 25% Syracuse NY Village Tavern Bar/Restaurant Not Yet 10% Marcellus NY Bliss' Steak Ranch Restaurant Closed 100% 100% Eugene OR Closed after 32 years in business Doc's Pad Tavern Closed 100% 100% 24 Eugene OR "Let's face it, the economy is horrible. But for us specifically, the smoking ban was the knockout punch." The Olsen family had owned Doc's for 16 years. Max's Tavern Tavern Closed 100% 100% Eugene OR The Peacock Tavern Not Yet 40% Corvallis OR Connor owned the Peacock for years - and says it was the ban that caused him to sell the bar. He says business gross fell from $1.5 million in 1997, the year before the ban went into effect, to $900,000 last year. China One Restaurant Closed 100% 100 Round Rock TX
CAN=Canada
If your business has been harmed by a smoking ban, or if you know of one that has been, please let us know. If possible, have the owner contact us. Newspaper articles are also welcome. Please include the URL. .
Click here to contact us.
Last Update: Saturday, November 01, 2003
There is a history behind the all or nothing position. The proponents of these bans insist on no compromise at all. they rely on lies and deceit, back door wheeling and dealing and out right back stabbing.
I don't like having an all or nothing attitude but that is exactly what has been forced upon these business owners by the antis and their bought and paid for politicians on both sides of the aisle.
I've been dealing with these things since at least 1988 and although I have seen a lot - I know I haven't seen it all when it comes to the lows to which the antis will stoop to force their will on everyone else.
Since only about 25% of the population smokes, if there was such a high demand for non-smoking don't you think smart busines people would go that way???? One sports bar/restaurant I know of in Dover lost about 50% of it's regular happy hour clientele BEFORE the ban went into effect, after the manager was quoted in the paper stating the ban wouldn't hurt his business because his customers didn't come in there to smoke. He had never polled any of his regular customers about it. over the courseof a couple of weeks I paid attention to how many people were sitting at the bar (not in the bar too difficult) Of the 25 people that could comfortably sit at the bar the average was a steady 80% smokers.
IIRC, restaurant owners in Pueblo Colorado did just that to the members of the city Council who were supporting a ban. Apparently it worked!!!
Butt bump for all victims of governmental meddling.
Not that they need another one.
Alas! I have to run ERRANDS again! Damn! But I WILL catch up in a few hours. Bare with me and save my SEAT in here!!!!
You are correct.
And their lies keep getting bigger and bigger.
During the debating of the smoking ban in Delaware one of the more well known antis, Joe cherner, had a letter printed in one of the local papers and claimed his location to be Wilmington, DE. All well and good, but he's a New York City resident who fled the city with his lover and family and have been residing in FRANCE since shortly after 9/11/01. But no one at the paper called him on it nor would the paper print any of the numerous letters they received correcting that little tidbit.
Another prominent anti, stanton Glantz, had a very long opinion piece prominently printed in that same paper on the front page of a Sunday opinion section. In it he claimed that a person putting out anti-ban brochures and bumper stickers was a former tobacco lobbyist. That came as a bit of a shock to the person putting out the info - he owns a printing company and was doing it on his own time and his only ties to the tobacco industry was that he was a smoker. His letter of correction to the newspaper was heavily editted and inserted in the paper on a tuesday or a Thursday.
These people are evil and their deceptiveness and out right lies need to be exposed for what they are.
Here's a story I found this morning I'm sure you will appreciate:
I heard the host of a local (Boston) Saturday a.m. talk show say that the reason MA Senate President Travaglini is pushing for a statewide smoking ban is that he's getting it from constituents in his district who own restaurants (district includes North End - Italian, lots of eateries) that they're losing business because of the Boston ban. They're using the "level playing field" ploy -- d'uh, wasn't it already a level playing field before Boston introduced its ban?
Governor Romney (R) has said he prefers local option and won't say what he'll do when the bill gets to him, but he doesn't always show any backbone.
Good. That's the way it should be. Or, would you rather have Uncle Sammy get involved and make all these little decisions for you? That seems to be what most anti-smokers want.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.