Businesses feel sting of smoking ban

"We used to get very good business from smokers in here during lunch and breakfast, but now they don't like it because it's so closed in.''
ZEIDAN ZEIDAN, Z's Deli owner, who says sales have dropped 20 percent.
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER: As the Duluth voters consider the fate of the city's smoking ordinance and amendments that would make it stronger, many businesses are warning of dire economic consequences.

But predictions about the impact smoking restrictions could ultimately have on revenues vary widely.

Since January, when Duluth enacted a less sweeping measure that required restaurants to either keep smoke from drifting into nonsmoking sections or prohibit smoking altogether, overall sales by Duluth restaurants appear to have remained fairly stable.

An analysis of restaurant sales taxes adjusted for inflation using the consumer price index suggests that for the first eight months of this year, restaurant receipts were off 0.6 percent compared to the same period last year.

Zeidan Zeidan, owner of Z's Deli in the Holiday Center, said his business has fallen off by about 20 percent since the smoking ordinance took effect.
Although he re-established a smoking section in his restaurant by enclosing it with glass and installing a new vent system, Zeidan said many of his smoking customers still have not returned.

"We used to get very good business from smokers in here during lunch and breakfast, but now they don't like it because it's so closed in,'' he said. "I think they feel isolated.''

Zeidan said that before the ordinance went into effect, the now glassed-in area of his restaurant generated about five times the revenue it does now.

His efforts to win back smoking customers could backfire on Zeidan. New language in the proposed smoking ordinance would no longer permit Zeidan to serve smoking customers even within the confines of the glassed section he spent about $10,000 to install.

A handful of other businesses, including Bellisio's Italian Restaurant, have made similar investments that would be rendered worthless in 2003 by a blanket ban on smoking in restaurants if the proposed ordinance is enacted.

Not all restaurateurs are bemoaning new smoking restrictions, however. Mark Prosen, general manager of Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar, said that even if voters reject the ordinance, he will probably continue to disallow any smoking in the dining area of his restaurant.

Up until the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Prosen said Applebee's total sales had been running well ahead of last year's pace.

Dennis Christensen, co-owner of Jim's Hamburgers, said one size doesn't fit all when it comes to smoking policies.

"How you're affected by this depends a lot on the area you're in,'' he said. "Sure, I wish there were less smokers, but the majority of people who come in here are smokers.''

In January, Christensen removed ashtrays from the tables of his Lincoln Park/West End restaurant and saw his sales slip nearly 20 percent. He applied for and received a hardship exemption from the city after documenting the decline.

The no-smoking policy had a less dramatic effect at another restaurant Christensen operates in Duluth's Central Hillside neighborhood, reducing sales there by a little more than 10 percent. Christensen said he saw the restaurant's already narrow 5 percent profit margin shrink when the new smoking rules went into effect, forcing him to borrow money to keep the business open.

Jim's Hamburgers in Central Hillside remains smoke-free, but Christensen said business there has bounced back nearly to former levels.

Christensen is most concerned about his West Duluth restaurant. If voters approve the proposed smoking ban amendments, hardship exemptions will be phased out by 2003. Losing that exemption for his Lincoln Park/West End restaurant frightens Christensen.

"I'd be right back to where I was last year,'' he said. If sales took a dive like that again, Christensen said he'd need to consider closing a restaurant that has served hungry Duluthians for more than 50 years.

As vital as Christensen considers his smoking ordinance exemption, other business owners have found the same status a mixed blessing.

Sean Flaherty, president of a company that operates four Perkins restaurants in the Northland, said that even though he had obtained a hardship exemption from the smoking ordinance for his restaurant in West Duluth, invoking it proved problematic.

With its exemption in hand, the West Duluth Perkins allowed smoking only in the evening, when a higher percentage of smokers typically visited the restaurant, but Flaherty said even that move upset a group of nonsmokers.

"The smoking policy is so divisive, and we, as restaurant operators, are stuck in the middle,'' Flaherty said. Eventually, the West Duluth Perkins went entirely smoke-free.

Nighttime traffic in the restaurant has dropped off substantially, Flaherty said, and at the end of September, he decided to shorten the West Duluth restaurant's hours so it would close at 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, staying open through the night only on Friday and Saturday.

Flaherty believes the smoking ordinance played a key role in driving down nighttime traffic at the restaurant and bringing about shorter hours.

"Duluth is not an island,'' Christensen said. "Proctor and Hermantown will be happier than hell to take our customers if we push them up over the hill.''

The proposed smoking ordinance would hit not only restaurants, but bowling alleys and pool halls, too.

"I've lost a lot of sleep over the issue,'' said Scott Carlson, manager of Country Lanes North, a Duluth Heights bowling alley located just a couple of blocks from Hermantown, a city that does not have a smoking ban.

"We've had patrons flat out tell us they'll leave if we ban smoking,'' Carlson said.

Paul Goeb, manager of Stadium Lanes Inc. in the Denfeld neighborhood, pointed out that many teams involved in bowling leagues are a mix of smokers and nonsmokers. If some bowlers decide they want to switch to an alley that allows them to smoke, Goeb said they'll undoubtedly take nonsmoking teammate friends with them.

Kenn Rockler, executive director of Bowling Proprietors of Minnesota, an organization that represents operators of bowling alleys, said he knows of no bowling facility in the state that is completely smoke-free, although a few have prohibited smoking directly on the lanes.

If smoking is banned entirely in Duluth's bowling alleys, Rockler said it will knock the city out of the running to host bowling tournaments. "There's no question about it,'' he said. "If that happens, some of the adult tournaments couldn't even think about Duluth.''

Big money is on the line, Rockler said, pointing to the Minnesota State Women's Bowling Association Tournament that's expected to bring between 16,000 and 17,000 people to Duluth in 2003.

Goeb said the city's policymakers don't fully understand the ramifications of the proposed smoking ordinance because they haven't spent enough time talking to businesses.

"The ones being impacted the most are the ones being talked to the least,'' he said.

PETER PASSI covers business. Call him at (218) 279-5526 or (800) 456-8282 or e-mail him at ppassi@duluthnews.com.

I have no pity to spare for Californian businesses. They elect their representatives, they contribute to their representatives campaigns. As long as it's "the other guy" getting shafted, they're fine. But the Democrat Party destruction will get them all in the end.

Recently, at a bar:

Concerned bar patron:"(Why don't you)Quit smoking now?"

Kahoutek:"Don't want to. I like it."

CBP:"It's for your health."

K:"You mean you don't like it. I do."

CBP:"I don't care if you like it, (You should) stop."

K:F%^& you.

CBP:"It's a dirty habit and should be banned globally."

K:See my former response.

If these nico-nazi's aren't being paid well by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, then have been easily swayed and brain washed to believe that smoking is a dirty, filthy habit. I have yet to run across anyone that smokes, who is dirty and filthy! Maybe some begger in the streets, but I won't go there.

Our hero's in NYC smoke. Are they dirty, filthy creatures? I think not.

These pissy antismokers today are true wimps. Ball-less! All the antismokers are wimp wrists. Sorry, but it's true.

That's your perspective.

I'm anti-smoking because it stinks up the air I breathe, it makes my clothes reek like an ashtray, it makes smokers teeth a funny color that I have to look at, it burns my eyes and it makes my hair stink. Smoking is disgusting. Period.

"Sorry, but it's true" yourself.

Cheers, CC :)

P.S. "Ball-less?" I think that defines many smokers. They want to quit, but don't have the ball$....

We want to quit? I think not. Believe it or not, there are adults out here who choose to smoke, and we also just want government to butt out of our lives and stop the taxation of cigarettes and stop the restrictions. We are tired of hearing "It's for the kids," and we are tired of being treated like lepers. Tobacco is still a legal commodity.

I have smoked for years. I do not have asthma, no one in my family has asthma, no one has yellow teeth.

If you don't want to be around smokers, that is your choice. We certainly do not want to be around you.

To take away the rights of the adult smokers of a legal commodity, is wrong. It's plain wrong. How do you like following in the foot steps of Hitler? Is that what you are about here?

CheneyChick. One other thing: I wonder if you would have said that if you were apart of the World Trade Center on the 11th of September? "Get that fireman out of here. He smokes! He's evil." Is that how you really feel about smokers? You should rethink your values.

"Another good reason to quit smoking. Especially if you have kids."

I have little tolerance for people who pretend to know what's best for me and my family. Furthermore, those who do not respect the RIGHTS of business owners are the SAME people who do not respect privacy and property rights in general. This is a TOTALLY UNAmerican attitude, and it is certainly NOT conservative.

A true conservative will use the forces of the market place in order to convince business owners that they should change their business practices. A conservative would NEVER cry to government, nor would they accept the idea that government has the "right" for FORCE business owners to conform to their opinion of what clientel a business should placate.

Dang, Girl, you are cranky! Must be that nicotine wearing off....

I do stay away from smoke. If you read my post again, you will see that I said "many smokers (not all) want to quit". My post was purely my opinion and my reasons for disliking smoke. I never mentioned a word about legislation. You are guilty of non-smoker profiling. You can't argue with my subjective view. You have every right to smoke, and I believe that I have every right to breathe the clean air God made. Sheesh. Who sounds like the intolerant one here??

Smoking is very gross and disgusting to me. That is my opinion and it isn't about to change. I'm sorry if that makes you feel "dirty".

Now, go outside and have a cig and calm down.

Cheers, CC :)

BUMP! and BUMP again!

Did you hear that the Canadian government had upped the taxes on cigarettes so high that a thriving black market ensued? They have actually had machine gun battles with the black marketers OVER CIGARETTES!!

I see this happening in the US in a few years, and the socialists will have as much success at stopping it as they have with the drug war. That is to say, many, many innocent people will have their lives destroyed, courtesy of the socialist movement.

Everywhere these socialists go, they spread death, destruction and mayhem. So much for the “caring” and “kind” socialists!

For one thing: I smoke right here in my own home, at my computer. I do not go anywhere where we cannot smoke. That is our choice.

As for being intolerant? I am cranky and intolerant when I have to fight for my rights to smoke. I am cranky and intolerant when I have to stand up to antismokers and let them know the truth about junk science. Yes, this makes me cranky!

I respect non smokers and their choice not to be around smokers. I do not respect antismokers telling me I can not smoke anywhere, while pulling money out of my pocket for high taxes. That makes "me" intolerant. :)

I respect your views but you don't respect ours. It is your choice to be around smokers where smoking is allowed. I seldom go to my son's house in the winter because of his rules. That is my choice! Out of respect for non-smokers, I only smoke in my computer room and have air purifiers in each room. Non-smokers wouldn't think of accomodating smokers. If you are sitting in a restaurant and someone lights up, it is your choice to leave and eat elsewhere. There are so many choices but non-smokers want it THEIR way. They are no better than the environmentalists who worry about sucker fish. (Cooking liver stinks but I love liver and onions so I eat them). Do you?

JRadcliffe! Maine upped the taxes on cigarettes the 1st of October, making the price at $4-$5.00 a pack. Smokers that live in Southern Maine can go across the border to NH to buy cheaper cigarettes.

We also have an Indian Reservation down in southern Maine where they buy cigarettes tax free. For those of us to far from these wonderful places, we have converted to rolling our own. From $50 dollars for 10 packs, I now have a carton for under $8.00. It's a wonderful alternative, believe me.

If you're ever traveling South, stop in one of the MANY places in Virginia and North Carolina where you can get cigarettes a whole lot cheaper. Make plenty of room in your trunk. Your state will probably say this is illegal -- but SCREW 'EM!

(Cooking liver stinks but I love liver and onions so I eat them). Do you?

No. That stinks, too. My mother discovered my visceral reaction to liver & onions when I ran away from home at the age of 9 for about 17 minutes. I guess I just have an overly sensitive nose.

"There are so many choices but non-smokers want it THEIR way. They are no better than the environmentalists who worry about sucker fish."

BUMP!

I wonder how these non-smokers can smell smoke on others when they can't seem to smell their own perfume that permeates the air with such a stench that others can taste it. Try eating when someone is over-dosed in cologne or perfume (men included). Geesh, I'd rather smell the oder of someone who has spent a hard day in a steel foundary.

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