Neff Zone Column

Print Edition: September 9, 2006

SPECULATING ON A SMOKING BAN

I’ve been following the recent stories and (online) letters in the Cadillac News about the possibility of banning smoking in the state’s restaurants and bars. Most interesting to me is all the speculation about how such a ban would affect the businesses covered by the edict. "Speculation" is the key word because most of what I’ve read is just pure conjecture not based on anything other than personal opinions.

I’m not going to get into a discussion about second hand smoke, personal freedom, or the right of a business owner to set policies for his/her establishment. On the other hand, I do have first hand knowledge of how a smoking ban affects the business in a typical bar and grill.

My daughter, Amy, and her boyfriend, Rich Rau, live in Olympia, Washington, the capitol of that state and a city about the size of Ann Arbor. Combined, they have a total of sixteen years of experience as bartenders and ten years at one bar and grill, Charlie’s in downtown Olympia.

Charlie’s Bar and Grill is a pretty commonplace small establishment, much like several spots in the Cadillac area. The clientele is a mix of college students, business people, state workers, and blue collar laborers. Several television screens around the bar are dedicated to sports coverage, there’s a pool table and some video games, and the bill of fare is typical bar food, with the possible exception of the massive Charlie Burger and George’s (the cook) clam chowder.

Washington has had a smoking ban for restaurants for quite a while, but last November voters in the state added bars and lounges to the ban. Prior to the ban, the regulars at Charlie’s, just like the people interviewed for articles in the Cadillac News, predicted a drop off in business. That was a pretty easy assumption because, let me tell you first hand, after a night at Charlie’s you felt like a Virginia ham that had spent five hours hanging in a smoke house. The Marlboro Man would have felt right at home.

Well, cigar breath, the assumptions proved to be wrong and ten months later it turns out business is better than ever. "We lost a few regulars for a few weeks after the ban started," says Amy, "but most eventually came back. Plus, we gained a whole lot of new customers who had never come in before because it was too smokey. My friends who work in other bars tell me the same thing has happened at their places."

"People come to Charlie’s to watch the games and shoot the breeze with their friends," adds Rich. "The ban on smoking hasn’t changed that."

There has been another big benefit as a result of the smoking ban that has been noticed by the employees at Charlie’s – a more pleasant place to work. Even Amy, who is a smoker, much to her father’s consternation, admits it’s better now than when smoking was permitted. "On nights when we had a packed house for a big game I’d come home feeling sick and with my clothes reeking of smoke. That doesn’t happen now and I can’t imagine going back to the way it was before," she told me.

Rich has noticed a change in the working environment, too. "Just keeping the place clean was a pain before," he says. "There was always a film on everything – the tables, the windows, the bar. Years of nicotine and tar build-up discolored the walls and had given them a grungy hue. The furniture, floors, and carpeting, all had noticeable black scorch marks left by countless neglected cigarettes over the years. Then there was the odor, the dank, musty smell. All of these things added up to a significant amount of time and money that our owners had to put into the business for maintenance and cleaning. We recently had the interior repainted and redone and now it’s staying nice and clean."

Now, I don’t pretend to have all the answers on this issue and I believe that any decision about a proposed ban (yea or nay) should be up to Michigan voters and not some committee of legislators. This first-hand instance, however, has shown me that the assumption that a smoking ban will result in a collapse of business for bars and restaurants might not necessarily be the case.

Jim Neff is a local columnist. Comments to neffzone@gmail.com. Read Neff Zone columns online at www.neffzone.com/cadillacnews.