Published: July 08, 2006 10:46 pm            

Some restaurants plan to go smoke free

Vigo County businesses are putting plans into motion with less than a year left to comply with the public and workplace clean indoor air ordinance.

Effective July 1, 2007, people cannot smoke in most public places.

Existing restaurants which permit smoking must have a separate smoking room enclosed by floor-to-ceiling walls and closeable doors. Any restaurant built after the adoption of the ordinance must comply in this way and include a separate ventilation system.

While the ordinance is designed to protect the nonsmoker, some feel it may be hindering the rights of others.

“I am for my consumers to have freedom of choice and, little by little, those freedoms of choice are being taken away from them,” said Outback Steakhouse owner Joe Burch.

Burch says the restaurant will go smoke-free the day the ordinance goes into effect to avoid costs from making a smoking room.

“People are going to spend all kinds of money when the government could come in and make it smoke-free,” he said.

Other business owners echo Burch’s feelings.

Jay Bennett, managing partner of Cheeseburger in Paradise, will allow smoking in the bar area until the ordinance takes effect, he said.

Bowlers at Imperial Lanes will have to go to the bar to smoke, said general manager Phil Cooper.

He doesn’t anticipate that being a problem, because the lanes aren’t far from the bar.

“My main concern isn’t with league bowling but with open bowling,” he said. “People may opt not to come, because there’s no smoking.”

On the other hand, Cooper said it may be good for business.

“I’ve lost customers over the years because of the smoking environment, and there’s potential to get them back,” he said. “Now, whether that would offset an angry smoker, time will tell.”

It’s for this reason that some businesses plan to spend the money to retain smoking customers.

Stables Steak House owner Gary Richards is still working out the details for the separate smoking room.

“It shouldn’t be too bad, because the structure is already there,” he said.

Only 10 to 15 percent of people who go to Stables smoke, general manager Zach Hosselton said. Smokers often spend more money, because they stay longer.

With little need for modification to the current layout, M. Mogger’s Eatery & Pub general manager Randy Richards said Mogger’s will continue to allow smoking.

“Mogger’s is kind of set up to handle it without too much of a problem since we already have separate ventilation systems, and I’d only have to put in a couple of doors,” he said.

Director of operations Michael Richards anticipates spending between $5,000 and $10,000 to make modifications to Boston’s The Gourmet Pizza to allow smoking in the building, he said.

The bar will be completely glassed in, while the entire dining room will be smoke-free. There already are separate ventilation systems in place, he said.

Other business owners are still crunching numbers before they make any decisions.

Saratoga Restaurant owner George Azar said it will depend on the cost before he commits to allowing smoking or not. He also wants to check with the Board of Health to make sure his plans are “done right the first time,” he said.

While he said only a small percentage of his customers are smokers, “they’ve been customers for many years, and we want to be able to give them the option if we can.”

So far, the only difference will probably be a door, Azar said.

Jackie Williams, general manager at Denny’s on Third Street, said she gave all the information to the owners, but hasn’t heard what they plan to do yet.

If they do decide to go smoke-free, it will be Denny’s second time doing so.

Williams said the restaurant went smoke-free for a year on Saturdays and Sundays from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. in 2005, but with almost 60-percent smoking customers, there was a decline in business.

“Table turnover was great,” she said. “I didn’t start seeing a decline in business until about four months later.”

She estimated a loss of at least $10,000 for the year.

Smokers plan to make the best of the situation.

Cheryl King of Dugger said if she likes a restaurant enough, then she’ll eat there even if she can’t smoke.

“It’s aggravating, but we do,” said King, a smoker for 30 years.

Kim Gulledge of Terre Haute also said it depends on the restaurant, but she said she feels like smokers have been targeted since people used to be able to smoke everywhere.

She said she will work through it somehow.

“One way or the other, it’s not going to affect me,” said Gulledge, a smoker for 15 years.

Civic organizations, service clubs, fraternal or patriotic organizations or private membership organizations are exempt. Bars also are exempt until 2012.

Businesses that sell primarily tobacco products soon will be exempt under an amendment, according to Vigo County Commissioner Bill Bryan.

This relieved Wabash Cigar Store owner Betty Sonafrank.

“If a person comes in to buy a pound of tobacco, they’re gonna have to sample it,” she said.

Like Gulledge, Sonafrank remembers a time when people could walk into a store and smoke, but knows that times change.

“I don’t think it’s going to do anything,” Sonafrank said. “People are going to smoke. They might just have to do it in their own homes.”

Tribune-Star reporter Laura Followell contributed to this story.

Crystal Garcia can be reached at (812) 231-4271 or crystal.garcia@tribstar.com.

        

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