Restaurant Related News

Eateries Weigh Smoking Ban

By: Susan Salisbury
Source: Palm Beach Post
Published: November 7, 2002

Glenn Goodwin wants the world to know that the Patriot Pub and Grill is "still smokin,' " and said so Wednesday on a roadside chalkboard.

"This is the best thing that ever happened to me," Goodwin said a day after 70 percent of Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment that bans smoking in all enclosed indoor workplaces, including restaurants.

Goodwin contends his place in Jensen Beach is exempt because it's primarily a bar. Free-standing bars where the serving of food is incidental to the consumption of alcoholic beverages are exempt, along with retail tobacco shops, smoking rooms in hotels and motels, and private homes not used for commercial health care or child care.

"If my place is too smoky for you, patronize some other place," said Goodwin, who believes the amendment he characterizes as "Big Brother" will hurt the larger sports bars that are licensed as restaurants and drive business his way.
 
All restaurant and bar owners didn't share Goodwin's optimism Wednesday, as many tried to assess exactly what the change will mean for their businesses.

The details, including enforcement and penalties, still have to be spelled out by the legislature, said April Herrle, spokeswoman for Orlando-based Smoke-Free for Health, part of a coalition of more than 130 groups that fought for the initiative designed to protect people from secondhand smoke.

The amendment officially becomes part of the state constitution Jan. 7. The legislature must enact a law to enforce compliance effective no later than July 1.

In Delray Beach, Blue Anchor British Pub owner Lee Harrison said he's waiting to see what the legislature does, and wondered whether the Blue Anchor will be able to allow smoking indoors if its kitchen closes at 10:30 p.m., for example. He plans to add awnings and tables outside to provide a comfortable spot for smokers.

"It will certainly hurt business," Harrison said. "People come into pubs and bars to drink and smoke and converse. Smoking is a major element."

Dean Lavellee, owner of seven Park Ave. Barbecue restaurants in Palm Beach County and the already non-smoking Cafe Sole in Jupiter, said outdoor seating will be added wherever possible to accommodate smokers.

On the plus side, seating people will be easier because restaurants will no longer have to ask: "Smoking or non-smoking?" Lavellee said. Some sales could be gained from people who will dine out now that restaurants will be free of smoke.

He, too, said it's unclear where the line will be drawn between what's a restaurant and what's a bar, and some sales could be lost to bar-only establishments.

Kipper Greist, proprietor of the Outback Steakhouse in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County president of the Florida Restaurant Association, said he does not foresee a legal challenge to the amendment.

"It's not going to happen," Greist said. "You have more non-smoking diners than smoking diners. We knew when it went on the ballot it was a losing situation for us."

In California, where a smoking ban took effect in 1996, the restaurant industry's business has continued to grow at the rate of 3 percent a year. The growth is believed to be partially due to more families with children dining out, said Mark Martin, a spokesman for the California Restaurant Association.

Susan Terry, a bartender at Socal's Tavern in Sacramento, Calif., said business initially declined slightly until Socal's spent $13,000 to add a smoking porch with a tarp that goes up when it rains.

"It actually works pretty well. The majority of people enjoy the fact they don't walk out of a bar smelling like smoke," Terry said.

Still, at Coasters Restaurant & Sports Bar in West Palm Beach, bartender Holly Homsey wondered, "How can you watch a four-hour football game and not light up? They've stepped on our constitutional toes as smokers."