Replies

restaurant and bar owners have and will keep fighting this. altho the vast majority of owners (at least in the lansing area) are non-smokers, they know that a significant portion of their clientelle are smokers, or are people that will tolerate smoke, and they will not risk this business.

Exactly! And the states that are late in trying the smoking bans are learning a good lesson about what happened to businesses in Maine and California and New York that have forced smoking bans. It's not a pretty picture.

Even if only 25-30% of your patrons smoke, and you lose 25-30% of your revenue with a smoking ban, that loss has GOT to hurt.

And people do not realize the trickle down effect: if a business cuts back or closes, the vendors that supply that business also suffer. The smoking bans are a no-win situation. The businesses with the big smoke eaters and smoking and non-smoking sections have always been the way to go.

Even if only 25-30% of your patrons smoke, and you lose 25-30% of your revenue with a smoking ban, that loss has GOT to hurt.

which is why i get afraid when i see so many chain restaurants coming in. we have a strip in west lansing that's chain heaven (at least 10 in less than a mile) and the mom and pop shops are starting to disappear. chains can handle the losses that family owned can't. if too many small restaurants go under, there will be no one left to fight, as chains don't tend to care- the loss of business will only be staggering for a few months, then it will trickle back, people will eventually go back to eating out.