back to news Michigan eateries snuff out smoking before ban But not all owners are convinced it´s a good business move BY ROBIN ERB FREE PRESS MEDICAL WRITER April 1, 2010 Michigan's smoking ban might seem unfair to smokers or another blow to a wobbling restaurant industry. But others see an opportunity to do what they've wanted to do for years: toss out their ashtrays. More than 150 Michigan eateries have opted to go smoke-free since Dec. 10, when the Legislature voted for the ban. Some had wanted to do it for years, but feared losing customers to other restaurants. The looming May 1 ban snuffs out any chance of that. Light up in any restaurant or bar and most workplaces, and you can be fined $100 for the first offense, and up to $500 for repeated violations. All 23 National Coney Island sites in metro Detroit went smoke-free in January. Though customer response was overwhelmingly positive to a test ban last year, Tom Giftos, president and CEO of the chain his father started in 1965, said the economy had him worried. "Nobody wants to turn away business in any shape or form these days," he said. The state ban "gave us a bit of justification." Vitale's Italian eatery in Grosse Ile went smoke-free Jan. 1, said Maria Vitale-Cusumano, one of the owners. "They complained a bit, sure," she said, referring to her few smoking customers, "but it has been nothing major." Pulling ashtrays The savor of sausage and hash browns mingled with Ryan Moore's Marlboro last week in the smoking section at Ferndale's Hambo Restaurant. It was midmorning, the coffee was fresh, and the 31-year-old bartender chuckled about his 1 1/2 -pack-a-day appetite: "I came out of the womb with a pack of Marlboro Reds." Yet with a statewide smoking ban a month away, an increasing number of restaurants have pulled their ashtrays already -- comforted that smokers like Moore soon will have nowhere else to go. Luigi's in Harrison Township went smoke-free Jan. 1, knowing the ban was around the corner. A third-generation restaurateur, owner Dean Olgiati remembers the days when restaurants were a smoky haze from waitresses who left smoldering cigarettes in the kitchen and customers whose burning butts singed tablecloths. The ban nudged him to do what he'd considered for years -- go smoke-free. "It gave me the ability to do it without a tremendous amount of backlash," Olgiati said. And now? "You can smell the food, everything smells clean," he said, adding: "Instead of walking up to the bar and smelling cigarettes, now you smell Windex." At least 150 eateries around the state have gone smoke-free since Dec. 10, the day that the Legislature passed the ban, according to Michigan Citizens for SmokeFree Air. A spokesman for the Michigan Restaurant Association, which opposed the statewide ban, said restaurants have slowly been making that transition for years anyway. But SmokeFree Air's Marx Cooper, who has maintained a database on smoke-free restaurants, said the ban gives bar and restaurant owners assurance that instituting a no-smoking policy won't drive customers elsewhere. There simply will be nowhere else for them to go, he said. The ban, which takes effect May 1, will make it illegal to light up in bars, restaurants and workplaces that employ more than one person. There are a few exceptions, including the gaming floors of Detroit's three casinos. That means smokers will have to snuff out before walking into almost any business. Even outdoor patios at restaurants are covered by the ban. Light up in these places, and you can be fined $100 for the first offense, and up to $500 for repeated violations. Several restaurant owners who have gone smoke-free say the response -- even from smokers -- has been positive. "It seems like every year we'd see fewer smokers," said Nick Piunti, owner of Trenton's longtime, family-owned Sibley Gardens. He may have lost a few customers, he said, but "95% have been thrilled." 'I can't risk it' Still, not everyone is convinced. Hambo owners Josephine and Viktor Krasnici, both smokers themselves, will keep the ashtrays out until closing time April 30 -- afraid a no-smoking sign will drive customers to smoker-friendly restaurants before May 1. Josephine Krasnici tossed her head in the directions of a downtown full of such eateries: "Some of my best customers are smokers, and they've already told me they'll leave. I can't risk it." But nearby, Moore, the customer with a Marlboro, and his friend 34-year-old Eric Brown, also smoking this day, said they're looking forward to the ban. Both work in a nearby restaurant, and they said the ban will make places like those less hazy and more inviting for everyone, even smokers. Brown grinned, taking another drag on his cigarette: "Oh, I like smoking, myself," he said, "I just don't like it when other people do." In Grosse Ile, a sign outside Vitale's Italian eatery boasts fish specials and that it's now smoke-free. Sharing a plate of mostaccioli inside, residents Fred Maluchnik and his wife, Vivian, said they couldn't be more thrilled. "People might be stubborn at first; they always are," Fred Maluchnik said. "But like everything, they'll get used to it." 'They won't stop eating' The bottom line might be an even bigger concern for bar and restaurant owners whose customers link drinking and eating with a smoke or two. "It goes hand in hand. You're out socializing, you relax, and you have a couple of Bloody Marys and a cigarette," said David Campbell, 48, of Detroit. Not only does the law tromp on personal choice, it's going to have many people thinking twice before going out, he said. In Dearborn, many eateries and night clubs offer hookahs -- an often-elaborate smoking pipe in which the smoke is drawn through cool water. It's common because Middle Eastern tradition intertwines the hookah and food. Under the new law, those establishments must choose to be one or the other -- a restaurant or a tobacco specialty retail store, which can apply for an exemption from the ban and be completely, physically separated from a place that serves food. Hookah sales, which run $9-$15, are the lifeblood of many of those businesses, longtime restaurateur Houssam Aoude said. "When this ban is enforced, they will hang on for a month or so, and they will close down," he said. For his part, Aoude abandoned recent plans to open a coffee and hookah bar, opting instead for a burger place he plans to open next month. His reasoning was the ban and because "people will stop smoking, but they won't stop eating." back to news Sponsored by the Macomb County Tobacco Prevention Coalition, Macomb County Health Department. 586.469.5373. Disclaimer