GOING SMOKEFREE…
WHAT BAR OWNERS ARE SAYING

Here are questions that bar owners may have about going smokefree and answers provided by other bar proprietors who have successfully taken the plunge.

GETTING STARTED: HOW DID OTHER BAR OWNERS GO SMOKEFREE?

We let everyone know we were going to have a smokefree night by putting up notices around the bar. It gave people time to vent, complain and talk. We took this time to educate our clientele as to why we did it – which was to protect the health of our staff, not to get them to quit smoking. It takes the sting out when you can start with a smokefree night. Then we had smokefree Wednesdays and no smoking after 4:00 pm. Finally we went totally smokefree.
-- Lou Moench, owner/manager, Father’s Office, Santa Monica

We started slowly. The smoking section got smaller and smaller, then the bar went completely smokefree. It was good to phase it in.
-- Harold Baum, owner, Clement Street Bar & Grill, San Francisco

We just changed our policy. Cold turkey. And everything was fine.
Sam Walker, owner, Whiskey Creek & Angels, Mammoth Mountain

WHAT HAS BEEN CUSTOMER REACTION?

When we decided to go smokefree a few people were disturbed, but the vast majority of our customers breathed a collective sigh of relief. We went smokefree to protect the health of our employees – not to stop anyone from smoking – and we’ve always made that distinction.
-- Lou Moench, owner/manager, Father’s Office, Santa Monica

Amazingly, no one complained when we went smokefree – in fact, people liked it and we get good comments from customers all the time. We found that even smokers don’t want to smoke around other people and they’re used to going outside.
-- Assad Gardizi, director of restaurants, Barley ‘N Hops Sports Bar, San Francisco

We get many more people who thank us for being smokefree than those who have complained. People appreciate the fact that it’s clean and smells good in our bar and our restaurant. So many customers say ‘Oh thank you for not allowing smoking’.
-- Jim Kopp, owner/manager, Rumpus, San Francisco

I was truly amazed at the response. Not one individual (non-smoker or smoker) thought the proposition of the Yodler being smokefree was a bad idea. In fact, the vast majority of the responses were enthusiastic and strongly supportive of such a policy. It was an overwhelming consensus from all parties polled that the enactment of such a policy would increase business, rather than harming it.
-- Jeff Byberg, beverage director Yodler Bar & Restaurant, Mammoth Mountain

HOW DO I DEAL WITH PEOPLE WHO WANT TO SMOKE?

We decided to go smokefree to protect the health of our staff, not so our customers will stop smoking. We just let smokers step outside and sweep up the butts in the morning.
-- Lou Moench, owner/manager, Father’s Office, Santa Monica

Once in a while a customer will want to smoke a cigar at the bar and we’ll have to walk outside with them to talk about why we’re smokefree while they smoke their cigar. We just let them know that it’s the law and there hasn’t been any problems.
-- Sam Walker, owner, Whiskey Creek & Angels, Mammoth Mountain

Once in a blue moon people ask to smoke. We let them know we are a non-smoking sports bar and if they want to smoke, we have an outside area close to the exit.
-- Assad Gardizi, director of restaurants, Barley ‘N Hops Sports Bar, San Francisco

Mostly the customer just wants someone to listen. We make it a positive thing by saying that it’s great, our establishment smells good, other customers aren’t bothered and they are welcome to light up outside. Often, the smokers that aren’t used to going outside are foreigners.
-- Jim Kopp, owner/manager, Rumpus, San Francisco

HOW CAN I ACCOMMODATE SMOKERS?

Our smoking area is near an exit outside. We’ve put ashtrays out there for smokers who need to go out and take the puff.
-- Assad Gardizi, director of restaurants, Barley ‘N Hops Sports Bar, San Francisco

Smokers just step outside and we sweep up in the morning. They still come to my bar or there wouldn’t be cigarette butts out there.
-- Harold Baum, owner, Clement Street Bar & Grill, San Francisco

We are located on an alley where we can have outside seating, café-style. Customers can smoke outside in the open air.
-- Jim Kopp, owner/manager, Rumpus, San Francisco

We’re on the third floor so we can’t do anything, but being a smoker myself, I always appreciate an ashtray outside.
-- Mark Mertz, manager, Café Akimbo, San Francisco

Smokers go outside on our porch. They don’t have a problem going outside but since we don’t have an area for them to go they are in our front entrance. That’s our only major problem – our customers have to walk through the smoke when coming through our front doors. It would be better if we had an area outside for them.
-- Sam Walker, owner, Whiskey Creek & Angels, Mammoth Mountain

HOW WILL GOING SMOKEFREE AFFECT MY BOTTOM LINE?

Going smokefree saved me a lot of money. The decrease in routine maintenance costs alone will increase a smokefree bar’s profit. Before smoking was banned in my bars, I had to paint a least every six months because the walls yellowed, wash the windows every three to four days because of the smoke residue, and repair where cigarette burns had marred the tables. In addition to having the carpet cleaned every couple of months to get the odor out, I also had to replace it once a year.
-- Charlie Kears, former owner/operator Charlie’s Bar & Grill, San Luis Obispo

We’ve been smokefree for more than two years and we advertise the fact that we are a smokefree sports bar. With society’s change of attitude about smoking, bar owners who are going smokefree will benefit. Bar owners won’t lose revenue because they go smokefree. And it does help with cleaning costs.
-- Assad Gardizi, director of restaurants, Barley ‘N Hops Sports Bar, San Francisco

Father’s Office allowed smoking for 39 years and has been smokefree since 1992. We remain at the very top in sales in the state of California for a beer bar of our kind. Every morning we sweep up dozens and dozens of cigarette butts from outside. This is really significant because it means that smokers are still coming to Father’s Office even though we are smokefree.
-- Lou Moench, owner/manager, Father’s Office, Santa Monica

Being smokefree has definitely helped our bottom line. Besides the fact that our customers appreciate it, our bar and restaurant smell good. And, we don’t have to do deep cleaning of draperies and carpets and there aren’t burn holes in our bar stools, linens or booths. We don’t buy ashtrays or have to worry about replacing broken ones. We don’t even have matches printed. It’s just a whole area we don’t have to spend money on.
-- Jim Kopp, owner/manager, Rumpus, San Francisco

People have stopped going to bars for reasons like alcohol awareness, drunk driving campaigns, social diseases, you name it. However, going smokefree didn’t seem to affect our profits. Of course cleaning costs are less.
-- Sam Walker, owner, Whiskey Creek & Angels, Mammoth Mountain

It doesn’t affect us. -- Mark Mertz, manager, Café Akimbo, San Francisco

Compiled for BREATH -The California Smoke-free Bar Program, a statewide project of the American Lung Association of Contra Costa-Solano. This material made possible by funds received from the Tobacco Tax Health Protection Act of 1988 - Prop 99, under Grant No. 96-2664 with the California Department of Health Services, Tobacco Control Section.