Owners concerned about ban
Addison's will become a smoke-free environment before 10 p.m. starting Feb. 1.
Published Jan. 27, 2006
Outside Hamid's Café in downtown Columbia, customers often sit outside and smoke. Such scenes might become more common if the Columbia Board of Health approves a rule change that would outlaw smoking inside bars, restaurants and other public gathering places in the city.
Managers at Steak 'n Shake, which has been smoke-free since Jan. 20, and Addison's, which will become a smoke-free environment before 10 p.m. starting Feb. 1, said their smoking tables were not being utilized. Addison's manager Adam Dushoff said the tables were better used to serve non-smoking customers.
"It was a decision we made to better serve our customers," Dushoff said.
Dushoff said the restaurant originally reduced the number of smoking tables from eight to three, and those three tables were not used until around 4:30 p.m.
Steak 'n Shake manager Heidi Parks said regular customers complained the most about the new smoking policy, however the complaints of non-smokers far outweighed the complaints of the smoking customers.
The Columbia Board of Health will vote on Feb. 14 to decide whether to send the smoking ban to the City Council. Sixth Ward Councilman Brian Ash said the City Council then would have to decide whether to vote on the ordinance change or send the issue to voters in the form of a referendum.
Columbia restaurant and bar owners had varying reactions to a smoking ban.
Jeremy Brown, manager of the Cherry Street Artisan, said when the smoke-free café opened in Columbia, there were not many non-smoking establishments nearby.
"It was something that made us unique," he said.
Brown also said the Artisan's non-smoking policy has not had a negative effect on business.
Heidelberg general manager Rusty Walls said he is not too concerned about the economic effects of a smoking ban.
"As long as it's banned everywhere in the city, I'm not worried about it," Walls said.
Jason Depauw, manager at the AMF Town & Country Lanes, said he thought the ban would hurt his business. He estimated 80 percent of the bowling center's patrons smoke.
A smoking ban probably would hurt the night shift at The IHOP as well, manager Bobbi Cross said. Cross said IHOP already is a non-smoking restaurant on the weekends and most customers do not seem to mind.
Dean Andersen, the co-chairman of the Boone County Coalition for Tobacco Concerns, supports the proposed ban. He said if the changes are approved, there would be numerous benefits for the city.
"There is no safe exposure to second-hand smoke," Andersen said. "A smoke-free workplace ordinance would protect workers in Columbia establishments from exposure to second-hand smoke."
Chris Flood, the manager of the Campus Bar and Grille said the principle of the ban upset him more than the potential consequences it might have on his business.
"As an American, I have the right to run my business as I see fit," Flood said.
The city of Ballwin, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis, passed a smoking ban that went into effect in most bars and restaurants on Jan. 2. Ballwin Mayor Walter Young said many businesses in the city already are upset about the economic effect of the ban.
Since the ban was passed a year and a half ago, many new bars and restaurants have opened outside of the city where smoking is allowed and the competition is hurting Ballwin businesses, Young said.
"A city-wide ban might not hurt Columbia as much because you can't go just three blocks down and find a place that does allow smoking," Young said.