Maryland's bars and restaurants find ways to deal with smoking ban

Hey Greg - Well it looks like Maryland is starting to allow some exemptions/hardship waivers.

Sheila


http://www.mddailyrecord.com/article.cfm?id=5852&type=UTTM

Maryland's bars and restaurants find ways to deal with smoking ban
ANDY ROSEN
Daily Record Business Writer
July 2, 2008 7:23 PM
KEYMAR — There’s a new message on the signboard outside of the Crossroads Inn, a roadside tavern that’s just a 15-minute drive from the Pennsylvania line. “THIS IS NOW A SMOKING BAR,” the sign reads. “BARTENDERS WANTED.” A cardboard sign at the corner of the parking lot announces that June 18 marked the first day that patrons could smoke tobacco inside. “Let’s smoke,” the sign says. Two American flags stick out from the sides, celebrating the state’s grant of a waiver from the smoking ban that allows the bar to have some indoor smoking into 2011. The display is a marked difference from March, when Crossroads owner Tim Brandenburg appeared in the Carroll County Times next to a signboard calling for the impeachment of Gov. Martin O’Malley. Brandenburg said the smoking ban, which took effect in February, almost put him out of business. He said he lost somewhere between 45 percent and 60 percent of his sales because regular customers began driving to Pennsylvania, where it’s legal to smoke inside. Instead of staying open until last call, Brandendburg said he would shutter his bar at around 10 o’clock most nights. He said he took out a $40,000 loan and sold two antique trucks to keep the Crossroads Inn afloat. “I thought for sure I wouldn’t make it,” Brandenburg said. He said he wondered whether the slow economy was contributing to the decline in sales, but now he feels things are better than they were before. Sales increased by 25 percent in just over a week, he said. Patrons are coming back, and he’s adding staff. “I want to feel comfortable,” said Kevin Smith, a cement worker having a mid-day beer last week. “I come here to drink a beer, smoke a cigarette and relax.” Smith said he was one of the many people who drove to Pennsylvania because he didn’t want to stand outside. The Crossroads Inn’s struggles convinced Carroll County and state health officials to grant the bar a hardship waiver — one of two in the state — that exempts it from the statewide smoking ban, at least in part until February 2011. Still, some other bars are drawing in new customers who may not have come out to eat before the ban took effect, which suggests a mixed bag of economic results for the first five months of the ban. Overall, the effect of the ban has been difficult to judge. Even the statewide liquor and restaurant associations are having trouble setting the ban aside from other economic pressures, such as the struggling economy, the rising cost of fuel and even the increased prices of ingredients for food that have pushed up some menu costs.
“Our profits as an industry are way down because our costs are up. And now a lot of operators, much to their dismay, have had to raise their prices,” said Melvin Thompson, vice president of government relations for the Restaurant Association of Maryland. “With all of this going on, I don’t see how anybody can single out the effect of the smoking ban.” Jane Springer, executive director of the Maryland State Licensed Beverage Association, said it’s similarly hard to judge the effect on bars. That industry is facing the same economic hard times as restaurants, she said. When reviewing industries’ performance in the state, researchers sometimes look to data from the Maryland comptroller’s office, which tracks sales and use tax receipts by business category. The restaurant association typically assumes 4 percent inflation each year, said Thompson, expecting that any real annual increase in sales would be seen above that margin. This year, comparisons are complicated by a sales tax increase, from 5 percent to 6 percent, which took effect in January. Still, judging by the growth rate, the industry is not having a great year. Between February and May, sales and use taxes from liquor stores and taverns were up by 20 percent — the same percentage that the sales tax rose. Receipts from restaurants and night clubs that sell alcohol were up by 18.6 percent during that time, and payments from hotels and motels that serve alcohol were up by 22.2 percent. Figures from June were not yet available. Jeff Werling, an economist at the University of Maryland, College Park, said by e-mail that other factors make it difficult to judge the effect of the smoking ban. “I will say that the income and price effects have probably had a big negative impact on hospitality, so it would be a big stretch to attribute it to the smoking ban,” he wrote. Werling said it might be better to look at the effect during a more normal time, but had not seen any studies to suggest that smoking bans have a lasting effect. Springer, of the licensed beverage association, said she has been surprised that any waivers were granted at all. The waivers run until February 2011 and are available to businesses that can prove they have lost 15 percent or more of their food and beverage sales as a result of the ban. “I think a lot of people, quite frankly, didn’t even attempt the waiver because they didn’t think they’d get it,” Springer said. “Honestly, I was surprised to see that someone got it.” Local health departments are reviewing the applications, but the state is overseeing and assisting with the process. Dr. Clifford Mitchell, environmental health coordinator for the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said he was aware of 11 waiver applications. Three have been rejected, he said, and six are pending. He said he believes another was granted for a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Charles County, but the state has not seen the final paperwork on that application. Another Maryland establishment that got a waiver is The Havana Club Baltimore, owned by Big Steaks Management Inc. The club features cigar smoking as part of its theme. The waiver process is designed to require applicants to prove that it was the smoking ban and no other factors that led to their loss of business, and that makes it a long process. The application packet is 20 pages and asks for information including several years’ worth of tax returns. It also seeks to identify other details that could change business volume, such as changes in menu, ownership or theme. Brandenburg said his application for Crossroads Inn came to about 300 pages, but he worries that he’ll struggle again in 2011. It will get more difficult even before that, he said, because his waiver reduces the number of days patrons can smoke each year. If traditional smokers are rethinking their dining and nightlife habits under the smoking ban, so are some non-smokers. Out of 82 people asked in an informal survey by the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance, 77 said they were more likely to go out now that the smoking ban is in effect. None said they were less likely to go out. The alliance, which advocates for families with children downtown and promotes the city center as a place to raise children, was formed in March. People who responded to the survey said they could now take part in a range of activities, from going to a bar to meet friends while pregnant without being exposed to tobacco smoke, to bringing children to pizza places and indoor concerts. Megan Baer, who has lived in Federal Hill for about three years, said she and husband Wade have been going out to dinner much more. The Baers used to be reluctant to bring 18-month-old son Garrett with them, even though the selection of restaurants in their neighborhood is part of the reason they live there. “Even if it’s a separate dining area, there are also bars,” Megan Baer said. “A lot of times we would just not go out, even if there are great restaurants that are amenable to families.” Now, they’re going out twice a week, she said, adding that it’s usually early in the evening before bar traffic overtakes the dining crowd. Brian McComas, who owns Ryleigh’s Oyster in Federal Hill with wife Jennifer, said he noticed more people bringing children to his restaurant “right out of the gate.” “The first night, I’ve got three sets of kids, right down to an infant in a lady’s arms right there at the dining table,” he said. That would not have happened before the ban took effect, he said. Food sales are up 40 percent this year at Ryleigh’s, and overall sales have grown by 15 percent. McComas has expanded his kids’ menu and added the free crayon packages and activity mats that many restaurants hand out. McComas said he does not attribute all of the growth to the smoking ban. He said other factors, such as the high price of fuel, have helped keep people in Baltimore City to go out. However, he’s happy with the effect. Ryleigh’s — which was formerly called Sisson’s — opened in April 2007. He said he did not prohibit smoking at the bar initially because he did not want to make too many changes while patrons got used to the new brand. Though he never allowed smoking in the dining room, McComas said the restaurant probably could be fine without smoking. “In retrospect, I think we could have gotten away with it,” McComas said. Still, many people who responded to the survey complained about noise or crowded sidewalks as people gather in front of bars where they could previously smoke inside. There have been no major crime issues related to the smoking ban since it took effect, said Baltimore Police Department Spokesman Sterling Clifford. He said police monitor gatherings in front of bars as part of their enforcement of the city loitering law, but generally do not stop people who step outside for a cigarette and return to the bar. When the law first took effect, he said there were a few problems outside of bars, but there has not been a real increase through the year. “Those are the little hiccups you experience when you implement something new like the smoking ban,” Clifford said. Michael Evitts, spokesman for the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, said he has not heard many complaints about sidewalk crowds, and noted that bars are now opening their windows in the warm summer weather. He said the open windows cause more noise than smokers outside. The partnership, which employs the workers downtown who clean sidewalks and other public areas, has not seen an increase in cigarette litter since the smoking ban took effect. Cigarette butts are one of the more persistent litter problems downtown, he said. That hasn’t changed, he said, but it helps that more restaurants and bars are placing ashtrays outside. “By the smoking ban driving people outside to have a cigarette, it’s to everybody’s benefit if the restaurant pays attention to what’s out there,” Evitts said.