It's going to be a drag for some Mill Avenue bar owners as a result of the new statewide smoking ban, according to Tempe officials.
Chris Wilson, senior vice president of operations for the city, said he predicts an initial short-term drop in revenue for establishments along Mill, possibly as high as 15 percent.
The financial impact could be even more damaging, Wilson said, when combined with the traditional summer downturn in business and higher prices due to the minimum wage increase passed by Congress.
The law, which took effect on May 1, still allows smokers to light up on outdoor patios as long as the patio is more than 20 feet away from any bar entrance. The idea is to protect patrons from having to walk through cigarette smoke to get inside. That means popular hot spots like Zuma Grill and the Mill Avenue Cue Club will likely be hit hardest financially, according to Wilson, because their patios are situated at the only entrances into the buildings.
Zuma Grill owner Damon Scott said that while he disagrees with the ban he intends to do whatever it takes to comply with it. Given his situation, he plans on putting up a windscreen in front of his bar along with a fan to blow cigarette smoke away from non-smoking patrons, a tactic allowed by a loophole in the ban.
Scott, director of the Mill Avenue Coalition of businesses, said he originally voted for the ban because he thought it would level the playing field and apply to all bars equally. He has since changed his mind, claiming that the new regulations should have been spelled out from the beginning.
"I think it was sneaky," Scott said. "I don't think they took into consideration places like mine. My building is only 50 feet wide."
Other establishments with the room to do so may be forced to expand or add more patio space to comply. For others like Gordon Biersch Brewery, it will be business as usual. The brewery will continue to allow smoking in their outside patio as they did before the ban, allowable because it is located downstairs from the entrance.
Tyler Depierro, a host at the brewery, said he expects a possibly minor impact due to confusion about the ban.
According to Wilson, the law is intentionally vague in order to give bar owners "an out." He said it's too early to tell exactly how the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) will enforce the ban.
"If all businesses try to generally comply, then I think we'll get through OK," Wilson said. "We'll just have to adapt, play with it as we go along."
He expects enforcement to be complaint driven and close attention will be paid for shifts in liquor sales to see whether the ban causes more people to drink at home. That information should be available within two months time, he said.
Wilson thinks voters' hearts and minds were in the right place in approving the ban but that many of them didn't realize the financial repercussions of it. He expects a rebellion by smokers at first, but eventually the people, and their money, will return. Just like they did following the city's indoor smoking ban that took effect in 2002, he said.
That kind of reassurance isn't stopping some bar employees from worrying about how the ban will affect their job security.
Bryan Yngstrom, a bouncer at Casey Moore's said he thinks the law could lead to some bars being forced to close down.
He worries that customers will start to look elsewhere because of the tendency for people who drink to also smoke at the same time. Indian reservations are exempt from the ban and their borders, along Pima Road in Scottsdale for instance, could be a viable option for future establishments. Something like that, Yngstrom said, could lure business away from Tempe permanently because the city won't be able to compete.
"I dare anyone coming in to build a non-smoking bar," Yngstrom said.
He challenged people that voted for the proposition to visit Mill Avenue and support the establishments affected by the ban.
Jamie White, a bartender at The Tavern on Mill, doesn't think that's likely to happen.
"The people that are complaining are the ones that don't ever come to bars," she said. "They sit at home Friday nights and watch movies."
As an owner, Scott thinks it should be up to the customer, not the state, to determine where to go for a drink. But despite his qualms, Scott remains optimistic.
"You can't fight city hall," he said. "But we'll figure it out. We'll survive."
