Smoke ban didn't stifle business in Minn.

Lighting up a cigarette in public is a three-year-old memory for most Ohioans.

But restaurant and bar owners affected by Ohio's smoking ban may be glad to hear that business, at least in two Minnesota cities recently studied, doesn't necessarily suffer as a result.

A study charting the effect of smoking restrictions in St. Paul and Minneapolis found enforcement of bans largely had a positive effect on business at restaurants and bars.

The study by Elizabeth Klein, an assistant professor of health behaviors and health promotion at Ohio State University, adds to research maintaining that smoking bans have not crippled the hospitality industry as many proprietors assumed they would.

Neither Ohio public health officials nor hospitality associations have conclusively studied the ban's economic effects within state lines. But the original sides still stand, with health advocates maintaining clean air in workplaces is a top priority - and hospitality officials insisting that losing smokers means losing money.

"For somebody to assert that a smoking ban could increase business anywhere is ludicrous," said Phil Craig, executive director of the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association. "I don't even have to look at the study. It's just crazy."

Of employees polled at nine Toledo restaurants and bars, all said Ohio's smoking ban had hurt business. Some cited the ease at which customers would patronize establishments that could allow smoking across the state line before Michigan's smoking ban took effect May 1.

"There's a dramatic decrease in business," said Danielle Glover, a bartender for 14 years at Dolly and Joe's Restaurant on Reynolds Road. For many regulars, she added, smoking and drinking are inextricably connected.

Ohio is among 34 states that enforce smoking bans in some combination of workplaces, bars, and restaurants.

Ms. Klein's research, which she submitted for review about two years ago, was part of her doctoral dissertation at the University of Minnesota. The study was published in the latest issue of The Journal of Public Health Management Practice.

She examined restaurants and bars separately and charted establishment employment, which Ms. Klein called a high-quality indicator of economic health, in the 2 1/2 years after passage of smoking bans in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

While Ms. Klein did not look at employment data from Ohio, she said would be interested in studying the smoking ban's effect here.

Restaurant employment in both Minnesota cities grew at least 3 percent.

Minneapolis bar employment increased more than 5 percent while St. Paul bar employment decreased 1 percent, a change so small it is statistically insignificant and indistinguishable from zero, Ms. Klein said.

She said the results indicate smoking bans in Minneapolis-St. Paul may have appealed to patrons who don't take Marlboros with their meals.

"Smoke in bars and restaurants may have been a barrier to people," she said. "Others have argued that the majority of people are nonsmokers."

In Minnesota, 17.6 percent of adults smoke, while 20.2 percent of Ohio adults smoke, according to 2008 statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Max Sorensen, owner of Wagon Wheel Bar & Restaurant in Madison, Ohio, said his establishment lost $70,000 in sales, compared with the year before, in the five months after enforcement of Ohio's smoking ban starting in May, 2007.

"We lost a lot of customers," said Mr. Sorensen, who also is senior vice president of the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association. "They can have all kinds of studies, but we're on the front line."

Mr. Sorensen, who runs a liquor store attached to his restaurant, said he still sells the same amount of cigarettes as he did before the ban, about 100 cartons per week. But as alcohol sales went down in the bar, they went up in the liquor store, and customers have told him repeatedly they would stay if they could smoke, he said.

According to reports by the Ohio Department of Commerce's Division of Liquor Control, spirit sales to restaurants and bars increased steadily from 2003 to 2006 before decreasing from 2007 onward.

Liquor sold to Ohio bars and restaurants topped 3.3 million gallons in 2006, but totaled less than 3.1 million gallons last year, an 8 percent decrease.

By contrast, retail liquor sales have increased steadily. Between 2003 and 2009, retail liquor sales have increased almost 30 percent to 7.6 million gallons, according to the state.

The Ohio Licensed Beverage Association's Mr. Craig said the state's smoking ban, poor economy, and lowering of blood-alcohol content to legally drive caused a "perfect storm of horrible business for the hospitality industry." He added that creating separate smoking rooms in restaurants and bars would be one way to maintain employee health, the root of Ohio's smoking ban, while still benefitting establishments' revenue streams.

But proponents of Ohio's ban insist clean air in the workplace is the priority, regardless of whether it has hurt businesses.

While the Ohio Department of Health has not conducted formal studies because of data lags, officials expect decreases in of respiratory illness in the state, said Jen House, a department spokesman.

Dr. David Grossman, commissioner of the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, said there is no justification for jeopardizing health.

"You can't put any number on a child or an adult getting a terminal disease," Dr. Grossman said.

Contact Greta Stetson at:

gstetson@theblade.com,

or 419-724-6050.