Smoking ban lights up business ... for some

As the smoke clears, Springfield restaurants report mixed results from the city's new smoking ban.

The ban went into effect July 7, and when it did, the number of smoking establishments available was cut by 55 percent.

Clay Goddard, health planner for the city of Springfield, said since the ban went into effect the number of smoking restaurants has dropped from 168 in November 2002 to 75 restaurants now.

Restaurants are exempt from the ban if they have fewer than 50 seats or if 50 percent or more of their annual gross receipts are derived from alcohol sales.

Also exempt are restaurants that have enclosed smoking areas, provided the smoking area is shielded floor to ceiling from food preparation. Outdoor and sidewalk seating areas are exempt if the areas are physically separated from the rest of the restaurant.

Agim Zendeli, owner of Ziggie's Caf, decided to open Ciggie's, a new smoking caf, after finding out that that his popular breakfast restaurant would have to stop smokers from lighting up.

Ciggie's opened June 30 at 2185 S. Campbell, across the street from Ziggie's.

Zendeli spent $25,000 on building improvements for the new location and said the investment is paying off.

"Everybody likes the totally smoke-free (environment at Ziggie's) now. They come in and say, Wow, we can smell the food now,'" Zendeli said. Zendeli said Ciggie's is doing "pretty good" business, averaging about 150 customers per day.

While Zendeli has found a solution for his smoking customers, Dennis Butzlaff is still searching.

Butzlaff and Jim Dillard co-own the Cedar's restaurants at 515 N. West Bypass and 3322 S. Campbell.

Butzlaff has co-owned the north-side Cedar's for 17 years and said smoking was one of the largest complaints his restaurant had before the ban.

But since the ban went into effect, Butzlaff said, business at the north location the most successful of the two has decreased by 30 percent.

"What's really hurting us now is (business) on the pull-tab machines, the lottery ticket deal where people sit and smoke, drink coffee and play pull tabs," Butzlaff said.

Since the ban, his south-side location has also seen revenues drop by about 5 percent.

Providing a healthy atmosphere is important, but limiting which restaurants provide clean air based on the size of the restaurant is unfair and illogical, Butzlaff said.

"A smaller restaurant would impede the health of the employees and the people there more so than a bigger restaurant where there is more air," Butzlaff said.

College Street Caf, owned by Ron and Melissa Ard, is one of the smaller restaurants exempt from the smoking ban. With only 40 seats, the caf is easily filled.

Since the ban, Ard said, his business is up by 20 percent to 25 percent.

"Customers are coming here because they can't smoke anywhere else," Ron Ard said. "I've talked with people from other restaurants, and their business is down; they're letting people go, and that's really a shame."

If business does not get better at Cedar's restaurant, Butzlaff said, he is looking into hiring a lawyer to fight the city on the ordinance, if only to level the playing field.

"We'd like to push it back on City Council where they would ban it all together or not at all," Butzlaff said. "We just want to put everybody on the (same) playing field."

Ard said before the ban he polled customers to see how many would want a smoking or nonsmoking establishment about 350 people voted for smoking and 200 people voted for nonsmoking.

Ard said if the smoking ban was extended to small restaurants, College Street Cafe would be prepared to set up a separate smoking section in an effort to keep longtime smoking customers at the 60-year-old establishment.