Michigan Sports Bar Reverses Smoking Ban After Business Slumps
Heidi Fenton reports for the Muskegon Chronicle
A Muskegon, Michigan, bar owner who wanted to protect the health of his employees says he lost so much business in a 10-day period after going smoke-free that he feared a closure if he didn’t reverse the decision. Tony Cuti, owner of Cuti’s Sports Bar and Grill, says he saw at least a 40 percent slump in sales after his bar on the corner of Seaway Drive and Laketon Avenue began sending smokers outside Sept. 21. On Oct. 1, he decided to put the policy to rest.
“If we had kept going the way we were, we would have closed down in about two weeks,” he said. “Nobody was coming in.” On Cuti’s first smoke-free Saturday night, patrons gave mixed reviews. Some called the cleaner atmosphere a pleasant surprise, while others saw it as an inconvenience not worth the battle.
Mario Padilla sat at a small round table with his girlfriend, Tricia Suarez, listening to music. Padilla said he had patronized Cuti’s “like once a week for a long time” and always noticed a cloud of white smoke gathering near the ceiling. “Then usually when you go home, you have the ashtray smell,” he said. “It seems like when people smoke, it’s like headed your way, like attached to you or something.”
For Suarez, the smell was especially bothersome. After recently ditching her own smoking habit, she said the cleaner atmosphere made things easier. “It’s good for me because it makes me not want to smoke when I’m here,” she said.
Outside, near the bar’s entrance, a group of about 12 people gathered in a huddle, talking and looking at the night sky. “Smoke your cigarette while it lasts!” Muskegon resident Jen Stewart called out as a warning to several people walking up. “People expect when they come to a bar that they are going to have the inhalation of tobacco,” she said, leaning against a car with a friend. “If I have to come outside to smoke every time, I won’t be here.”
The decision to send smokers outside was one Cuti mulled over for quite some time. Years of standing at the counter inhaling smoke and wiping ash from television screens grew old, he said. Cuti knew it was taking a toll on the health of his employees, and patrons talked of leaving with smoke-filled clothes. “I’m sick of it, it’s just dirty,” he said, days after the new policy was first enacted. “Everyone says they have a choice (to come in and be around it), but the employees don’t have a choice.”
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Helen Sherman, an administrative assistant for the Muskegon Community Health Project, has been involved with a campaign to spread the word on area businesses that are going smoke free. She said ventilation systems and special sections set aside for smokers do not make enough of an impact. “It’s not going to stay in the smoking area, it’s going to drift. It really makes no difference whether you are sitting in the non-smoking section,” she said. “Patrons can of course choose to go to other bars … wait staff, people that are cooking in that environment, don’t have that much of a choice.”
Cuti said one of the main problems was that a group of non-smokers would come in with just one or two people who wanted to light up. When that minority grew upset, the whole group walked out. During the bar’s Thursday night comedy specials, people complained of having to get up and miss part of a performance. And, Cuti said, because his business is primarily a bar, many people who aren’t regular smokers come in and want to light up while enjoying a beer. “It’s one thing saying how happy you are (that we went smoke-free) and it’s another coming in and supporting the place,” he said.
The success of a bar or restaurant going smoke-free depends largely on the area it serves, said Michael Rogers, vice president of communications for the Small Business Association of Michigan. Rogers said some cities, like Ann Arbor or Grand Rapids, have a large number of residents willing to embrace health-conscious living, while others don’t.
A Behavioral Risk Factor Survey completed by the Michigan Department of Community Health in 2008, estimated 30 percent of Muskegon residents are smokers, compared to approximately 21 percent of people state-wide. Estimates this year by the Muskegon Health Project are even higher. Data estimates 35.4 percent of Muskegon residents smoke, compared to 21 percent state-wide.
“It’s going to be different everyplace where a business tries this,” Rogers said. He cited venues who’ve taken a fluid approach to the issue of smoking. Some choose to have certain nights of the week for people to light up inside, and other nights when they must head outdoors. The flexibility allows businesses to serve patrons with differing opinions.
“In this economic climate, every business owner is struggling to keep their head above water,” Rogers said. “When economic times are tough, it really focuses your attention on, ‘How can I be successful?’”
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