KOKOMO – A little more than three-and-a-half months since the implementation of a controversial Howard County-wide smoking ban, bar owners and workers have provided a mixed response to the change – while others extolled the possibilities of improved health and a new customer base.
And while it may be too early to make any overarching declarations about the legislation’s economic impact, one thing is clear: the emotions associated with the ban have not dissipated.
On July 1, Howard County implemented the second part of its broad smoking ban, which includes bars, taverns and private clubs. The smoking ban also incorporates an E-cigarette ban and prohibits smoking at outdoor events, festivals and concerts at city parks.
That followed a contentious day, on March 6, when the Howard County Board of Commissioners and Kokomo Common Council passed, one after the other, measures enacting a scheduled county-wide smoking ban with few exceptions.
Notably, the legislation was put into effect April 1, except for bars, private clubs and the ordinance’s outdoor seating requirements, which were given until July 1 to come into compliance.
One bar owner, Stella Kling, who owns Stella’s Saturday Lounge, told the Kokomo Common Council last month that she has seen a noticeable difference in business. Specifically, Kling worries about potential customers traveling to nearby cities and towns that do allow smoking in bars.
“We have Galveston, Windfall, Tipton, Logansport – all these places around us can smoke. You can leave here and drive 8 miles and smoke. You can leave my bar and drive and smoke,” she said.
Kling, who also acknowledged the impact of road construction in front of her business, on Home Avenue, said that her bar, like others, is being negatively impacted by the ban.
“It is very important for this town,” she noted. “We’re losing business to other towns because of it. My business right now is hurting, at least $1,000, $1,500 a week.”
Terri Miller, a bartender for 26 years at Hoosier Bar, on West Morgan Street, told a similar story.
“It’s definitely hurting us,” she said. “A drop in regulars – the football games, the baseball games, they don’t come in and watch any more. They prefer to be at home where they can smoke or somewhere where they can smoke.”
In total, Miller estimated that she is losing 30 percent of the tips she was making pre-smoking-ban. And she doesn’t expect her regular customer base to return.
“The older ones, they’re smoking, they’re not going to give up the smoking,” she said, noting that some regular customers will come into the bar for a meal but leave quicker than they did before the smoking ban.
The Hoosier Bar now has an overhang and seats placed outside to accommodate smokers, said Miller, but she’s worried that come winter the crowds will continue to thin, as people will be more hesitant to stand outside and smoke.
“It’s frustrating that my paycheck went down. You can’t live on just your hourly pay; we look forward to our tips and all, and they’re gone, a lot of them,” said Miller.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though, has reported that in total “evidence from peer-reviewed studies examining objective measures such as taxable sales revenue and employment levels shows that smoke-free policies and regulations do not have an adverse economic impact on the hospitality industry.”
One CDC study, done in 2013 about the economic impact of smoke-free laws in restaurants and bars in nine states, including Indiana, effectively found that “smoke-free laws did not have an adverse economic impact on restaurants or bars in any of the states studied.”
Studies have also shown that “smoke-free laws that prohibit smoking in public places like bars and restaurants help improve the health of workers and the general population,” according to a CDC fact sheet on smoke-free policies.
In an interview in late June, Howard County Commissioner Paul Wyman, a driving force behind the county legislation, expressed optimism about the ban’s potential health effects. Howard County is ranked in the lower half of health rankings for Indiana’s 92 counties.
Since the ban was enacted, no citations have been handed out, and no bars or individuals have been cited, according to Howard County Health Department officials.
In part, Wyman is hoping Howard County will replicate the health improvements seen in Indianapolis since the city passed its own smoking ban. Indianapolis initially passed a smoking ban in 2005, one that allowed similar exemptions to Kokomo’s 2006 ordinance.
Then, in 2012, the area’s City-County Council applied the ban to bars and taverns.
Notably, an Indiana University study released in June said that Indianapolis saw a 25 percent decrease in the monthly number of hospital admissions for acute heart attacks from 2007 to 2014, according to data acquired from five major Indianapolis-area hospitals.
“I look at it as saying, it’s another piece of the puzzle to making us a stronger and healthier community for the future," said Wyman at the time. "And that evidence from Indianapolis supports what we’re doing, the economic data nationally supports what we’re doing."
Shirley Dubois, coordinator of the Howard County Tobacco Coalition, who for years fought for a county-wide smoking ban, said in an email that it is still too early to carry out a specific study to observe any economic impact in Howard County, but was adamant in highlighting the ban’s perceived health benefits.
“One change that does take place immediately is that workers and customers in the bar will have a drastic improvement in air quality which will reduce exposure to toxic secondhand smoke,” she said. “And that’s the real goal of having people step outside to smoke – letting employees and patrons breathe healthier air while they’re on the job.”
She went on to say that the organization has been thanked for its role in implementing the smoking ban. She also noted that cessation services are offered at 1.800.Quit.Now to those trying to give up smoking.
“We have received nothing but positive feedback from the community, including ‘we love the smoke-free events in the parks’ and ‘thank you for the smoke-free trolley shelters’ and ‘so glad I can go to the bars to eat and enjoy smoke-free air,’” said Dubois.
“Since the ordinance passed, we have kept all lines of communication open with local business owners and are always willing to have a conversation regarding owners’ questions and concerns.”
In conjunction, some in Kokomo are making an effort to frequent local establishments that previously allowed smoking but have since July 1 gone non-smoking.
A blog post written by Kokomo pastor Morgan Young – who also owns Main Street Café with his wife, Sandra Young – exhibits that potential new client base.
Young, who in the post urges local bar owners to adapt to a changing marketplace, said recent encouragement has motivated him to visit establishments affected by the smoking ban.
“Recently, a good friend gave me a stern encouragement by way of a social media post, ‘Ok, all you non-smokers who said you’d now support these bars, where are you?’” wrote Young.
“Even though I was never on record for saying that, I was indeed for the ban and felt my friend’s chiding. So I’ve been to The Elbow Room twice in recent weeks. (And heading there as soon as I post this.)”
For Young, and others like him, the ban was a welcome change, and one he believes can be capitalized upon.
“First of all, the place (The Elbow Room) was incredibly clean, the food was good, made-to-order and ridiculously affordable. In short, this is what I saw: opportunity,” he wrote. “The Elbow Room is a half mile, a handful of blocks, 2-3 minutes from hundreds of downtown Mon-Fri consumers.”
“The opportunity is to target that downtown consumer market who never before would’ve considered the Elbow Room as a lunchtime option. My hunch is they have the opportunity to do more Mon-Fri lunch business than they’ve ever done before. Opportunity.”
The owner of The Elbow Room, Jeannine Welcher, did not return a request for comment.
Mario Glunt, the owner of Ned’s Corner Pub, said his business has broken even during the smoking ban, with the loss of three or four daily regulars canceled out by the addition of new faces.
Glunt credited the lack of change to his popular food menu, saying that if he only offered “a bar stool and served a beer” the ban likely would have been more impactful.
Nonetheless, Glunt said he has been pleasantly surprised by how things have gone since July 1 – especially after what the pub experienced just over a decade ago.
Glunt referenced a time in 2006 when the pub tried to go non-smoking after the city first passed its smoke-free ordinance, with exemptions for over-21 establishments. At the time, Ned’s was also open to families, meaning it fell under the smoke-free umbrella.
However, after weeks of a drastically reduced customer base, Ned’s Corner Pub employees were required to make one of two choices — shut down or take the whole building, including its family room, over 21. They chose the latter.
But in 2006, customers could take their business, and smoking, to another bar; now the ban is the same across the board. And Glunt said he plans to utilize that opportunity to bring back the family room after remodeling efforts are completed.
“It was kind of surprising to me that it didn’t hurt,” said Glunt, who said he is still worried about the impact the winter months could have on his business. He said he plans to look into establishing an outdoor smoking area, possibly with a heater.
New outdoor smoking areas and patios can be seen can be seen at a number of local bars, including Mulligan’s Sports Pub, The Filling Station and others.
Kirstie Mates, a manager at Mulligan’s, said the bar has, to her surprise, seen a slight increase in sales since the smoking ban.
Mates, who noted that Mulligan’s is also dealing with ongoing road construction, said the bar’s customer base has changed, as long-staying regulars don’t come in as often or stay as long.
But canceling that out is a new, older clientele that, as she explained, likes the bar’s pizza.
“A lot of the people that used to sit in and hang out for hours with us, I don’t see them as often,” she said. But despite the absence of those regulars, Mulligan’s is faring well.
“Our sales have increased, actually, and I’m not sure if that’s based off of the season changing or if that’s based off that, we have a lot more people coming in that wouldn’t have in the past,” she said.
“We’ve lost a few, but we’ve gained some,” added Mates, who said she expected to see a loss in business when the smoking ban was passed.
It’s a trend, said Mates, that isn’t always readily apparent — but one which is obvious in the bottom line.
“Occupancy-wise, it doesn’t look busy…but sales-wise, it shows up,” she said.
“So it’s a little confusing for us, because I don’t know if it’s the fact that I’m changing specials and doing other stuff like that, but I have not — the building used to look packed. And on my Friday nights now, I’m like ‘Dang, we’re dead.’ But then I’ll look at the numbers at the end of the night, and I’m like ‘What? That doesn’t make any sense.’”
About the outdoor patio, Mates said people have been excited about the addition and the chance to continue smoking in a comfortable environment.
Similar to other bars, customers have asked about the plan for winter, said Mates, noting that the bar will likely place heaters outside to accommodate smokers during the busiest time of the year for Mulligan’s.