MANKATO — With its decision Monday to ban smoking in bars, restaurants and other indoor workplaces, the Mankato City Council finally acted on the long-standing issue of whether the city should become smoke free indoors.
Now, the question is what, if any, economic impact the law will have on the city's bars and restaurants, the businesses most closely associated with smoking.
"I guarantee you that I'm going to have to let two employees go, and instead of opening at 11 (a.m.), I'll open up at 3 (p.m.)," said Gary McNab, the owner of Mac's Bar & Cafe. He said he typically has a staff of 10 to 12.
Bar and restaurant owners have warned that a smoking ban would cause them to lose customers, especially if the state or North Mankato do not pass similar laws, which as of now seems likely.
Mankato's ordinance will not take effect until July 1, 2006, which is intended to give the state and North Mankato time to act. But even should Mankato stay alone in the area with its ban, whether establishments will actually suffer financially is debatable.
There are studies from across the nation regarding communities that have implemented smoking bans. While some suggest that no-smoking laws hurt business at bars and restaurants, dozens of others say bans have no negative effect and in some cases increase business.
For example, El Paso, Texas, is considered to have the toughest ban in the state, but a study by the Texas Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found "no decline in total restaurant and bar revenues" in the city, which was "consistent with the results of studies in other municipalities."
Similarly, when New York City debated a smoking ban that eventually passed, opponents predicted customers would flee for New Jersey. But a New York Times story published last month stated that employment in the city's bars and restaurants had risen since the law took effect March 30, 2003. Their tax receipts were up 8.7 percent in the first year of the ban.
But Jim Farrell, executive director of the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association, said there is no doubt bans hurt business. He cited a 1996 study of Mesa, Ariz., that found that revenues dropped by a third after smoking was outlawed in bars and restaurants. The study was funded by tobacco giant Philip Morris.
Farrell suggested Mankato exempt bars from the ban, as Olmsted and Ramsey counties have done.
"I would say that if the Mankato law is enacted without making any changes, there will be businesses that will be harmed," he said.
Mankato City Councilman Joe Frederick, who owns the Mankato Place Buffalo Wild Wings and cast the lone vote against the ban, said he checked with Buffalo Wild Wings' corporate office and was told business dropped between 10 to 17 percent for franchises in communities that enacted smoking bans.
"If you are barely breaking even now, you'll go broke," he said. "If you're doing well, you'll make less money."
Owners also have expressed a fear of losing business to North Mankato establishments. But while Mankato has 42 bars and restaurants that have on-sale liquor licenses, North Mankato has just eight.
"Then it becomes a matter of how much capacity do they have," Councilman Mark Frost said. "We've got more bars on one block downtown than they've got in the whole city."
But Ron Doty, owner of T.J. Finnegan's Pub, said eight is enough.
"Any time you have a competitive disadvantage, it's definitely a threat," he said.
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