Local restaurants getting head start on competition, going smoke-free before required by new laws
Some food & drink establishments are holding out until the very last minute, January 2, 2011, to go smoke-free. In the City of St. Louis non-food bars under a certain size have until January 2, 2016.  Smart money, however, is on local establishments that are going smoke-free prior to the start dates of the smoke-free laws in St. Louis City & County. By doing so they will have time to attract a non-smoking clientele before other places go smoke-free.
Two such recently smoke-free places are:
A year from now all food establishments in the city & county will be smoke-free.  Addicted chain smokers will likely resort to the drive-thru because not smoking for a meal is just too difficult for them. Non-smokers will likely stick to places they always go to while trying out a few newly smoke-free establishments.
Recently Mangia Italiano on South Grand put out an online survey to get a sense if they too should go smoke-free prior to before required to by law. The response must have been very positive because on Wednesday (Jan/27) they will be smoke-free starting March 1st:
“IMPORTANT NEWS: We are proud to announce that our restaurant will go Smoke Free on March 1! Thanks to all of our fans for your comments!”
If you own or manage an establishment that allows smoking understand that by waiting until the last minute to go smoke-free you may well have a hard time finding new customers.
– Steve Patterson
My friends and I recently stopped going to Mangia because of the intensely disgusting level of smoke on the weekends. Mangia going smoke free earlier than required is wonderful news. Mangia is one of the most popular bars on South Grand, and with a 3am license they draw a huge late crowd. Being one of the larger and more successful bars in St. Louis, I hope they set the trend for many others to follow. Cheers to the Tap Room & Mangia both for recognizing a healthy & necessary trend that customers want and need.
I can't believe Hodak's went smoke free. Good for them!
I had boycotted Mangia for the same reason for the last year; I will actually go there again.
Steve, I think you'll be surprised at the high level of noncompliance the smoking ban will receive in St. Louis City, ever at food establishments.
Monarch Restaurant in the County and rBar in the City tried to be smoke free but failed. Maybe Mangia will have better luck.
Food & drink establishments fail all the time. To say it was because one was smoking or non-smoking is not a valid argument. The tide is turning now as the new laws are getting most into a smoke-free mindset.
I didn't say either failed. They just weren't able to continue being totally nonsmoking.
The Royale, Bottleworks, 33 Wine Bar, Good Pie, Pi, and a thousand other places thrive because they are smoke free. The quality of human health evolves over time, and this is one giant step in the right direction.
Agreed, any non-smoking place that has to add smoking is not doing well in the market. As poor performing places fail next year the smoke-free laws will be blamed.
Blame the victim! Many of these places have been doing fine until you jack with them.
A thousand places thrive because they are smoke-free? Really?
Last month the RFT had a long list of restaurants that opened and closed in 2009. Smoking places & non-smoking close and it seldom has anything to do with the smoking policy. Food, service, prices, and location can make or break places.
Monarch in the County and rBar in the City tried to be smoke-free but failed. Maybe
Mangia will have better luck.
I am fine with smoke free. As a city taxpayer I don't like laws and regulations like these put into place without the opportunity to vote up or down on them.
We elect people to represent us in City Hall. They pass bills all the time without voter approval.
But will Lyda and the Health Department honor the law our aldermen voted for, or come up with something altogether different come 2011?
Vote out your alderman or woman next election if you don't like they way they vote.
But right now I am worried about what the Health Department will do to twist around the exemption the aldermen voted for.
Can someone post a link to the list of smoke-free st. louis restaurants and bars? I am visiting soon and need to update my database.
Here you go: http://smokefreestl.org/smoke_free_locations.html
Is it really smart to put people out on the streets at night in North St. Louis with a smoking ban?
“The victims were all outside the nightclub when the suspects began shooting and assaulting them. A security guard drew his weapon and fired several shots at the ground. It's unclear if one of the shots ricocheted up and hit one of the suspects.”
http://www.kmox.com/Shots-fired-outside-Imperia…
What does this post have to do with smoking bans? Was this incident associated with a nightclub that allowed smoking inside? One might also argue that having people outside on the street could potentially increase safety and walk-up business to various establishments. This is dependent on the calibre of person outside on the street, and quality of life in the neighborhood. Any attempt to associate smoking bans with street violence is a weak & desperate argument.
CW of CW's Lounge warned the aldermen that people got shot standing on the street in his neighborhood.
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&safe=of…
Later, CW's point was driven home to Alderman Boyd when Andre Williams was shot as he and Boyd stood outside the Crocodile Lounge.
http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/political-fix/…
USA Today did an article about the response of businesses to smoking bans in other towns.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-12-06-…
Here is a link to the Ohio website the article mentions.
http://smokechoke.com/
ABC news wrote an article during the early era of smoking bans in the US, and offered quite the contrary. In fact, the overall response from their research is that people who smoke now smoke much less or not at all.
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/QuitToLive/story?id=1…
Feel free to browse through any numerous links in related to how smoking bans do actually benefit both smokers and non-smokers.
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=smokin…
The Columbia smoking ban didn't do Joel Thiel any good!
http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2007/Dec/200…
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