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A National Legal-Action Antismoking Organization Entirely Supported by Tax-Deductible Contributions
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New Poll: Restaurant Revenues Up in Albuquerque Following Smoking Ban [02/15-1]
Excerpts from: Poll: Revenues up since smoke ban
By Tamara N. Shope The Albuquerque Tribune [02/14/05]
Maybe restaurants didn't see business go up in smoke after a citywide smoking ban after all.
Cheryl Ferguson, the spokeswoman for New Mexicans Concerned About Tobacco, said Albuquerque restaurants reported an increase in business during the first year of the ban.
According to the University of New Mexico Bureau of Business and Economic Research, restaurants saw a 6.54 percent increase in gross receipts for the 2004 fiscal year.
"You hear so frequently from the tobacco industry and restaurant association that this sort of legislation is just death for businesses," Ferguson said earlier this month, "and the data is not there."
Ferguson said she also is still fired up about a June poll that showed 96 percent of the businesses say Albuquerque's smoking ban has had no effect them.
Of 140 businesses polled, 94 percent reported their customers had no reaction to the ordinance. An additional 3 percent reported customers being nothing but positive about the ban.
The release of the reports coincided with legislation introduced in Santa Fe late last month supporting a similar statewide ban.
Research & Polling Inc. conducted the poll for New Mexicans Concerned About Tobacco.
Albuquerque's ordinance bans smoking in nearly all indoor public places within city limits, with a handful of exceptions - including establishments that get at least 50 percent of their business from liquor sales.
Leo Bottos, a spokesman with the city's Environmental Health Department, said more small businesses than restaurants have complained about the ban.
Revenues have increased for many businesses, however. The city's retail and service sector reported a 21.56 percent increase in gross receipts taxes for fiscal year 2004, according to the UNM bureau.
Bars in the city reported a 4.43 percent increase. The year before, they reported a 15.89 percent increase, which is one of the most telling pieces of information, Ferguson said.
"(The restaurant association) is saying we're just shifting business to bars, and that is not happening," she said. "Bars didn't increase as much as they had been. If we were seeing a true shift from restaurants to bars, I think we would see a much larger number here given the previous year."
The New Mexico Restaurant Association did not return calls for this story, but Maria Constantine, owner of Mykonos Cafe, 5900 Eubank Blvd. N.E., says her business has suffered since the ban.
"Our business, at first it was affected," she said Tuesday. "Now people are getting used to us not having smoking here."
She said Mykonos' bar business has dropped 10 percent, but the restaurant side has been even.
"We do lose customers to the bars that surround us," she said. "If we're going to go nonsmoking and say we're not going to hurt the businesses, that is not true, because the way our restaurant is designed, we cannot enclose our bar for smokers."
Constantine says she is upset bars are not included in the ban.
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