> 1. Bars have a reputation of being smokey places,
> and just going smoke
> free would not draw the smoke-avoiders to your bar.
> The bar would have
> to spend a fortune in advertising, on a continuous
> basis, just to get the
> word out. Because of this cost, for a single
> bar to go smoke free
> would be an almost guarenteed losing proposition.
> A general ban makes
> the advertising cost unnecessary, because the smoke
> avoiders would know
> all the bars were smoke free.
OK, so we need the ban to save bars from costs of
doing business? In an early post in this thread, it
was assumed 70% smoke avoiders to make a point how
much business smoke avoiders generate. Now there
isn't enough smoke avoiders to defray initial ad costs
> 2. Despite all the proud promotion about the virtues
> of "free" enterprise,
> bars are regulated and licensed businesses. You
> just can't open a
> storefront and start selling beer, or even sponsor
> live music. Because
> there are a limited number of licenses, being in
> the Bar business is very
> profitable. You don't need to be much of an
> innovator. People can't go
> next door to drink, because the place next door
> doesn't have a liquor
> license.
Here I read having a liqour license is a license to
print money. If in fact this is true, how could they
not afford the ad costs to promote a smoke free
atmosphere? Especially with all the future revenues
they will capture from the new business they will get
from the smoke avoiders.
Personally, i don't think owning a bar is a guaranteed
profit center. Bars need people in them spending
money to cover costs and produce a profit. I have
been in my share of empty bars. Also, while the
industry is licensed, I would suggest that the number
of licenses isn't creating a shortage of watering
holes. It could be I really don't think that is
happening. So if in fact there is a surplus of places
to get a drink, you have to have a way to get people
in the door.
>
> If the bar/liquor industry wants to see where a lot
> of their potential
> revenue from non-smokers goes, they should look at
> the money flowing into
> coffee shops like starbucks and caribou. We
> smoke-avoiders have gotten
> used to the idea that we can stop at one of these
> places, or schedule a
> meeting there, and we will have clean air. And
> don't try to tell me
> coffee and cigarettes don't go together like beer
> and cigs do! I know
> from experience that they go together just as well!
>
And then they should go smoke free if they want to
capture those revenues.
John Harris
webber-camden
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