Prices go up after a ban comes in.
Question: What happened in March of 2005?
Answer: These three communities began strict no smoking bans. Ironically, these numbers match the Hennepin County Impact Statement for the first three months of the smoking ban. The Hennepin County Impact Study, while calling the figures inconclusive, showed Hennepin County had the lowest percentage of growth in the 7 county metro area with a .15% growth after implementing a strict smoking ban.
This compared to a metro average of 1.6% and well below the previous years 3.5% growth. Anoka County (with no ban) showed a 7.2% growth.
– A Newsletter Reader
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In metro area, growth takes a hit
In metro area, growth takes a hit
September 27, 2007
MIKE MEYERS
MIKE MEYERS
A new snapshot of U.S. urban economies shows the Twin Cities under a cloud. But it’s a picture taken from a distance.
In a study of 363 metro areas, two of every three performed better than Minneapolis, St. Paul and Bloomington in 2005, in the federal government’s first attempt to measure the dollar value of all goods and services produced in select U.S. cities.
Slowdowns in construction, finance and insurance, and arts, entertainment and recreation industries left the Twin Cities ranked No. 254 in the experimental database created by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Estimated overall economic growth in the Twin Cities was a meager 1.4 percent, after adjusting for inflation. Nationwide, metro growth averaged 3 percent in 2005.
A chief bright spot for the Twin Cities was information technology, which grew at a 9 percent pace, albeit more slowly than the double-digit gains in each of the three years before. Another major industry, manufacturing, grew at a 3 percent clip — or more than twice the pace of the overall Twin Cities economy. But manufacturing growth, too, decelerated from earlier years.
For everyone against the smoking ban,
March 23, 2007
On Thursday my wife and I went to Mancini’s for dinner. We have not been there since the ban took place and were only there on Thursday because we had been given a Christmas gift certificate. The place was packed as usual. but with a crowd that was there to eat and run due to the hockey game (7:00 face off) at the Xcel Centre. Once the the buses started running to the Xcel the crowd dwindled rapidly. We naturally expect the tables to fill up rapidly for the regular dinner customers. This however did not happen. The tables did fill up to some degree but there was not the usual waiting line that we had come to expect over the years. Business is definitely off the pace it used to be.
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My wife and I ordered the same dinner we had always had in the past. It consisted of a before dinner cocktail, one shrimp cocktail (that we split), two N.Y. strips, salad, baked potato, and two Brandy Alexanders for after dinner. Our check, including tax and tip, came to $103.50—before taking off the gift certificate. Prior to the smoking ban are bill for the same meal, including tax and tip, ran about $78.00. That amounts to about a $25.00+ increase from menu prices that were in place before the ban. The business at Mancini’s has fallen off and people have been let go since the inception of the smoking ban. —And, the prices have gone up in order to compensate for lost revenues, which is only to be expected.
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The proponents of the ban will gleefully tell an unsuspecting public that tax revenues show that business has not been hurt by the by the ban at all. This statement on the face of it does seem to be true. However, when customer counts go down, prices go up in order to compensate for lost revenue. THIS IS AN IMMUTABLE FACT OF THE RESTAURANT/BAR BUSINESS, and from over 40 years of experience in the restaurant/bar business I can speak with some authority on the topic. The reality of this situation is that tax revenues are totally useless in the true measure of how business is being affected by the smoking ban. The only? meaningful measurement is the comparison of customer counts and revenues (adjusted for price increases) before and after the ban was put in place.
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Mancini’s is a wonderful restaurant and has been in business for well over 50 years. It is truly a landmark in the twin cities. People who started eating at Mancini’s as children are now bringing their grandchildren to dine—that’s what you call brand loyalty. Nick Mancini no longer “mans” the front door but his sons’, John and Pat have taken over those duties and are doing a great job. Naturally, they expect to have highs and lows in their business as part of a normal economic cycle, and they are certainly smart enough to know how to deal with such cycles. Today, however, all restauranteurs are forced to deal with a new form of economic tyranny that is perpetrated by our state government. I will not discuss all the issues as they have been well documented over the past few years.
?
I will say this however. Once a state wide smoking ban becomes entrenched in our society, other bans and government interference will absolutely follow. One need not look any farther the the state of N.Y. That state has taken it upon themselves to ban trans fats. What will be next, a limit as to how much red meat may be served, dessert menus made with sugar substitues and low-fat everything, strict portion control on all items. or limits as to the number of drinks that my be served to customers?
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It is now time for all of us to re-read “1984”, “Brave New World”, and “Animal Farm”. When these books came out they were just fantasies, today they are reality!
?
Bob Halfpenny
Vice President
Minnesotans Against Smoking Bans
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My wife and I ordered the same dinner we had always had in the past. It consisted of a before dinner cocktail, one shrimp cocktail (that we split), two N.Y. strips, salad, baked potato, and two Brandy Alexanders for after dinner. Our check, including tax and tip, came to $103.50—before taking off the gift certificate. Prior to the smoking ban are bill for the same meal, including tax and tip, ran about $78.00. That amounts to about a $25.00+ increase from menu prices that were in place before the ban. The business at Mancini’s has fallen off and people have been let go since the inception of the smoking ban. —And, the prices have gone up in order to compensate for lost revenues, which is only to be expected.
?
The proponents of the ban will gleefully tell an unsuspecting public that tax revenues show that business has not been hurt by the by the ban at all. This statement on the face of it does seem to be true. However, when customer counts go down, prices go up in order to compensate for lost revenue. THIS IS AN IMMUTABLE FACT OF THE RESTAURANT/BAR BUSINESS, and from over 40 years of experience in the restaurant/bar business I can speak with some authority on the topic. The reality of this situation is that tax revenues are totally useless in the true measure of how business is being affected by the smoking ban. The only? meaningful measurement is the comparison of customer counts and revenues (adjusted for price increases) before and after the ban was put in place.
?
Mancini’s is a wonderful restaurant and has been in business for well over 50 years. It is truly a landmark in the twin cities. People who started eating at Mancini’s as children are now bringing their grandchildren to dine—that’s what you call brand loyalty. Nick Mancini no longer “mans” the front door but his sons’, John and Pat have taken over those duties and are doing a great job. Naturally, they expect to have highs and lows in their business as part of a normal economic cycle, and they are certainly smart enough to know how to deal with such cycles. Today, however, all restauranteurs are forced to deal with a new form of economic tyranny that is perpetrated by our state government. I will not discuss all the issues as they have been well documented over the past few years.
?
I will say this however. Once a state wide smoking ban becomes entrenched in our society, other bans and government interference will absolutely follow. One need not look any farther the the state of N.Y. That state has taken it upon themselves to ban trans fats. What will be next, a limit as to how much red meat may be served, dessert menus made with sugar substitues and low-fat everything, strict portion control on all items. or limits as to the number of drinks that my be served to customers?
?
It is now time for all of us to re-read “1984”, “Brave New World”, and “Animal Farm”. When these books came out they were just fantasies, today they are reality!
?
Bob Halfpenny
Vice President
Minnesotans Against Smoking Bans
