Mike Scanlon, President & CEO of the Thomas and King restaurant company, started out his business with two partners by borrowing $20,000 each on their credit cards. Talk about high risk financing in a high risk business! Now his company operates 95 Applebee’s and Johnny Carino’s restaurants in three states. Either Scanlon was damn lucky, or he’s a pretty savvy businessman.
On Tuesday, April 10, Scanlon talked to a crowd at Western Illinois University and dispelled the idea that public smoking bans are bad for the restaurant business. Scanlon says he’s seen little evidence of that. All of Scanlon’s restaurants have been smoke-free for three years. That includes restaurants in Kentucky, the heart of the tobacco belt!
JoAnn Hairston-Jones of the Beu Health Center told the Western Courier that Scanlon also fought to pass one of the most comprehensive indoor clean air ordinances in the country … in Lexington, Kentucky! He served as vice mayor of Lexington from 2002-2006.
Scanlon’s conversion to the smoke-free cause was stimulated by a local public smoking ban. According to the Journal Star article (bold emphasis mine):
Scanlon said the smoke-free idea started when some of the company’s Arizona restaurants were required to ban smoking by a local ordinance. He began to notice those restaurants felt cleaner, and there was no difference in their profit and loss statements compared to those that allowed smoking.
And that was a LOCAL ban, not a state-wide ban! So much for the picture of economic doom & gloom perpetuated by Big Tobacco mouthpieces like the Illinois Licensed Beverage Association.
Money Quote from Scanlon via the Western Courier:
As a public official, I believed that clean-air ordinances are the right thing to do because they are necessary to protect the health of our citizens. As a businessman, I believe it’s the right thing to do because they demonstrate that concern for our employees and our customers is good for business.
Defend the public health and non-smokers’ rights by supporting the Smoke Free Illinois Act!
4 responses so far ↓
1
Brian A. Graham
// Apr 13, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Check out today’s editorial in the Chicago Tribune here Compare their editorial position with the PJS and their various columinists.
As for the “doom and gloom” that is standard operating procedure concerning any form of regulation.
2
knightindragonland
// Apr 13, 2007 at 10:34 pm
Luciano is the most annoying of the JS columnists on this topic … especially when he makes pathetic attempts at being scientific.
3
Chef Kevin
// Apr 15, 2007 at 9:05 am
But it was HIS business decision to go smoke free, it wasn’t the government FORCING him to go smoke free. If the government FORCED him to serve $35 a case French fries instead of $15 a case French Fries costing him $20 a case for each case of fries sold at Applebees (wouldn’t we all like to have THAT chunk of change
), I bet his tune would be different.
4
knightindragonland
// Apr 15, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Going smoke-free doesn’t cost the restaurant owner anything, especially if the ban is statewide. I don’t agree with ordinances that mandate special ventilations systems. That would be an inordinate expense on the business owner … and nothing can eliminate SHS exposure except not smoking at all. Ventilation changes are ineffective.
Yes, this ordinance may kill a few smoky dives, although I haven’t seen much reliable evidence in that regard. Frankly, I’m OK with that. The owners of those establishments need to smell the winds of change and make the necessary adjustments if they want their businesses to keep going.
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