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Arnold Will Revisit Ban on Smoking in Restaurants
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
3/21/2005
Company executive says decline in business may force Denny's to close
By CATHY LENNY
Special to the Post-Dispatch
The Arnold City Council has agreed to revisit the ban on smoking in restaurants, but only after Denny's restaurant on Drury Lane threatened to close.
The director of operations for 59 Denny's restaurants told the council that the Arnold location has been suffering since the ban took effect.
Sales in Arnold have been down 14 percent to 15 percent, or about $15,000 a month, Jim Abney told the council Thursday night.
He said that Denny's lease is up for renewal in two years and that it is time to renegotiate that contract. The restaurant, which has been in Arnold for 25 years, also is scheduled to be remodeled in 2006, but Denny's has put capital improvements on hold.
"We are reluctant to begin that process," Abney said. "If the current trend in sales doesn't reverse itself, we may have to leave the city of Arnold.
He cited a situation with a Denny's in Fairview Heights in which the restaurant's dwindling sales were unable to contribute to capital funds and had to close.
Kimberly Hunt, general manager of the Arnold Denny's, reported that seven employees there had quit to find other employment because she was unable to give them enough scheduled hours of work. In addition, she said that many regular customers have stopped eating at that Denny's.
Abney asked the city to allow Denny's to have a separate area for smokers, with a ventilation system.
"Our primary business at night is for smokers," Abney said.
Under city ordinance, a bar that derives at least 70 percent of its sales from alcohol and 30 percent or less from food can allow smoking. Only restaurants with bars are allowed to create a separate area partitioned off for smoking, with the proper ventilation system. No smoking at all is allowed in restaurants that don't have bars.
The council voted to bring the ordinance back to the next work session to discuss whether to allow all restaurants to create separate smoking areas.
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