At the County Seat restaurant in Wheaton, where American flags fly even in the hanging plants, the air has been clear ever since a local smoking ban went into effect this year.
Problem is so have the seats.
Less than a mile up the road in Carol Stream, at the wood-appointed Red Apple Pancake House and Restaurant, there is no such problem — business is up 20 percent.
Like many eateries on both sides of the Wheaton-Carol Stream line, County Seat and Red Apple have seen their mom-and-pop fortunes transform since Wheaton’s smoking ban took root Jan. 2. Waitresses at County Seat, whose place mats promise “a little of Ozzie’s love in every bite!,” have complained that tips are down 60 percent while customers pool at Red Apple for the chance to smoke over breakfast.
Both sides hope a statewide smoking ban passed by the Illinois House on Tuesday will remedy the disparity. Gov. Rod Blagojevich has said he likely will sign the bill, which forbids lighting up in public places such as bars and restaurants.
“Oh, that would be better,” said County Seat owner Anna Bobeski, a Macedonian immigrant who opened the restaurant with her late husband Ozzie 14 years ago. “It would be better for everyone to have it. [Tuesday] was very slow and [Monday], eh, not so good.”
Even Red Apple owner Gus Klangides supports the statewide ban.
“I don’t like to see other places losing business, even if I am gaining it,” he said.
Such customer shifts have grown increasingly common as more than 30 towns and counties across the state have eliminated smoking in restaurants, many next to municipalities that have not. The scenario has played out repeatedly, including in Orland Park, which passed a near total ban on smoking in March, prompting bar and restaurant owners to complain that customers were fleeing to adjacent suburbs.
Tinley Park officials deferred implementation of their smoking ban until June 8, after commissioning a $25,000 study that concluded not all small businesses were likely to survive the ban. Naperville passed a ban, but put off implementing it until Jan. 1. Officials in St. Charles, Geneva and Batavia talked about passing separate smoking bans but only if all three did.
Senate sponsor of the Smoke Free Illinois Act Terry Link (D-Waukegan) said the state bill was introduced to improve public health, but also to iron out the uneven economic impact of localized bans.
In Wheaton, the County Seat is not the only restaurant having problems with the smoking ban. At Seven Dwarfs restaurant, home of the “Beeferella,” a French dip with cheese, business is down $200 to $400 per day without a smoking section, owner Rmzge Sadiku said.
“Maybe they will come back if the ban is all over,” Sadiku said. “No smoking is good, but it has to be everywhere.”
At County Seat, about a third of the tables and a four-stool counter facing the kitchen made up the smoking section until this year.
Now, getting the restaurant beyond half full is cause to celebrate, said Kim Murphy, head waitress for eight years. The loss can be felt mostly at what was once their busiest time: between 8 and 9 a.m., when regulars lounged for hours over breakfast, steaming cups of coffee and cigarettes.
Bread delivery, once taken daily, is now needed only two or three times per week. Though philosophically opposed to a state ban, Murphy said it should help the restaurant.
Everett Cox, 72, a silver-haired retired machinist, still comes in with a paperback thriller and a pack of Pall Malls in his shirt pocket. He steps outside to smoke and concedes he sees fewer of his friends at the diner than he used to.
“I keep coming here because it’s close by,” he said
Wheaton Mayor Jim Carr was among those leading the charge for the citywide ban and is unapologetic for his efforts, though he said the state ban likely would help the restaurants in his town.
“We did it primarily for the health of our citizens,” Carr said. “We tried to work with the affected business to let them know we weren’t trying to hurt them. We’re sad to hear there have been setbacks.”
The face of the setbacks has been Gene Van Marter, 60, a mechanical contractor in Wheaton who smokes and has been patronizing Peppercorns restaurant in Carol Stream instead of his favorite, Seven Dwarfs, since the ban went into effect.
“I always go somewhere I can smoke,” Van Marter said at a table of smoldering cigarettes with several regulars. “A lot of people in trades who are mobile and drive somewhere for lunch, they’ll go farther to smoke.”
Though Peppercorns will be off the table soon enough, it and all of Carol Stream would have remained smoke friendly if not for the state ban. Mayor Ross Ferraro said he never would have endorsed a local measure.
“I wouldn’t do it until the whole region did it,” he said. “Countywide, then I got no problem. Statewide that’s fine, but I’m not going to be the only one because it’s not fair to my businesses. That’s my philosophy. And I used to smoke.”
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jbnoel@tribune.com
