Restaurants, bars expect changes when new law takes effect
By: Dick Brinster
Eleanor Travia doesn’t like monitoring the habits of her clientele, particularly those who smoke.
But, under a new state law prohibiting indoor smoking in public places, that’s exactly what she’ll be forced to do when her Illusions Go-Go Lounge opens for business Saturday in Florence.
"You know, the ratio of smokers to nonsmokers in my place is 7 to 1," she said. "I think I could lose 50 percent of my business."
The New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act figures to be toughest on bars and restaurants, places where lighting up has been a ritual for centuries. Ms. Travia is sad to see it go and contends that the government is simply making it harder for a small independent to stay in business.
She sells freedom as a much jiggle and booze, and now won’t be able to offer anything different to customers she claims are nonconformists to the hilt.
"I’ll tell you what, I’ve got a blue-collar bar, and if I go over to a 6-foot-4 biker and tell him to put out the cigarette, he’ll put it out all right, right on my carpet," said Ms. Travia, who has owned Illusions for 22 years "And, because he can’t smoke he might not come back."
She’s fed up with over-regulation and legislation she considers totally unnecessary. She argues that no one is forced to enter her bar and that its success only further fills the state’s tax coffers. She said she can’t believe the lawmakers in Trenton can be such bad businessmen.
"They would always get a check for $3,500 for their sales tax," Ms. Travia said. "They says the state’s in trouble. What will they think when that $3,500 is $700?"
She contends that the law in part is aimed at "putting mom and pop businesses like mine" out of business. But most of all, she rues what she considers an invasion of privacy "I’ve been in the bar business for 42 years, and I’ve never had a customer come up to me and say, ‘I’m not coming back here because there’s too much smoke,’ " she said.
Bob Brannigan, who manages Jester’s Café in Bordentown, says the law will force him to be vigilant beyond policing smokers. Those who follow the rules and step outside for a puff in the middle of meal could be the real problem, he insists, alluding to what has happened in other states with bans against smokers.
What if they don’t come back?
"I’ve heard stories about that kind of thing, people going out to have a smoke and never being seen again," he said. "It’s one thing to get stuck for three beers, but an $80 tab, that’s something else."
So, Mr. Brannigan will be taking no chances. He doesn’t want to offend any new customers, but will not run a tab without imprinting a credit card before the first beer or spirit is poured.
He estimates 25 to 30 percent of his business comes from the bar patrons and that about 50 percent of those customers smoke. Now, they will simply be directed out the door to ashtrays on either side of the entrance.

