Ban on smoking has already cut pub sales by 10%

Restaurants that applied for a transition period have benefited from the new smoke-free legislation

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By Jarmo Huhtanen
     
      The new law on smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants, which was introduced in June of last year, has led to a clear decline in bar sales.
      HOK-Elanto, which owns and operates more than 100 bars and restaurants in the Greater Helsinki area, reports that income from bar sales since last July has been consistently around 10 per cent down on the equivalent monthly figures in 2006.
     
A similar picture is drawn by other publicans and restaurateurs in the region who were interviewed by Helsingin Sanomat.
      "The feedback from those establishments where liquid rather than solid refreshments were uppermost in the minds of clientele has been that customer numbers are down, and the average spending has also decreased”, notes Jouko Heinonen, VP, Restaurants for HOK-Elanto, a part of the S-Group.
      Heinonen states by contrast that sales of food have increased in the chain’s eateries. "If the new legislation has caused this, then it has had a positive impact."
     
"When one looks at customer behaviour patterns, then this [the introduction of the law last June] has been an important change in Finnish restaurant history", comments Heinonen.
      He nevertheless is confident that people will find their way back to restaurants and bars. "The Finns are not going to stop drinking."
      Ari Hytönen, who owns several restaurants in the Kallio district of town, says that the trend in sales has varied from one place to another.
      The new law has most noticeably affected Hytönen’s Roskapankki and Tenkka pubs, both of which have smoking booths. In each case, bar sales have dropped off by 10% or more.
      Heimo Keskinen, the Chairman of the Board of another chain, Ravintola-Kolmio, estimates that the 10% ballpark figure for the drop is about the average for the trade. "The swings have been from 5 to 20%".
     
Last June, bars and restaurants had three alternative courses of action when the new law came in: a complete ban on smoking, constructing an area for smokers in line with the new regulations, or applying for a two-year transitional grace period.
      The two-year delay was granted to those establishments that had the sort of structures in place that met previous rules, in the sense of preventing the passage of smoke to a smoke-free area.
     
The Sinebrychoff Sales Director Janne Mattinen confirms that the new legislation has been evident in the brewery’s sales to restaurants.
      Mattinen estimates the decline in sales to the sort of "beer-driven" suburban bars has been of the order of 5 to 10 per cent.
      He believes those establishments that sought and received a two-year grace period have benefited considerably from the situation. Smoking booths have done little or nothing to affect sales.
     
The fall in customer throughput in lounges and drinking restaurants has also been noticed in the monthly returns of RAY, the state-run Slot Machine Association.
      RAY has rteported that as soon as the new law came into effect, gambling on fruit machines and the like in restaurants dropped off by around 10%.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 9.2.2008

More on this subject:
 Smoking legislation has not driven customers away from downtown bars

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Cigarettes to be stubbed out in Finnish bars and restaurants tonight (31.5.2007)

Links:
  Nearly 80 restaurants have permission for year-round terraces (3.12.2007)

JARMO HUHTANEN / Helsingin Sanomat
jarmo.huhtanen@hs.fi