Café Mao, Gabalfa, Cardiff

Ciabattas…
not cigarettes

As a non-smoker, café owner Jim Meah had been looking for a while at a number of options to cut down on cigarette smoke in his busy Cardiff café. Located next to the headquarters of Companies House in north Cardiff, Café Mao had built up a booming lunchtime trade over the past three years. Companies House smokers saw the café as something of a refuge and would come in their droves, but second-hand smoke was not what Mr Meah or his staff wanted as ‘tips’ for their hard work.

He tried a purifier to cleanse the air but it didn’t work, he tried segregating smokers but this was hopeless. The only option left open to him was to ban smoking altogether. However, before doing so he wanted to know how this might impact on his trade. A questionnaire was handed out to his regulars asking whether they would still continue to eat at the café if a smoking ban was implemented. The results were rather frustrating – a direct 50/50 split!

Mr Meah took the brave step and decided to go with the non-smokers and ban smoking altogether in May 2006. A risky strategy but one which has reaped incredible dividends, “It was a tough decision to make as technically I was pitting myself against 50% of my customers.

“However, I haven’t looked back and trade is up at least 15% since going smoke-free. What I have found is that where in the past smokers would only order a tea or coffee with their fags, that they also now order food as do the non-smokers. The smokers, despite their concerns are still coming but now smoke outside instead.”