Applebee's will ban smoking

Tribune Chronicle ^ | 05/11/04 | Staff, wire reports

[MissTargets]

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Applebee's restaurants in Niles and Boardman will be among those in Ohio that will go nonsmoking after a decision by Thomas and King, the nation's 11th-largest restaurant operator, the company announced Monday.

The policy at the Niles restaurant will take effect Monday and be implemented at all stores by month's end, the company said. Robert Holmes, 83, of Warren said he'd like to see other restaurants follow Applebee's lead in the no-smoking policy.

''Second-hand smoke is known to be bad for people,'' Holmes said Monday at the Eastwood Mall. ''Smoking spoils my dinner.''

Holmes, a former tobacco user, said he has eaten at Applebee's in Niles several times.

Besides Ohio, the smoking ban also will take effect at the franchise company's Applebee's and Johnny Carino's restaurants in Kentucky, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Indiana locations, the company said. Franchises owned by other operators would not be affected.

Mike Scanlon, Thomas and King's chairman and chief executive officer and vice-mayor of Lexington, was a vocal supporter of the city's indoor smoking ban that went into effect April 27. Scanlon said the timing of the company's action was coincidental.

''I can see both sides of the issue,'' Scanlon said. ''However, as a businessman, I need to listen to my customers and do what I believe is right for my business.

''While this decision will inconvenience a small percentage of our customers, I am certain that our new policy will attract many new customers who are seeking a smoke-free dining experience,'' he added.

Some of Thomas and King's nearly 80 restaurants already are smoke-free, including those in cities with municipal smoking bans such as Lexington and Tucson, Ariz. Scanlon said three restaurants the company has opened in the last year - one each in Arizona, Ohio and Kentucky - are smoke-free by choice.

Six months ago, the company banned smoking for employees. Scanlon said two of the company's nearly 6,000 workers quit over the issue.

Applebee's, based in Overland Park, Kansas, operates about one-third of its locations with the rest run as franchises.

[TankerKC]

Looks like another restaurant I have to avoid.

...and another that I will go to more frequently. This is the way business work. The government stays out (Applebees made their own business decision), and we'll see how it works for Applebees.

[Gabz]

I think it's great that Applebee's made the decision without the government forcing them to do so.

I just hope they don't do in the places they went smoke free what they did in Delaware................push the government mandated smoking ban on other establishments.

[Great Dane]

No problem when owner decides, it's government mandating thas wrong.

[Paved Paradise]

Your comments to me basically substantiate my theory that smoking kills off brain cells. When you put your hand on a hot surface, you recoil (instinct, built right in); when you are faced with side-stream, or second-hand, or whatever name you wish to give to it, smoke, your natural instinct is to recoil, cough, or escape it. None of this happens when near cooking smoke and some of the other "smoke" you mentioned. Burning of chemicals and other harmless things, of course, one might experience the same thing.

Instead of giving me a hard time, why don't you focus that energy on giving up that nasty, smelly habit of yours and admit that, while you may enjoy it, it is very likely killing you. Furthermore, you are an addict and the moment you cease to smoke, you are in withdrawal. All of your vitals change correspondingly - blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, etc. I worked in the medical field for years and have read enough studies, publications, and other health-related journals regarding the ill effects of smoking to know that "it's bad."

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

I dont have any smoking ralted illnesses, and I have not passed away from any such illness. Nor do I know anyone with any smoking related illnesses or anyone who has passes away from any such illnesses. I find that interesting, since I know an awful lot of long time smokers. If smokers were dying off in record numbers like we are told, why haven't I seeen any?

My mother thought like you also.

She is having a third of her right lung removed and her lymph glands taken out. She is a life long smoker. I have always begged her to stop. When I was young my brother and I were wheezy asthmatic children, but once we left the home we were fine.

So my mother is in advanced stages of smoking related lung cancer at 61 because cigarettes were more important than her health or her family's.

[MissTargets]

and another that I will go to more frequently

That's cool. Your choice. One thing the restaurant owners should be happy about. They can push more thru, by not having all those smokers sitting around taking up space, having their after dinner "smoke".

[Bogey]

We are in the healthcare business so I know how much medication is sold to people who smoke. It isn't a pretty sight. I also volunteer with our local Community Hospice. I can tell you that many of the patients would give anything to get a second chance at a smoke-free life.

---

Is that why so many nurses and doctors smoke?

[MissTargets]

Oh ok...gotcha. My bad choice of words. ;)

[MissTargets]

The Government certainly has been successful, pitting people against each other.

[cibco]

Marker

[SheLion]

I've asked it before and i'll ask it again, I wonder how many tobacco champions here at FR have smoking related illnesses and how many have passed away from such illness?

For your information: I went for my yearly physical this past Monday.  I started smoking when I was 16.  I'm well over 40. Monday, my blood pressure was perfect.............my pulse rate..........perfect.............my lung sounds.........clear as a bell.............my heart sounded GREAT..........I am a little gal.  And not fat or obese.  I eat very little red meat.  The Doctor knows I smoke.  And she didn't "harp" on it.  When she examined me and knew that I was still in great shape (for a smoker! heh) she didn't say NOTHING about "Oh my God, you have to quit!"

All the ills of the world can't be blamed on SMOKING you know!

[SheLion]

SMOKERS' CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STATE ECONOMY

CIGARETTES DON’T PAY TAXES –  SMOKERS DO!!

The BIG LIE That Smoking is an Economic Burden To Society

Select Your State to Find Out Just What Smokers Pay Into The Economy

[SheLion]

Why would I waste my time trying to explain that to you?

You can't.

[SheLion]

The BIG LIE That Smoking is an Economic Burden To Society

[SheLion]

Should non-smokers, tee-totalers, and faithful monogamous heterosexuals have to pay higher premiums to cover the heath care costs of skmokers, drunks and homosexual prostitutes?

Why not??? The smokers can't carry the burden for EVERYthing! It is time for the rest of you to start carrying YOUR share.

[SheLion]

Invisible here in Utah, where all public eateries are smoke-free.

My daugher and hubby who live in Denver, are planning a vaction in Utah come June. Both are smokers. And Boy! They are not going to like hearing this one bit!

But it's my duty to let them know. And I just emailed them.

[SheLion]

Smoking around people with asthma is outright wrong. I've never had that problem because I only know one person with asthma and she is also a smoker.

SMOKING AND ASTHMA

"We've all heard that smoking and second-hand smoke cause asthma, but a growing body of evidence is challenging the veracity of this old saw. The most recent study to exonerate smoking and tobacco smoke as a cause of asthma was published in the British Medical Journal July 8, 2000."

[Rebelbase]

"All the ills of the world can't be blamed on SMOKING you know!"

Duh, Of course. OTOH, Emphysema and lung cancer show a preference for long term smokers.

[netmilsmom]

I had a cousin who was never a smoker, never lived with a smoker and died of lung cancer. Go figure.

Being a social smoker (when I drink, almost never now with kids and around other smokers) I have two choices in my genes. On my Dad's side, they die of cancer relatively young. On my Mom's side they live FOREVER but the mind goes early.

I'll choose the early cancer.

[netmilsmom]

>>We've all heard that smoking and second-hand smoke cause asthma, but a growing body of evidence is challenging the veracity of this old saw. The most recent study to exonerate smoking and tobacco smoke as a cause of asthma was published in the British Medical Journal July 8, 2000."<<

My best friend had a baby in 1984. Her mother was the head of Pediatrics at a local hospital. She got on her daughter about smoking every moment of her pregancy. The boy ended up with Asthma. The mother took the daughter and the boy to the best specialist in the city. When the diagosis came back Asthma, the mother flipped out screaming that my friend caused it. My friend was in tears.
The specialist turned to the mother and said, "No, you are wrong. You need to do some research." and handed the mother a report which backed his words. When she left in a huff, the specialist turned to my friend and said, "I run into non-smokers like this all the time."