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.

[Hot Tabasco]

I should be forced to inhale your smoke because?

...you were too ignorant to avoid me when you saw me smoking in a privately owned establishment that chose to accomodate you non smokers by installing non-smoking areas and expensive air filtration systems.

But alas, no matter how much you were accomodated it wasn't enough for you was it?

You and your ilk have been demanding for the past 25 years now and we have accomodated you at every turn. Maybe that is the reason we are sick and tired of hearing the whining from you a&&holes........

I have yet to meet a whiner face to face............

[Cultural Jihad]

I have yet to meet a whiner face to face............

"Hello."

[netmilsmom]

>>Only the really, really smart ones...*wink* <<

Oh that can't be, I got it!
(Polish and naturally blonde)

I have to tell you, my MIL is from Bizzaro World. We call her Janet from another Planet. However the nicest thing she ever gave me (because she didn't want it anymore) was a Wonka Bar candy making kit WITH wrappers and Golden Tickets included! (circa 1970's)
Well I guess everyone has to have some use.

[Hot Tabasco]

LOL!@ Thanks, I needed a little humor this week......

[Paved Paradise]

I'm familiar with the term "nazi" but not "gnatzie." I asked for a list of restaurants and you gave me the lame comment to look in the phone book in Toledo. Instead of reading things so literally, why don't you consider the spirit of what someone writes. No implication was meant that there are NO non-smoking restaurants; I know there are plenty in California for instance, but I do not know of ANY. The Toledo phonebook is of no use or help to me.

Sometimes when I read the crap on FR, I begin to understand why people hate us.

[Paved Paradise]

Gabz - the sad news for you, I'm afraid, is that due to your addiction, stubbornness, lack of will, or whatever, you fail to see the reality of what smoking is doing to you. You can expound all you like about freedoms and blah, blah, blah, but do you want your children to be smokers? Do you want them to marry smokers? Do you want their children to become smokers? Reasonable smokers will tell you that they don't have the will to quit or they like the high they get, or they don't want to gain weight or any number of reasons. They can at least admit that they know it's bad for them. I really do feel sorry for you because you apparently are having difficulty with this. If you are old, then perhaps you don't care anymore, but if you are young, why don't you do yourself the best favor you could ever do (and save money in the process).

[CSM]

Then you have more than one option, google for non smoking restaurants, heck you might even find some organizations that you would like to join, or open up a non smoking restaurant. I would not frequent it, but I would defend your right to do so.

A gnatzie is an anti-smoking gnat that needs a swattin'.

I really am glad that people like you are on this earth to tell others what they should be doing with their lives. I am so glad that the morally superior are so much smarter than the rest of us commoners to point out our faults.