Why Be Smoke- Free? A Qualitative Study of Smoke-free Restaurant Owner and Manager Opinions

Health Promotion Practice
January 2010 Vol. 11 No. 1, 89-94

This qualitative study captured the opinions of the owners and managers of smoke-free restaurants. The study was initiated by local citizens in North Carolina who were members of a group called Healthy Alamance. Healthy Alamance is a Healthy Carolina partnership. Healthy Carolinas is a community-based partnership designed to improve the health of North Carolinians. This is guided by a Governor's Task Force whose vision is that the health promotion agenda for North Carolina should be developed and owned by a broad coalition of concerned citizens. Healthy Carolinas is based on the concept that community members are most qualified to effectively prioritize the health and safety problems in their community and to plan and execute creative solutions to these problems. Healthy Alamance is devoted to a variety of locally selected health issues, including heart disease and stroke, diabetes, cancer, obesity, and tobacco use and prevention and smoke-free environments.
Using findings from research about smoke-free environments, several approaches were suggested to increase the number of these restaurants. These include sharing data about smoke-free restaurants and the lack of economic harm, working with affected populations, for example, asthmatic children, to advocate for smoke-free environments, and community-wide events to generate media attention about secondhand smoke.
While focusing on these approaches the Healthy Alamance Substance Abuse Task Force implemented a campaign to establish smoke-free environments as a community norm in Alamance County. They educated restaurant owners about actual rates of smokers and the number of patrons who wanted smoke-free environments. They facilitated a process that incorporated community input and media recognition as an incentive for change. Early on the Task Force conducted a telephone poll to determine the number of smoke-free restaurants. At that time 33% of Alamance County restaurants were smoke-free. Many restaurant owners feared that if they became smoke-free they would lose a large number of customers.
By 2004, 45% or 80 of the restaurants were smoke-free. All 80 restaurants fit the criteria for the study and all of the owner/managers of these restaurants were contacted. Respondents were interviewed with the understanding that the description of findings would not reveal their identity or the identity of the restaurant. A total of 70 or 87.5% of the restaurant owners/ managers completed the interview. The interview consisted of pre-selected questions derived from an pilot tested with a small sample of restaurant owners/managers. The questions were based on the study's objectives. These included: (1)What motivated you to become smoke-free? (2)What are the benefits of being smoke-free? and (3)What are the disadvantages of being smoke-free? The investigators concluded that the data isolated economic factors, customer demands and considerations, and environmental issues as the three principal measures describing smoke-free restaurant owners' and managers' motivations for operating smoke-free restaurants.
The majority of respondents indicated no economic loss by being smoke-free. In fact, a number of respondents indicated that business had increased. Respondents also spoke of their customers' appreciation of a smoke-free environment and receiving fewer complaints about smoking from the customers. They also spoke of their employees and of their own values. Many indicated that corporate policy directed or encouraged smoke-free environments. A number of respondents discussed the issues of cleanliness, odor, and damage to the restaurant. Many stated that it was much easier and much less expensive to keep a smoke-free restaurant clean. This was not only true for the interior of the restaurant but also for the exterior in the form of few cigarette butts to clean up outside of the restaurant.
In conclusion, this study found that while several respondents expressed concern of the potential loss of customers, most felt that over time, they gained customers and were prospering. Very few received complaints from customers about being smoke-free. Most felt that they benefited in terms of environmental issues, such as increased cleanliness, and decreased maintenance to buildings and furniture. An underlying theme was that smoke -free policies were good for business. It improved customer turnaround time and appreciation and lowered costs by creating an cleaner, healthier smoke-free environment. This study supports research that contrasts big tobacco's claim that going smoke free would hurt business profits (Alamar & Glantz, 2004).