Hoosier restaurant owners can breathe a fresh sigh of relief in a new study released by the Center for Disease Control. Studies in Indiana along with eight other states concluded that no significant association between smoke-free laws and employment or sales exists.
Tobacco Coordinator for Healthy Communities of LaPorte County, Brandi Wright, spoke optimistically about the implications of this data.
“This data will now provide us with a well-informed response for business owners who are concerned about the financial impact of making their bars smoke-free,” Wright said.
Indiana laws currently exempt qualifying organizations from participating in the law. However, communities had already begun to implement municipal and countywide smoke-free laws both prior to and after the statewide law.
Owner Scott Wise of Scotty’s Brewhouse of Muncie discovered when opened a new location in Bloomington which is a smoke-free municipality the new business outperformed the original location.
When Wise put the proposition of opting to become smoke-free in his Muncie location he was met with a positive response from his staff and customers. So he tested out a smoke-free policy in a community that did not have one.
“I got to see firsthand how successful our restaurants and bar operated as a smoke-free entity versus other restaurants in bars in the same city that still allowed smoking,” Wise said.
Healthy Communities of LaPorte County’s Tobacco Coalition readily partners with organizations that are seeking to implement smoke-free policies in their businesses.
Healthy Communities of LaPorte County empowers individuals and organizations in the common interest of public health. Our scope of community work includes health insurance coverage, tobacco cessation programs, public health interests, and literacy.
For more information on the CDC study please visit: http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2013/12_0327.htm
To join the Tobacco Coalition email: brandi@healthycommunitieslpc.org