Macomb, IL – A franchise restaurant owner predicts all public places will be smoke-free in a few years. Mike Scanlon is the founder of Applebee's, and owns 30 restaurants in the chain. He told an audience at Western Illinois University that the irrefutable dangers of second-hand smoke could mean liability for restaurants that permit their staff to be exposed to the carcinogen. Scanlon says when he took his restaurants smoke-free, he noted almost no change in income. He says some customers left, but were usually replaced by others. Scanlon helped introduce a clean-air ordinance in Lexington, KY while he was vice mayor here from 2002 to 2006.
Prediction: Public Places All Smoke-Free
