The Berrien County Health Department is applauding a decision by the Bob Evans restaurant chain to make all of its locations smoke free by the end of the month. Prevention Specialist Kerri Teachout says that the company decided to stamp out smoking at all of its restaurants -- including the one on Pipestone in Benton Harbor -- after studying customer comments, local trends, and data from the US Surgeon General's office. She hopes the move signals a trend in the restaurant industry to ban smoking voluntarily...and already, she says,more restaurants in Berrien County are showing interest in going smoke free:
Listen:
Bob Evans operates 571 restaurants in 18 states. Although the company expects to lose a little business initially because of the move, it expects positive customer reaction will push business back up within a few months.
