John Heller, Post-Gazette photos The "No Smoking" sign greets customers as they enter the Eat 'n Park on Banksville Road. Click photo for larger image.
	This glass partition that once cordoned off a smoking section will be coming down next week. Click photo for larger image.

The Eat'n Park restaurant chain became smoke-free yesterday, despite inconclusive results from a two-month trial run of the policy at five locations.

At a news conference to announce the change, President Jeff Broadhurst said he didn't know what the ultimate impact would be on sales.

But "this is not a financial decision," he said. "It is a decision to do what is right for our team members and guests."

Most guests interviewed yesterday applauded the new policy. Bernadette Ankeney, 63, of Murrysville, who had lunch yesterday at the Eat'n Park along Route 22 in Murrysville, said she eats there three or four times a month. A former smoker, she said the smoking in the Eat'n Park bothered her until the restaurant was recently remodeled.

"Smelling smoke doesn't make me want a cigarette. It almost makes me sick," she said. "And I hate the smell in my hair, in my clothes. Besides, people come to Eat'n Park with their babies and older people with health problems. They don't need that either."

Robert Lorenzo, 52, a smoker from Mississippi, was at the Swissvale Eat'n Park, where he lit a cigarette as soon as he walked out of the restaurant.

Had the nonsmoking policy not been in place, he said, he would have asked to have been seated in the smoking section and would have had a cigarette before his meal and another afterward. Yet the policy didn't bother him and affect his choice of where to eat.

"Just because I'm going to do a filthy habit, I shouldn't force my smoke on you," he said. "That's just not right."

But Wayne Cunningham, 38, of Turtle Creek, and Joy Dobbins, 40, of Banksville, who stopped at the Eat'n Park on Banksville Road for dinner last night, were unaware of the nonsmoking policy -- and both expressed their displeasure.

"I don't like it," Ms. Dobbins said as she stamped out a cigarette in the parking lot. "I'll probably go somewhere else. Somewhere where I can smoke after I eat.

"They already had us in a glass box," she said of the restaurant's former smoking section. "Why'd they have to go and change?"

Local officials and health experts praised the change.

"This was a significant move on their part, considering that it's not mandatory," said Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato during the news conference. "I also think it's a golden opportunity to put pressure back on the state, [because] a statewide ban is the only equitable way to do this."

"It sends a very important message when a Pittsburgh institution as well-respected and large as this steps forward and says this is the right thing to do for health purposes," said county Health Director Dr. Bruce Dixon. "Many times it's a snowball effect. It takes one person to stick their neck out a little bit and say, 'Let's do this because it is the right thing to do.' "

And as Cindy Thomas, executive director of Tobacco Free Allegheny, noted, the decision was announced on "World No Tobacco Day."

A state court ruled recently that Allegheny County did not have the authority to implement a local ordinance prohibiting smoking in restaurants and other workplaces, but Eat'n Park locations in Bridgeville, McKnight Road, Pittsburgh Mills, South Hills Village and Wexford had already been smoke-free for weeks.

"We learned during our test the core of our customer base appreciated the smoke-free environment in our restaurants," Mr. Broadhurst said. "We also have many longtime guests we know are not going to be happy with our decision."

All 79 sites in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio have been extensively cleaned, either professionally or by staff, so that no one would ever know that smoking had been allowed, he added.

The total cost of the cleanup will likely come to between $130,000 to $150,000, Mr. Broadhurst said. A year-long smoking cessation program that includes one-on-one coaching is being offered to the smokers among the chain's 7,000 employees, Mr. Broadhurst said.

According to SmokeFree Pennsylvania, some national chains, such as Panera Bread, Starbucks and Taco Bell don't permit smoking in any of their restaurants. Others, including McDonald's and Pizza Hut, are smoke-free in company-owned restaurants and recommend that policy in franchises.

Denny's restaurants, of which there are nine in Allegheny County and 37 statewide, generally have smoking and nonsmoking sections unless a local smoking ordinance is in place, explained Debbie Atkins, public relations director for the Spartanburg, S.C.-based chain.

With 41 restaurants in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia, Altoona-based Hoss's Steak and Sea House, has been smoke-free since 1999, said spokeswoman Billie Jo Walls. Although prior to that there were separate sections for smoking, nonsmoking customers complained they could still smell tobacco.

For now, because of the uncertainty around the possibility of a statewide ban, the Kings Family Restaurants chain is "going to maintain the status quo with regard to smoking," meaning there will continue to be smoking and nonsmoking sections, said spokesman Paul Furiga.

The issue is looming large for Kings because of an extensive renovation plan in which "every single restaurant over the course of the next several years is going to be completely redone," he added.

Bills for a statewide smoking ban are working their way through the House and Senate. The latter could be voted on this month, according to sponsor Sen. Stewart Greenleaf, R-Montgomery.

"There's more likelihood it's going to happen this time than there ever has been in the past," Dr. Dixon said. "There's an awful lot of effort being put on the legislature to do something. [But] I don't want to see exceptions for casinos and for this and that. We need to have it for everybody if we're going to do it."