October 25, 2006 2:19PM # Smoking Ban — without Government By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE A *Washington Post* [Food column](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/24/AR2006102400235.html) notes that going smoke-free pays off for restaurants. Which raises again the question of why we need a one-size-fits-all government ban, when customers are fully capable of sending signals to entrepreneurs. > **WHERE THERE’S SMOKE, THERE ARE SEATS FREE:** Being the businessman that he is, restaurateur **Tony Stafford** doesn’t like the sight of vacant tables in his sprawling **Bonefish Grill** (6315 Multiplex Dr., Centreville; 703–815-7427). Yet plenty of booths in the chain seafood restaurant’s 50-seat bar routinely go unused when customers notice cigarette smoke there. “They turn down immediate seating,” sometimes waiting an hour or longer for a table in the dining room, the managing partner reports. As a result, the establishment is going smoke-free Nov. 1. With winter on the horizon, and hoping to retain regulars who smoke, “I’ve promised to buy them a heater for the patio outside.” ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).