Maitland, Orlando Restaurants Join Breathe Free as Initiative to Ban Smoking on Patios Expands

Healthy Central Florida, AdventHealth and the Winter Park Health Foundation are pleased to announce the Breathe Free initiative, aimed at voluntarily banning smoking on outdoor restaurant patios, is expanding.

In addition to Winter Park, Breathe Free is now expanding to Maitland and Orlando. Restaurants in these communities join a growing list of nearly 50 establishments that participate in Breathe Free, which kicked off in 2015.

When restaurant's Managers see the statistics that only 7.3 percent of Maitland residents smoke, many quickly make the switch to smoke-free, said Jill Hamilton Buss, Executive Director of Healthy Central Florida. Smoking rates have been steeply declining for years. The business case is easy to make to restaurants because the vast majority of customers are non-smokers.

The 45 restaurants that currently offer smoke-free patios include Ravenous Pig, Dexters, Outback Steakhouse, 4 Rivers and Cocina 214 in Winter Park, as well as Antonios in Maitland and many more.

Smoke and good food don't go together, said Antonios owner and founder Greg Gentile, whose sentiment is shared by many other restaurant proprietors. Its what our customers want.

Healthy Central Florida staff offer full support for the transition to smoke-free for any restaurant wishing to make the switch. That includes a toolkit, free signage, advertising and promotion, and free staff training.

For a full list of restaurants that already Breathe Free, and to learn more about Healthy Central Florida, visit healthycentralflorida.org.

Restaurant's Managers and owners who are interested in joining Breathe Free can contact Hamilton Buss at jhamiltonbuss@healthycf.org or Call407-644-2300.

Breathe Free is an initiative of Healthy Central Florida, a community-based partnership founded by AdventHealth and the Winter Park Health Foundation. Healthy Central Florida partnered with the American Lung Association, the Winter Park Chamber of Commerce, Rollins College and others on Breathe Free to help our communities be the healthiest in the nation.