The industry is divided

5 years of the ban in restaurants: can you do without smoke?

Smoking was banned in restaurants five years ago

(Bild: HELMUT FOHRINGER)

For many years, it was the hot topic: five years after the end of smoking in restaurants, the picture is very different. Landlords no longer want smokers, but there is a lack of guests in night-time establishments. The "Krone" asked two restaurateurs.

Five years ago, on November 1, 2019 to be precise, the absolute smoking ban was introduced in restaurants. It was a long road to get there, especially due to the vehement resistance from the industry, which saw its hopes dwindling. But what about now? "Do you want the smoking ban in restaurants to be lifted again?" we asked Karl Wögerer from Feldkirchen an der Donau in Upper Austria and Thomas Altendorfer from Grieskirchen. There were two very different answers.

Kulti landlord and Upper Austrian deputy landlord spokesman Karl Wögerer

(Bild: Einöder Horst)

"Not really. I only smoke a little myself, I vape. Back then, we landlords were all afraid of what would happen to the neighbors if the guests stood outside at night. What's more, the ban on outdoor dining areas from midnight was introduced at the same time," recalls Wögerer: 

"These concerns were dashed. I am also a tobacconist and have noticed a general shift in tobacco consumption. There are fewer real smokers, the young people are using vaporizers and pouches that they put in their mouths. It's basically the same as a nicotine patch."

Karl Wögerer

Fun fact:
 When the girls go outside to smoke, young male non-smokers also swarm out, Wögerer knows. "It's easier to make love at the smoking table."

Only the regulars who smoke and drink a lot are quickly gone: "They're now sitting at home in the garage."

(Bild: Wenzel Markus)

But what about the nightlife?
 Thomas Altendorfer, who currently runs 24... different pubs, says: "The smoking ban has ruined the night-time gastronomy, I have to say that clearly. I just spent a week on vacation in Dubai, where smoking is not an issue. Only here everything is regulated. Everything has actually been done to get smokers out. The population should be given a bit of freedom."

"We miss the smokers"
Altendorfer, who likes to smoke himself, mourns the 30 percent of his fellow countrymen who also smoke: "We just lose them at night."

Krone-Kommentar

Nicht jede Änderung ist schlecht

It was the same for years. When you came back from abroad, you were given a vivid demonstration of what the Austrian way looks like: As a non-smoker you could sit in the next room, but on the way there you often had to fight your way through clouds of smoke.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV, Alexander Schwarzl, Markus Wenzel)

Five years ago, the government finally got its act together and put an end to smoking.

Who longs for those "good" old days? A few stubborn smokers who kill their tarred lungs for good with rattling breaths at the Tschik. Not every change is bad, that's a lesson to be learned.