Studies have found that SFA policies do not adversely affect restaurant/bar revenues or alcohol sales (Collins et al., 2010; Eriksen & Chaloupka, 2007), and this might seem to contradict findings by us and others that SFA policies are associated with reduced alcohol consumption. Smoke-free policies might affect alcohol consumption by reducing the prevalence and intensity of smoking more generally rather than in specific venues such as bars and restaurants. In other words, the degree of reduction of consumption in bars and restaurants due to smoke free policies may be negligible, but this does not preclude the possibility of reduction in total per capita consumption.
