LINCOLN, NEB. ? Some restaurant managers were holding their breath this week to see how their patrons would react to the city’s new smoking ban.

Robert Marshall, vice president of Concord Hospitality, which operates the city’s four Applebee’s restaurants, said the early response was overwhelmingly positive.

Marshall said most customers welcomed the ban.

“It was nice,” he said. “They could sit anywhere in the restaurant without smoke floating their way.”

The City Council voted Monday to scrap the smoking ban it passed late last year and go with the original, more rigid ordinance.

The ban applies to all indoor places of employment and indoor public places inside Lincoln.

Some hotel rooms, a business in a private residence and research studies that involve smoking will be exempt from the ban.

The city’s Kawasaki plant is now a smoke-free workplace, said Richard Grundman, plant manager and company vice president.

“We were going to go smoke-free regardless,” he said.

The feedback has been more positive than negative, Grundman said.

Workers were notified of the change earlier this year, he said.

Judy Halstead with the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department said business owners have until Nov. 1 before the department will begin handing out citations. Despite that, businesses are expected and encouraged to comply starting July 13, Halstead said.

Ruby Tuesday, Famous Dave’s, Chili’s, The Olive Garden and Carlos O’Kelly’s have joined Applebee’s in an early ban, Halstead said.

A smoking ban went into effect in Lawrence, Kan., on Thursday. The ban applies to all enclosed facilities within a place of employment.