Some Waffle House restaurants in Winston-Salem, N.C., have banned customers and employees from smoking, a controversial move in a region that is home to the nation's biggest tobacco companies.

Bloomberg News reported Jan. 26 that Waffle House franchise owner Gary Fly has been testing the no-smoking policy at five of his 37 restaurants since the end of October; he plans to make the ban permanent in four locations despite mixed reviews from customers.

"I get complaints all the time," said Waffle House waitress Lakreshia Coplen. "They can't believe they can't smoke here in the tobacco capital."

"We're not trying to be crusaders," said Fly. "We're trying to appeal to as many people as we can." While some customers said they would no longer eat at Waffle House if they could not smoke, others told Fly they had stopped going to his restaurants because they left smelling like smoke. "We lost some business, but we will get families and people who don't smoke as new customers," he said.

A bill that would have banned indoor smoking in some North Carolina restaurants died in the state legislature last year.