Smokers can cross 3,300 Taco Bells off the list of places where they can still light up.
Taco Bell is banning smoking at its company-owned restaurants.The fast-food chain, a division of PepsiCo Inc., said it expects about 1,000 of its franchises to follow suit, leaving only about 200 Taco Bells in the nation where smoking is allowed. The ban goes into effect March 28.
Last month, McDonald's banned smoking in its 1,400 company-owned U.S. restaurants and urged its franchises to do the same. More than 3,600 of McDonald's 9,100 U.S. restaurants are now smoke-free.
Last week the Defense Department announced a smoking ban for workplaces ranging from Pentagon offices to tanks, a move affecting 3.6 million civilian and military employees.
Arby's Inc. announced in January it will enforce a no-smoking policy in the 257 restaurants it owns starting this summer.