The cost of complying with the new tobacco laws is forcing some restaurants to ban smoking entirely.
The regulations allow public places to enclose a quarter of their floor space for smokers, but the hospitality industry is opting to become non-smoking rather than pay for extensive renovations required to comply with the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Act.
Restaurants, coffee shops and franchises say the alterations would ruin the aesthetics of their establishments. Small businesses say they cannot afford them.
The act came into effect on Friday and stipulates that a maximum of a quarter of space in public places may be set aside for smoking, but only if it is set apart by a partition and has separate ventilation.
Already, the Federated Hospitality Association of South Africa is taking legal advice on the possibility of taking the health department to court.
"As far as we're concerned, it discriminates against small business," said Fedhasa executive director Willem Fick.
He said small businesses generally had small profit margins and could not afford to make structural alterations the law required to be complete by the beginning of next year.
Even large establishments said money was a problem.
Terence Roels, spokesperson for Creative Coffees, which operates the House of Coffees franchise, said: "The costs involved in complying with the regulations are pretty onerous."
Franchise outlets had been advised to go non-smoking, Roels said. "You can't erect four walls in the middle of a restaurant. It's going to totally destroy the aesthetics of it."
Other franchise operations are giving similar advice.
Spur Steak Ranches MD Pierre van Tonder said: "If our franchisees cannot comply with the 25 percent regulation, we encourage our outlets to become non-smoking environments."
Wimpy MD Darren Hele said: "We're using the next three months as an opportunity to test various options."
Most business owners were uncertain about what to expect from customers, although most believed that the majority of smokers would obey the law.
Wandie's Place in Dube, Soweto, switched to a non-smoking policy last year. Manager Peter Maropeng said there had not been a loss in customers.