While extant research on the impacts of smoke-free legislation on hospitality employees and industries has centered on developed countries, the research on the effects of smoking bans in transition countries has received very little attention. Hoping to assist in filling this void, this research empirically explores the relationships among cafe employees' attitudes, demographics, work-related variables (WRV), and job satisfaction after the introduction of a smoke-free legislation in one transition economy, i.e. Croatia. results revealed that gender, education, age, cafe seating allocation, hospitality work experience, smoking status, average weekly workload, and the cafe area served were for the most part not significant in explaining different attitudes toward a smoking ban. However, respondents' preferred cafe smoking policy somewhat influenced how respondents view the smoking ban. In terms of respondents' preferred cafe smoking policy, results revealed no significant differences in regards to demographics and WRV. In regards to job satisfaction, staff with more positive post-implementation attitudes towards the ban exhibit somewhat higher levels of satisfaction with the current job. Overall, respondents appear willing to make concessions for both pro- and anti-smoking patrons, staff, and owners/managers. Therefore, lawmakers should consider population characteristics, seating allocation, and the combination thereof when devising cafe smoking policies.