Opening A Hookah Lounge

[greeknate88]

I agree with jetzer, although don't make it too crammed.

Also, its important to have ethnic drinks such as tea and arabic coffee. And Grape leaves are a delicious food that isnt expensive to make but really tasty and would prolly be pretty popular. By grape leaves I mean leaves filled with meat and rice, as well as other spices.

[ronald_dooley]

I agree with jetzer, although don't make it too crammed.

Also, its important to have ethnic drinks such as tea and arabic coffee. And Grape leaves are a delicious food that isnt expensive to make but really tasty and would prolly be pretty popular. By grape leaves I mean leaves filled with meat and rice, as well as other spices.

I love that, lol. The Greek guy insists that you get grape leaves! Seriously, though... they are awesome. Definitely have some Middle Eastern food available. The good thing is that so much yummies can be acquired and served cold. No need for a cook staff.

Hummus
Tabouli
Pita bread
baklava
grape leave wraps
etc.
etc.

Serve with some nice, sweet mint tea... and people will keep coming back for more!

- Ronald

[Santino]

I agree with jetzer, although don't make it too crammed.

Also, its important to have ethnic drinks such as tea and arabic coffee. And Grape leaves are a delicious food that isnt expensive to make but really tasty and would prolly be pretty popular. By grape leaves I mean leaves filled with meat and rice, as well as other spices.

MMMMMM dolmathes

[mobbed]

make it shitty with ice lighting and youll attract those shitty people

[greeknate88]

I agree with jetzer, although don't make it too crammed.

Also, its important to have ethnic drinks such as tea and arabic coffee. And Grape leaves are a delicious food that isnt expensive to make but really tasty and would prolly be pretty popular. By grape leaves I mean leaves filled with meat and rice, as well as other spices.

MMMMMM dolmathes

Lol, I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds these delicious.

[Canon]

no christmas lights.

have a way to seperate people if they want some privateness, like make walls out of see through cloth. have like 2-4 private areas where people could be with a few friends without worrying about others coming over. you can also do a vip section where people would have to pay a good amount of money to go in the area, a stripper pole is not a bad idea in the vip section (went to a bar that had one and it was aweseome).

if your going to play the good music might aswell have a small area for dancing. the bar i went to in albuquerque didnt have that but they eventually made a little area where people could dance. and your bar sounds alot like the bar im talking about with the red walls and the music.

also couches and big comfortable chairs are your way to go. make sure they are dark blue, red or black. and have little cheap wood tables to keep the hookah on. make sure the tables are solid and in good relative position to the couches/chairs. also another idea is have comfortable ottomans so that if the couches are full then people can sit on those and chill with friends..

thats about it.

[NickReppinThe909]

I agree with jetzer, although don't make it too crammed.

Also, its important to have ethnic drinks such as tea and arabic coffee. And Grape leaves are a delicious food that isnt expensive to make but really tasty and would prolly be pretty popular. By grape leaves I mean leaves filled with meat and rice, as well as other spices.

hell yea you cant go wrong with grape leaves and turkish coffee, and hummus and babaganoush are good ideas too and some helba and yansoon would kickass too

im diggin the greek flag nate +1 for being proud of your heritage

[peterjmag]

Just to play devil's advocate for a minute, I'm going to disagree with jezter.

I think you should aim for an atmosphere of class and professionalism, pretty much like you described. While I agree that the demographic that you find on a forum like this consists mostly of the "hookah elite," I don't think that you need to cater to the opposite, "lower classes" in order to get decent business. A subtly decorated, nicely kept hookah lounge may not attract college age druggies like a nightclub-like lounge would; actually, I think you'll attract the kinds of people that you actually want in your hookah bar: those that will respect your shop and the people in it. That way, your customers will consist not only of hookah enthusiasts like us, but also respectable people of all ages that may not know anything about hookah and are eager to learn.

There are two hookah bars in my city. While one tends to cater to a slightly younger crowd, they both discourage the kinds of crowds that jezter's talking about. They are hookah bars for hookah, not for loud music and underage kids, and they are both doing quite well.

I'm going to go against the majority here.

This place is full of dedicated, honest, and decent Hookah smokers looking to uphold the traditional values associated with the hookah and prevent misconception of NHT abuse.

We, however, are a huge damn minority in a hookah bar. Look at yourself, and your expected clientele.

Chances are 80-90% of your customers will be 18-24 college age kids, generally 75% male. 97% of those college kids do not care about the traditional side of hookah. This is (if under 21 is allowed) basically a under21 'club' scene. People will go to hear hip hop/electronica and hang out with other college kids, looking at cute college girls that show up. They will come in half or flully drunk. They will come in because the hookah looks like an NHT device. They will use the hookah as a 'legal' way to look cool like they're a bunch of stonerheads, but it's cheap and easy to get.

My hookah lounge has white curtains and a blue lighting all around. It's called ICE and it looks like ICE. There are cramped couches with some ottoman/stools so you can fit maximum rich white kids in the door, pack em like it's a college party, and charge $7 per hose.

Did I like it? Hell no.

Did 30 other people like it? Hell yes.

They spent much more than I did. This forum is a distinct group of 'advanced' people - it's like having microbrew afficianados at a bud lite 25c bottle night. The kids that go and get wasted on the bud lite spend money, the beer snobs sit and drink 2 or 3 beers and go home.

Go after the money!!

[lonequid]

I'm looking to open a lounge around my university as well. I'm still in the planning/research phase and I'm trying to get an idea of what I need to do besides the lounge itself. I know I need a tobacco and resale license, but I'm not too sure exactly what else would be needed. Can one of the current owners just give a few tips/suggestions as to what should be done/obtained before actually working on the lounge itself?

[melanko]

I'm also in California. Where exactly are you going to be located at?

[jezter6]

I'm certainly not saying that he should turn the place into a night club that happens to have hookah.
I'm saying to know your audience, and if that's the neighborhood the lounge is in, that is what will show up.

Hookah elite are very nice, and we would love a place like that. However, pending where you are, there are not enough of us to maintain a business. However, the place I went this weekend did cater more to the young college crowd and was making money hand over fist.

I want a nice relaxing, more traditional place to smoke in quiet so I can talk and chill and smoke. However, me (and all the people I know in this town) that would be into that, are not enough to sustain this guy's business. I'm just trying to give him ideas that would generate more income. Does it come with more headache and hassle? Yes. Is it not what we purists would like?? Yep.

[yashman19]

Unless I missed a edit to the OP, I would like to third/forth the request to see where this lounge will be located in CA. Near Sac smoker here.

[mathuv]

well i used to go to a place as described by jezter and you know what? all the underage drunk kids thinking theyre getting "stoned" off shisha pissed me off. I don't know if its the same with america but here theres a problem with underage drinking..the place used to be packed and charged €10 a bowl of shisha. i got friendly with the guy and used to pay for 1 bowl and get the rest free, but now he's gone so i moved to another bar, further away from the club scene. its actually the smoking room of a bar since you cant smoke indoors in malta.. its got like sort of a raised platform with pillows around these small, low square tables where the hookah rests. the shisha there is €5 a head.. big difference for a less than 1 mile walk. also, they make great mojitos so naturally theres mint leaves in the base of the mint shisha . also on these tables are candles and the light is low, perfect atmosphere. I would try go for a more traditional, relaxed type of place but play modern music, but not too loud and have a rule about drunkness, maybe even a security guard. You would attract that type of clientele who look for a relaxed place to spend the evening, however I personally think there is more money to be earnt when running an under 21 club that happens to serve shisha. choice is up to you.

[cotsi95]

Just to play devil's advocate for a minute, I'm going to disagree with jezter.

I think you should aim for an atmosphere of class and professionalism, pretty much like you described. While I agree that the demographic that you find on a forum like this consists mostly of the "hookah elite," I don't think that you need to cater to the opposite, "lower classes" in order to get decent business. A subtly decorated, nicely kept hookah lounge may not attract college age druggies like a nightclub-like lounge would; actually, I think you'll attract the kinds of people that you actually want in your hookah bar: those that will respect your shop and the people in it. That way, your customers will consist not only of hookah enthusiasts like us, but also respectable people of all ages that may not know anything about hookah and are eager to learn.

There are two hookah bars in my city. While one tends to cater to a slightly younger crowd, they both discourage the kinds of crowds that jezter's talking about. They are hookah bars for hookah, not for loud music and underage kids, and they are both doing quite well.

I'm going to go against the majority here.

This place is full of dedicated, honest, and decent Hookah smokers looking to uphold the traditional values associated with the hookah and prevent misconception of NHT abuse.

We, however, are a huge damn minority in a hookah bar. Look at yourself, and your expected clientèle.

Chances are 80-90% of your customers will be 18-24 college age kids, generally 75% male. 97% of those college kids do not care about the traditional side of hookah. This is (if under 21 is allowed) basically a under21 'club' scene. People will go to hear hip hop/electronica and hang out with other college kids, looking at cute college girls that show up. They will come in half or flully drunk. They will come in because the hookah looks like an NHT device. They will use the hookah as a 'legal' way to look cool like they're a bunch of stonerheads, but it's cheap and easy to get.

My hookah lounge has white curtains and a blue lighting all around. It's called ICE and it looks like ICE. There are cramped couches with some ottoman/stools so you can fit maximum rich white kids in the door, pack em like it's a college party, and charge $7 per hose.

Did I like it? Hell no.

Did 30 other people like it? Hell yes.

They spent much more than I did. This forum is a distinct group of 'advanced' people - it's like having microbrew afficianados at a bud lite 25c bottle night. The kids that go and get wasted on the bud lite spend money, the beer snobs sit and drink 2 or 3 beers and go home.

Go after the money!!

Thanks Peter for not turning this into an Algiers vs Narghile thread! lol I couldn't agree with what you said more. If you want irresponsible stoner kids in your lounge making a huge mess and causing a reckous then go ahead and follow jez's advice. I suggest you spend quite a bit of time researching what type of tobacco you are going to serve rather then worrying about food and music.

Because lets face it people will be there to smoke, if they wanted to go eat they'd go to a restaurant and if they wanted to go listen to music then they'd go to a concert. I'm not saying that those parts are not important I'm just saying that the hookahs are more important. Id recommend starting off by carrying AF, Havana, Lyalina, Nakhla, and al waha (for the cheaper people). Starbuzz while very tasty is kind of on the expensive side so if you can get away with caring it then sweet. I don't recommend you carry Tangier's right away, even though we all LOVE it, lets face it its not for beginners, once you get your client base set up a little bit and people start getting bored with it then you should start caring it.

Clean the hookahs after every group is done smoking and make sure you invest in good quality hoses. They don't have to be washable but buy as many and you can and separate them by flavor as much as possible. Nothing is worse then ordering a bowl of straight mint and having the taste of rose or coffee from the last group be in the hose and thats all you can taste. Thats all i can write right now as I'm dead tired but if you want you can pm me and ill be happy to answer any of your questions.

[jezter6]

again, why does everyone assume I'm building a boom boom club for underagers?

I'm saying chances are that these people will be in your bar, and there are a lot more of them than us.

cater to them, without causing yourself undue harm by making it a boom boom club.

catch my drift? I'm NOT recommending blasting rap at mass volume and packing people in elbow to asshole to squeeze maximum testosterone per square foot.

[hookah hippie]

Have a cofortable environment with tasty food and hookahs as well as some good music

[CaliforniaHookah]

Thanks to all for participating in this discussion! Some really good ideas have been introduced that I will certainly incorporate into to my establishment.

I will definitely cater to the younger crowd because the city won't let me serve alcohol (well, not yet at least).

And for those that are curious, my hookah lounge will be in the north of the SF Bay Area. I hope to open October 1.

Cheers.

[ilikemyusername]

just incase it doesn't go so well, and you go under... not that i want that to happen...

remember its better to burn out than fade away.



if you didn't catch that, if business dies burn it down and collect the insurance.

[SuburbanSmoker]

Where in the north cause i live in the east and go to school near santa rosa. So if your not far out of the way ill get my smoking group together to come check your pad.

[CaliforniaHookah]

You must be going to SRJC then?? Funny you say so, I'm opening in Rohnert Park, at the corner of Highway 101 and Rohnert Park Expressway. I'll keep everyone updated!