What do you like/dislike: hookah bar

[cyprus05]

As the subject states, I am thinking of some suggestions, anything  comments would be very helpful.

[The Dude Abides]

1. High quality ma'assel.  No bargain basement crapola.
2. High quality coals.  Nour (or similar finger coals) or bulk natural.  No quicklights plz.
3. Reasonable price for a large bowl.  Most places charge more if a shisha is for two or more people.  Don't make it too much extra!
4. Comfortable couches/benches.  No hard, unpadded chairs.
5. Dim lighting.  Goes without saying.  And keep decor simple and classy.  No neon signs or posters.
6. Great selection of cold and hot beverages.  Also goes without saying.  Moroccan mint tea, complimentary pitchers of ice water with lemon.
7. NO ROCK MUSIC.  World music, downtempo, or contemporary arabic on friday and saturday nights.  Embrace the foreign culture that brought us shisha.
 

[HookahCaterpillar]

The dude hit it right on the money, especially the part about the comfy
chairs.Another thing id like to add is have REALLY good food. 

[IzA-Hookah]

I have to agree with everything Dude has to say.  especially the free water, music, and drink selection.  I can't comment on the pricing though, that's an unknown for me.  One thing I love to see is books with big colorful pictures and about the world and other intresting topics.  Things to start conversations are always a must.

[firebikesmullets]

* games/toys(checkers, chess, UNO, playing cards, Etch a sketch, puzzles)
* knowledgeable staff! i've been to hookah lounges where some of the employees don't have a clue.

[steve07]

How about wireles hotspot for laptop users.

[LestOH!]

make your cafe a live venue that might attract a number of customers on a hot friday or saturday night

[SanguineSolitude]

ooh i agree with games available. especially things like chess backgammon cards etc. Also i really like it if the bar serves really good reasonably priced middle eastern foods. Like gyros/kababs falaffel etc. and definately have mint tea. other than that just everything the dude said above. Soft chill music either traditional, classical, or just very low key. If you play rock music or pop etc. im leaving the bar. NO SMOKING CIGARETTES

[sheeshabum]

I'd like a hookah bar  that is closer than a 5 hour drive away from me. Can you set me up?

[Lukasa]

Kick out people who don't deserve to be there.
Use a variety of high-quality hookahs.
Lots of flavor selection.


topless dancers







(just kidding)

[IzA-Hookah]

AMEN to Solitudes assertion about no cigs.  I also feel that cigars and pipes and other stuff should be a no-no also because the smell of these things also bothers some people like cigs. also, a nice card or piece of paper with the general breakdown of hookah would be good for people who just don't know....

[mushrat]

Intereting suggestions..now how much are you all willing to PAY for all this?
Remember, while its good to give you all what you want, you have to make money doing it..so...
High quality Ma'asell and Coals: that cool, you ready to shell out $10 per head? And you and 6 of your friends can't all share the same hookah, no money to be made that way, 2-3 MAX. This aint your living room, The cafe has overhead.
Moroccan mint teas? how much would you pay for that 3-4 bucks? As for the free pitcher of water...TANSTAAFL.
lesse..you and 5 buddies come in, spend 10 bucks for some AF Esk apple, and drink free water with lemon...lemons that the cafe has to pay for..they don't grow on tre...er...you get the idea... 
So you may add a cold soda...call it a buck.
The you sit for 45 minutes AND ask for a refill on your charcoal cause the heads still going.
Thats..lets see...2 bucks apice for the hookah, another buck for 3 of you for sodas, 2 drank the water. Less than 3 dollars per person and you all sat there over an hour grooving on the tunes on the expensive stereo system looking at the art wrk and plying on your computers using the free internet hot spot...Which isn't free really...
The cost of you walking in the door will be more that you even come close to spending.
That Cafe will last a week..and you won't understand because you went there 2 or three times a week...
You want a cool, CHEAP place to sit and smoke with your friends, groove on your music, drink cold water....its called your living room.
$.02

[The Dude Abides]

If the shisha cafe is just like my living room, why the hell would I ever go there?  I already have a living room and my own hookahs.  I think the cafe should be more than just a place for a cheap bowl of nakhla.  If I go to a shisha cafe with my friends, I want it to be a nice experience, and I am always well prepared to actually take my wallet out and pay the man.
The places I've been to offer standard ma'assel and 'premium'.  But even if they only served premium, which may be Al-Fakher, they load what... 25-30 grams in a bowl and charge 15-20 dollars for it depending on how man people are smoking it?  That's profit.  And large quantities of bulk coals can be purchased exttraordinarily cheap.
Water = free.  And lemon slices aren't that expensive.  Your local bar bar has the amazing capacity to slice up 100 lemons a night while charging you 2.50 for a drink.  I'm sure a hookah bar could get away with it when they're making at least 10 bucks per hookah.  Mint tea isn't free, nor should it be cheap.  The ingredients are extremely low cost, but it is a process to make.  I've never seen moroccan mint tea for less than 4 dollars at a shisha cafe.  I am prepared to pay that amount because again, I'm in a cafe, not my living room.
You can open a shisha cafe that is just a hole in the wall with 5 dollar hookahs, nakhla, and a soda fountain, which will definitely draw a certain crowd, or you can offer a better product/service/atmosphere for slightly higher prices.  I happen to prefer the better product/service/atmosphere, because I want it to be many steps above my own living room.  Just as I enjoy going to nice restaurants instead of Dennys.

[surfpico]

Hookah Bars are fun!I found a new one yesterday...dun dun dun!

[HookahCaterpillar]

I agree with mushrat also, its nice that money isnt your main concern
because if money is your main concern odds are you wont be very
succesful. But you do have to keep in mind how much things are going to
cost you. Ive been told by many ppl i should have MYA hookahs, fumari
shisha, and japanese quick light coals. Id rather stick with a standard
egyptian, nakhla and al-waha shisha, and quick light coals, its cheaper
and still produces a nice hookah experience. There are a few people
here and there that goto hookah bars that really know what there doing
but from what i have seen, most are hookah newbies. They dont know the
difference between japanese natural or three kings quick light and they
could care less. Something i want to do is serve smoothies, simple as
buying containers of fruit purees 5-6 diff kinds and add some ice and
blend. The easier the food is to make the less skilled labor you have
to hire. If all your food is gourmet and requires you to make stocks,
sauces, etc.. you are going to need a chef, unless you know what your
doing. Im in culinary school now so when i have my hookah bar its gonna
be really good food and ill hire one chef and the rest are all going to
be line cooks.

[mushrat]

The Dude understands I believe....
The problem is most people who talk about opening ANY business is that they tend to think like customers, not owners.
Out of that "profit"....actually its still "gross"....there's the rent for the location, utilities, supplies,wages,taxes,permits,stock, advertising, insurance, and so on...
Now is this a new place? lets not forget the cost to outfit the location...serving food? here in NC you have to have a grease collection device on your waste water..a grease trap...on a decent sized place, the trap can cost you in the tens of thousands to install..see they have to dig up the street and put in this large concrete thing with manholes and everything... 
Even a place thats just going to make sandwiches and serve hot drinks is going to need something attached to the sink, at a cost of about 8 grand...
For a fun NIGHT out of smoking and drinking with your friends, and you're not willing to drop 15-20 bucks apiece for a good time in a nice place...stay home.  
Cause the that 12 bucks for a head and $3 for sodas the 5 of you had, plus plenty of ice water, while you tied up a hookah for an hour, isn't going to help much on a Friday night...then you'll complain there are no good Hookah Cafe's or Bars around you..or that the ones that started out good have gone down hill....
 
 

[Lukasa]

I agree with mushrat to some extent.

I think that it should be 4 people maximum per hookah.
It should be 7 or so dollars per bowl of tobacco and that covers the
cost of coals... the coals keep coming until the bowl is done. 
Free pitchers of ice water.  Snacks and "morrocan teas" are sold
at nominal fees.  Have a fee for being a tag-along and taking up
space.  You dont wanna smoke?  You dont wanna eat?  You
gotta pay to be in there with your friends.

[mushrat]

Pico: you gonna tell us about the new place????

[mushrat]

Ah...hmmm...aaaaaa...never mind...

[steve07]

Mush your so right, I have a little xperinc in the b word it can be a big headache if it isn't planned out correctly but people have to go with there dream.

[inimicus]

Live music is a great excuse to implement a cover charge. Any amount for just a body walking in the door. $5 is wicked cheap. $10 can be easily afforded by kids in my affluent suburb. So tack on the price of entrance to anything sold. Tada. Even if they don't buy anything you're making revenue, yet the customers feel it's (usually) justified in spending money coming in. After all, that's what venues do. And at a higher cost!Not everyone smokes hookah. The money might is in escaping a niche market. Having something that everyone (or a lot more) enjoys would feed the fire of success. Music? Chocolate?I live in California, and the smoking laws rain on my parade big time. If smoking indoors is illegal, how can one allow people to enjoy live music without being frozen/scorched?A lot of people keen on hookah in my region are under the age of 18. I see kids dodging the bullet at the main hookah bar in the area. 99% of the time the employees don't card in the first place. In order to form a reputable business the tobacco laws would have to be enforced. But does that mean limiting admittance to 18+? That'll definitely limit the patrons and perhaps draw a not-so-desirable crowd. My ideal hookah lounge is one that the [i]whole family[/i] could enjoy. Let's say a couple enter the lounge in support of their friend's band and are enjoying a hookah. Next to their table a highly anti-smoking family sits eating pie and chocolates. Smoke is smoke, travels over to the other table, and the family gets angry that the couple is "endangering" the children. They leave pissy. Shoot, I doubt they will be returning. How is it that one could provide hookahs and a family environment at the same time? Maybe that's asking too much, though it would certainly help revenue/profits.There are a lot of things to work on in my ideal hookah lounge.