vendetta_revived Posted June 17, 2011 Author Share Posted June 17, 2011 From another thread :- [quote name='ezxen' timestamp='1285052662' post='482673'] From woking at a hookah lounge Generally you get people in groups of 3 or more come in and later in the day . Now if you use SB 1 can of SB cost 16-20 (depending on where you get it in shops) dont know the whole sale on it ,but if you [u]charge 15 for unlimited bowls and you can get a average of a hour out of a bowl those people payed for a can and they probably wont smoke all night or enough bowls to use up that can and with 3 people at 15 each is 45 and they buy drink and snaks thats even more. The unlimited bowls draw people in.[/u] The only hookah lounge around here now charges i think 5 buck a bowl . And if im going to pay and smoke soemwhere i want to enjoy myself for a long period of time . Also offer tangires but at a extra cost for the bowl like 5 buck more .Also the way the lounge was divided there was the front witch was also a smoke shop but it had small table for two people to smoke or one person and it was 5 bucks of a bowl up there since it was for more short period of smoke. On music change it up or even let people plug in there own ipods or toss on there own Cds for a few mins like 10 mins or so. Also As a owner go out and meet and greet your customers make each one feel important . IF they dont mind it sit and smoke for a few with then and get to know your regulars . When your a regular and the owner knows you by face or name it gives you a sense of belonging and wholesomeness that makes people keep wanting to come back and bring there friends. That jsut my 2 cents [/quote] Can anyone please tell me if you've ever come across such a pricing model? How do you think it'd fare? I think it's a good idea as an optional pricing model. We can ask people if they want to get charged for the hookah they are ordering, or would they like to order using this plan if they are planning for multiple sessions? Thanks a lot for your valuable input guys. I am way into it now and go through phases of 'the fuck I am doing', but starting this thread is proving to be really helpful and I am beginning to feel that I'll be okay. *touchwood* [quote name='jorlyfish' timestamp='1308347389' post='512926'] Best of luck, let us know how it goes. [/quote] Thanks! I surely will! *fingers crossed* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendetta_revived Posted June 17, 2011 Author Share Posted June 17, 2011 Oh, and about the hookah being on the floor, I guess there's plenty of time to think about it. I'd really love to go through the traditional way of doing it and keep it on the floor, but will have to see how feasible it is regarding the space available after we get the furniture in place. Don't want drunks falling all over the place and breaking my stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hassouni Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 I have never heard of the pricing model ezxen mentioned. Around here, tobacco can be got for the following prices in 250g - this is retail mind you, not wholesale: Nakhla (all kinds, including Mizo): $6 a pack AF: $9 a tub Starbuzz: $18 a tin Here are the best prices I've seen in the area, for nargile places that DON'T have alcohol: Nakhla $10, AF $12-13, SB $16 on up. So really you're looking at about 50% more than the retail cost of a pack per bowl, except SB, where it's about equal. Most offer as many coals as you want (of course as is well known I think having a guy come by every 10 mins with real wood coals is best) , and a small charge (like half the initial cost) for a refill of tobacco. SOME places will refill for free, but those are rare. Places that have alcohol charge a LOT more, partially because of the alcohol license fees, but mostly I suspect because they tend to be higher-end places. As for accidents, your damage will be WAY less if someone knocks a pipe over if its on the floor vs a table and it then falls to the floor. If you're in India, I'd stick with the brands made in the Arab world because they'll be much cheaper that the stuff made in the States Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendetta_revived Posted June 18, 2011 Author Share Posted June 18, 2011 (edited) As for brands, I am really out of luck being in India. The only premium baccy available here is AF. Rest is Afzal, qehwa, aladdin and may be a few others, and having tried some flavours out of those, I am certain that no one in their right minds will want to smoke them, so I will be having a completely AF menu at my place. And as I said, I will definitely be serving my hookahs in the floor if the space available allows me to, true that a hookah kept on the floor will face a lot less damage than a hookah on table if toppled, but since it will be on the table, it won't come in people's way and be more safe, but truly, if the space available allows, I will definitely be going by the tradition and keep it on the floor, as I myself never keep my hookah on the table......even if I oversee the tradition part, it just seems so right on the floor. As for the pricing model, my question was actually regarding the plan itself and not the prices mentioned, If I do implement that pricing plan, it will mostly be $9 per person, and mind you, it is not for 1 bowl, but unlimited bowls, so I guess people who want to relax for long and who intend to spend at least 4+ hours at the lounge will see benefit in it and go for it. [Edit] Of course, I will charge people the normal $9-10 per order and $5 for a refill if they opt to not go for the unlimited bowls plan, what do you think about that?][/Edit] Edited June 18, 2011 by vendetta_revived Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendetta_revived Posted June 18, 2011 Author Share Posted June 18, 2011 Also, what do you think about the free wifi? I am undecided and very skeptical of the idea actually. I've not seen any of the lounges provide it so it will bring a specialty to my place, but also, people may want to stay for longer because of it and that will prevent new customers coming in and ordering. As far as the coals go, I won't be offering quicklites as I am not a big fan myself, but I don't have access to cocos or CH naturals. After reading your reviews of the lounges you've visited, I think I should go for bulk wood coals, but I've never seen em around here, all I see here apart from the quicklites and boxed naturals are barbecue coals and they are lol. Could you please give me an idea about what kind of shops would sell those? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coyote Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 Well this lounge I used to go to at my house the price was fixed during the week... I think like $15 a bowl, but it was more if you shared it with a friend. But on Friday and Saturday night they had $25 all you can smoke plus free sodas/waters and hummus and pita. The also have DJ and a dance floor on the weekends... As far as the floor... no concrete, that sounds like a disaster. People are going to be breaking stuff and your legs and feet are going to be killing you when you get home. Padded laminate? DANCEFLOOR?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nazeli Posted June 19, 2011 Share Posted June 19, 2011 [quote name='vendetta_revived' timestamp='1308347269' post='512925'] [quote name='jorlyfish' timestamp='1308317554' post='512892'] We didn't have an issue sharing with 4 people... I'm talking 6-8+ people at a long table with the pipe at one end. It's a little awkward to have to lean way over to reach the hose if you're at the opposite end. Granted, hopefully you're selling more than one hookah per 6 people. Have you thought about limiting # of people/hookah? You could even use this awkwardness to your advantage, I guess, indicating this potential difficulty to larger groups who only want one pipe. [/quote] [quote name='Hassouni' timestamp='1308321655' post='512897'] yeah you should have a limit, I'd say 3 people per pipe tops [/quote] Yes, we are going to have a limit of people on a single hookah, I was thinking 4 because 4 people on a single hookah is okay I think, 5 is a bit weird. I also decided against booking the lounge for birthday parties and such, because I was just reading Mushrat's hookah bliss thread and he reasoned with someone about it, explaining that if he was to hold such parties in his lounge, he would have had to turn away his regulars, and that really struck me. He was right on the money there, if I am a regular at a lounge and I get turned away a couple of times because the lounge is booked by someone, I am very likely to not go there. Well, gotta keep the regulars happy. Big day Monday, gonna have a health inspection of the place. Phew. [/quote] totally agree on the parties. There's a new spot in hollywood that I LOVE called Hotbox, but they book private parties and things like that and it annoys me because its like I have to check on the weekend if they're open? Come on now..and if I show up you're gonna tell me to leave? lol and I'm a REGULAR. It's just not a smart business decision. If you have a big place yeah sure you can rent out a certain area maybe a VIP section but the whole place. I just don't agree with that and I'm glad you're sticking to that. Yes in short term you'll make money for that one night in long term business will just go down the drain. The regulars are what keeps you afloat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skoozle Posted June 20, 2011 Share Posted June 20, 2011 (edited) [quote name='vendetta_revived' timestamp='1308400538' post='512976'] As for brands, I am really out of luck being in India. The only premium baccy available here is AF. Rest is Afzal, qehwa, aladdin and may be a few others, and having tried some flavours out of those, I am certain that no one in their right minds will want to smoke them, so I will be having a completely AF menu at my place. And as I said, I will definitely be serving my hookahs in the floor if the space available allows me to, true that a hookah kept on the floor will face a lot less damage than a hookah on table if toppled, but since it will be on the table, it won't come in people's way and be more safe, but truly, if the space available allows, I will definitely be going by the tradition and keep it on the floor, as I myself never keep my hookah on the table......even if I oversee the tradition part, it just seems so right on the floor. As for the pricing model, my question was actually regarding the plan itself and not the prices mentioned, If I do implement that pricing plan, it will mostly be $9 per person, and mind you, it is not for 1 bowl, but unlimited bowls, so I guess people who want to relax for long and who intend to spend at least 4+ hours at the lounge will see benefit in it and go for it. [Edit] Of course, I will charge people the normal $9-10 per order and $5 for a refill if they opt to not go for the unlimited bowls plan, what do you think about that?][/Edit] [/quote] So just to be clear, a group of three people come in and have two choices. Choice 1 is unlimited bowls for $9/person =$27 Choice 2 is $10/hookah that the 3 people split the price and they split the price of refills. If the group chooses to pay per bowl, they come out better even if they smoke 4 bowls, $10 first bowl and $15 for 3 refills. I think having to smoke 5 bowls to break even will prevent people from choosing the unlimited choice. How will you handle flavor changes? Does the unlimited choice allow unlimited flavor changes? if so then the group of three could sample all 10 of the flavors you offer, changing flavors every 20 min and you just earned $2.70/ bowl. Even worse, what if 1 person samples all 10 flavors? If they do price per bowl would flavor changes be allowed for refills? You have to set some limits on either option also, the more price plans you offer, the less money you will make because, people will figure out which plan is cheapest for their situation. I know if I go to a lounge during the day, i go by myself and I'm not going to be there more than 2 hours. I don't really do this very often because around here hookah, soda and tip usually come out to about $20. More than I want to spend to just take a break from work. if it were around $10 I would go much more often. Keep in mind that when I do go during the day I am the only person there. I would rather make $30 off of 3 people than $0 because noone wants to pay $20 for a smoke break. If I go at night, I am with a croud of people, we are there to have a good time and dont mind spending some money I would offer different price structures based on the time of day or the day of the week (Work week vs. weekend) or a combination of both. Maybe start with $10/ bowl $5 refills and see when your slow times are. offer more attractive prices during your slow times or maybe do an all you can smoke promotion to see how people like it. Edited June 20, 2011 by Skoozle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawhee Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 (edited) About the free wifi, maybe you should consider a small fee for it per person (say 5$ or a combo such as regular hookah price + 2$) and make it a closed network. Also the place I usually go to offers it free of charge for regulars (as the owner you get to meet the people who come often and so on. As for lack of space forr the hookahs on the floor, if you have to put them on the tables consider having some kind of holders crated that can be attached to the center of the tables, may cost you a bit but it could very well prove useful, I have seen something like that when I was on holiday, dont have any pictures tho. A pricing idea would be to offer a) the usual pay 10$ per bowl, with payable extra coals (2$) and b ) 9$ and charge 2$ for every refill (including the first fill) and coals being free, then let the customer decide. But with the b plan you would have to make some kind of safeguard for the "changing bowls every few minutes" scenario by making it only once per say 40 minutes (if you as the owner or one of the staff notices that the hookah is not smoking well the change should be offered as soon as the problem is noticed though, maybe even for free), The third option to make people smoke more could be some kind of special where ordering three hookahs in a row (30$) gives one hookah for free or something along those lines... I wanna open my own place once That would make the above scenario with 3 people ordering X hookahs : X=1 a ) 10$ + 2-4$ = 12-14$ b ) 27$ + 0$ = 27$ X=2 a ) 20$ + 4-8$ = 24-27$ b )27$ + 4$ = 31$ X=3 a ) 30$ + 6-12$ = 36-42$ b ) 27$ + 6$ = 33$ X=4 a ) 40$ + 8-16$ = 48-52$ b ) 27$ + 8$ for refills = 35$ EDIT: i had b ) without the space making it into this and my post looked retarded. Edited July 6, 2011 by Bawhee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bawhee Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 Its awesome how I could edit it at first but couldnt afterwards when I thought of option c and wanted to add it in, anyways, c would make X=4 into 36-42$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendetta_revived Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 Thanks for the input, but I am pretty sure that I will NOT charge for coals no matter what. Customer pays for the bowls and it's my job to provide as much coals as it takes to consume that said bowl. I went to a lounge once that was charging for extra coals and it frustrated me to no end! The whole thing is on bit of a backburner though, since I had a minor discectomy and can't go about taking care of things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mushrat Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 I went with a completely non-middle-eastern modern look. I'm told it reminded people of Cafe's in Amsterdam. I Let local artists put works on my wall for sale (i didnt charge a commission) and quite frankly since i played a mixture of classic rock,new music, middle-eastern, and classical music my atmosphere was more of an American Hookah Bar. The Beer helped that image quite a bit as well. AAAND...modern decorations are generally cheaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mushrat Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 3 people per hookah should be your absolute max. that way 3 people hanging out are cool. you get 2 couples then each should end up with a hookah. If they can't afford it then you weren't going to make any more money off them for drinks and tip anyways so you may as well make room for people who will make you additional income above and beyond sitting for 2 hours with a hookah and water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendetta_revived Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 Thanks for the input Mushrat. I am not going with an overly middle eastern look myself. When my back gets better, I am going to attempt that designer wall shown above with my friends, from the suggestions I've got here, I think it can be done with a bit of effort. We will also have beaded curtains and stuff there, I haven't seen but I know that my partner as already bought those. For the music, we will hook up the speakers to a laptop so it stays flexible, but we will be playing pretty mellow music unless it's a weekend, when I think it's necessary to have a club type of scene to attract people looking to party. I am relieved though that the health inspection went well, there are a couple of things we will have to change but it's nothing major. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendetta_revived Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 [quote name='mushrat' timestamp='1309958947' post='514832'] 3 people per hookah should be your absolute max. that way 3 people hanging out are cool. you get 2 couples then each should end up with a hookah. If they can't afford it then you weren't going to make any more money off them for drinks and tip anyways so you may as well make room for people who will make you additional income above and beyond sitting for 2 hours with a hookah and water. [/quote] That's a very very good point Sir! 3 people it is then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Persian Hillbilly Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 [b]How about some nightly entertainment like a belly dancer? [img]http://www.picgifs.com/graphics/b/belly-dancing/graphics-belly-dancing-412010.gif[/img][/b] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuie Posted July 6, 2011 Share Posted July 6, 2011 [img]http://www.factoryx.com/images/product/LesEtains/MECE013tn.jpg[/img] Yes, you know it's that awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vendetta_revived Posted July 6, 2011 Author Share Posted July 6, 2011 [quote name='The Persian Hillbilly' timestamp='1309987756' post='514914'] [b]How about some nightly entertainment like a belly dancer? [img]http://www.picgifs.com/graphics/b/belly-dancing/graphics-belly-dancing-412010.gif[/img][/b] [/quote] Oh yeah baby!!!!!! LOL! It's definitely on the cards as a monthly or bi-monthly thing. [quote name='Stuie' timestamp='1309989456' post='514924'] [img]http://www.factoryx.com/images/product/LesEtains/MECE013tn.jpg[/img] Yes, you know it's that awesome! [/quote] haha.....it's pimp! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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