Ideas on opening a hookah cafe

[gravity.cafe]

Hey... I'm planning on opening a new hookah cafe after this Christmas.

Right now we're considering wireless internet, foods, coffee, big screen tv, speakers for music, DJ's on the weekends, belly dancers on special occasions, a seperate "vip" lounge... those are some of our ideas right now

Any suggestions??

Where should we got our hookahs, shisha?

If there are any Hookah cafe owners out there please lend me some of your tips etc...

THANKS

[Scalliwag]

where in Texas are you? Will you have alcohol or allow BYOB?
Also, at the register you should have a glass display case with supplies and shisha and a shelf behind the counter with hookahs for sale.

[EvansLight]

in texas socialsmoke does good wholesale. id get al waha for the brand, or tangiers. and maybe have 2 menus, one for al waha, and another for a premium brand like starbuzz or tangiers.

[gravity.cafe]

[quote name='Scalliwag']where in Texas are you? Will you have alcohol or allow BYOB?
Also, at the register you should have a glass display case with supplies and shisha and a shelf behind the counter with hookahs for sale.[/quote]

I'm in San Antonio, we're looking to open one up near the UTSA campus. We haven't considered alcohol, do you think that would be good to serve that? It seems like that would just complicate things more

[Scalliwag]

They allow BYOB at Cafe' Medi and that place stays packed. Most smokers drink and those that drink usually want to drink when they smoke.

[Joseph]

Well, if it is 21 and over you will cut out the young college kid demographic.

[Scalliwag]

Cafe' Medi allows kids because they serve food as well. I am not sure how the laws work exactly other than you don't need a liquor license for BYOB

[John Wayne Bandit]

At the hookah bar i work at we always get drunk people... sometimes people can't handle both the hookah and a buzz... passing out and puking is not fun to clean up after

[azcoyote]

Aside from people who can't hold their liquor messing up your place, your expenses will be higher for the liquor license itself and the increased premiums on your liabiltiy insurance. You may also have to go through a public hearing before you are granted a license.

It may seem obvious, but you have to make money to stay in business. You make nothing on drinks people bring in. That's lost revenue. Once customers are used to this arrangement, you will have a hard time changing things without causing resentment. Charge a reasonable price for soft drinks that's fair to you and your customers. If someone pours a little hooch into the drink they bought from you, your call to look the other way or not. If you openly allow byob, you can expect to dispose of your patron's empty bottles and cans without compensation. You don't get trash removal for free, so this is an expense. It also puts you into a grey area re policing underage drinkers.

Wish you lots of good fortune.

[imonlyapuppet]

[quote name='gravity.cafe']Hey... I'm planning on opening a new hookah cafe after this Christmas.

Right now we're considering wireless internet, foods, coffee, big screen tv, speakers for music, DJ's on the weekends, belly dancers on special occasions, a seperate "vip" lounge... those are some of our ideas right now

Any suggestions??

Where should we got our hookahs, shisha?

If there are any Hookah cafe owners out there please lend me some of your tips etc...

THANKS[/quote]

Honestly from the way your post sounds I don't think you'll be opening it by this christmas. Unless you meant way after this christmas. Opening a hookah bar is a lot easier than opening other kinds of businesses, you've got a pretty low overhead seeing as you don't really sell products (well shisha, food and drinks, but your hookahs are being used and then staying inside the building, so its not like you have to constantly be ordering them)

But opening the business is still going to be quite a task. (unless of course you've opened businesses before, you've got the money to start it, etc - how old are you?) You'll have to look into the alcohol and tobacco and indoor smoking laws in your city/state.

But so far you've got the basic ideas down right. You'll have to consider what kinds of foods you want, keep in mind the laws change when you've got full kitchens and tobacco and stuff. Also you don't want people with greasy and food in their mouth ruining your hookahs.

Alcohol is a gigantic grey area. Many people love to have a beer or two while they smoke the hookah, its even more relaxing. However, you've got to watch out for underage drinking, and drunk people + hookahs = either vomit, passing out, or someone knocking a hookah over.

As soomeone else pointed out, BYOB is lost revenue and not a very good idea.

As for shisha I'd say get some Al-Waha, Nahkla, and Tangiers. Charge more for tangiers and hype it up as premium shisha.

Some places have a cover charge, or a limit on the # of people that can smoke a single hookah, or a 1 drink minimum order. All things to consider.

[Scalliwag]

Well, I dunno about the lost rev on the BYOB. At least at Cafe' Medi they sell a lot of food and make money on the hookahs. They have a two people per hookah limit. The place is always packed and not everybody brings their own beer. Many drink their tea, soda,etc. This place is always packed and they seem to be thriving.

[No Show]

I really want to check that place out! isnt it over there by Wolf camera and whatnot off of 26?

[Scalliwag]

It is just north of NRH2O. I am not sure where Wolf is at. I always look for the McDonald's passed NRH2O and turn in the next drive and it's right there. Excellent food. They have a grilled red snapper for like $11.95 that is incredible. They make a version of it with crab sometimes that is $15

[40 Thieves]

Liquor is a always a hassle - First of all you need to obtain the license which is reviewed (credit check/ background check/ zoning) - then you have to get insurance to cover that - which if you're young, no business experience or new it will be hard to get that - AND if you do manage to get that, the insurance is going to be through the roof if you allow underagers into the establishment. Overall unless you are a drinking establishment don't bother.

[Fumare]

[quote name='John Wayne Bandit']At the hookah bar i work at we always get drunk people... sometimes people can't handle both the hookah and a buzz... passing out and puking is not fun to clean up after[/quote]


Thats right, I have had at least 4 ppl come in to my place buzzed or drunk, and they have puked in the bathrooms. We dont even allow BYOB or do we have liq. license. They come in already buzzing. I would not suggest BYOB or have liq. license, I just dont think a hookah buzz and alcohol buzz go good together. I also had a girl pass out. Not good. So becarefull.

[Scalliwag]

they just need Scalli to give em some free drinking lessons is all

[azcoyote]

[quote name='Scalliwag']Well, I dunno about the lost rev on the BYOB. At least at Cafe' Medi they sell a lot of food and make money on the hookahs. They have a two people per hookah limit. The place is always packed and not everybody brings their own beer. Many drink their tea, soda,etc. This place is always packed and they seem to be thriving.[/quote]

The lost revenue is beyond dispute. While not everyone brings beer, those that do are not buying any beverage. Try bringing a cooler into a theater or ball game. Besides, people do not appreciate something that is always free. It becomes an entitlement in their minds.

Some fancy restaurants will charge a corkage fee to serve a bottle of your own wine. If they will do it at all. Plus byob will piss off every bar owner for miles. They went ahead, paid the price, got licensed, insured, all legit. Now comes Mr Hookah lounge "taking" away biz 'cause customers they can walk right in with a six pack.

Being in business also implies being part of the business community. If owners act without any consideration for existing concerns, it's bad for everyone.

[DarthHookah]

open mic nights, movie nights (although the copyright laws are fuzzy. you know you violate laws by simply opening the dvd package?), things like that. if you give people a reason to come other than smoking, more people will come. i like the belly dancers idea, however i dont think it would be proper to run a traditional middle eastern hookah cafe if you are not middle eastern. thats kind of like christina aguilara singing in spanish. i am taking a business management course, and we have to set up a business plan for a business we would like to run, and mine is a hookah lounge. myself, being Mr. WonderBread-and-Mayonaisse-White-Devil-White-Devil, will be running a modern type lounge, with movie posters, sports posters (go Bengals!), and stuff. also, a coffee lounge had a few bookshelves where people would donate their own books, making a sort of community bookshelf. i remember coming in often just to drink coffee and read whatever random book i might have picked up.

[Scalliwag]

[quote name='azcoyote']The lost revenue is beyond dispute. While not everyone brings beer, those that do are not buying any beverage.[/quote]

Well people go there that would not otherwise go. So like I said they are very busy and some like myself would not go there, or at least not stay long. So it does have some affect.
Heat Lounge, where we are having the party this weekend did not allow alcohol and just changed to BYOB. Otherwise we would take it elsewhere. I am not sure why they changed but my gut feeling is getting more business.
So it depends on what you are trying to dispute here. Most places that do serve tea, soda, have free refills. So there loss is maybe $2 at the most for me not buying a coke. I think they more than make it up off the amount of time spent and the other people with me that do buy the cokes.
So to their is not any lost revenue from me not paying a $1.25 for cokes with free refills. If they charged for each drink then I could see the argument.

[gravity.cafe]

[quote name='imonlyapuppet'][quote name='gravity.cafe']Hey... I'm planning on opening a new hookah cafe after this Christmas.

Right now we're considering wireless internet, foods, coffee, big screen tv, speakers for music, DJ's on the weekends, belly dancers on special occasions, a seperate "vip" lounge... those are some of our ideas right now

Any suggestions??

Where should we got our hookahs, shisha?

If there are any Hookah cafe owners out there please lend me some of your tips etc...

THANKS[/quote]

Honestly from the way your post sounds I don't think you'll be opening it by this christmas. Unless you meant way after this christmas. Opening a hookah bar is a lot easier than opening other kinds of businesses, you've got a pretty low overhead seeing as you don't really sell products (well shisha, food and drinks, but your hookahs are being used and then staying inside the building, so its not like you have to constantly be ordering them)

But opening the business is still going to be quite a task. (unless of course you've opened businesses before, you've got the money to start it, etc - how old are you?) You'll have to look into the alcohol and tobacco and indoor smoking laws in your city/state.

But so far you've got the basic ideas down right. You'll have to consider what kinds of foods you want, keep in mind the laws change when you've got full kitchens and tobacco and stuff. Also you don't want people with greasy and food in their mouth ruining your hookahs.

Alcohol is a gigantic grey area. Many people love to have a beer or two while they smoke the hookah, its even more relaxing. However, you've got to watch out for underage drinking, and drunk people + hookahs = either vomit, passing out, or someone knocking a hookah over.

As soomeone else pointed out, BYOB is lost revenue and not a very good idea.

As for shisha I'd say get some Al-Waha, Nahkla, and Tangiers. Charge more for tangiers and hype it up as premium shisha.

Some places have a cover charge, or a limit on the # of people that can smoke a single hookah, or a 1 drink minimum order. All things to consider.[/quote]

I understand it will take a lot of time to get this started but we're already in the process of getting things done; lease, ordering supplies etc. So I'm putting our deadline around the end of January

Right now we're looking at a budget of $20,000... I'm a junior in college, and I've pulled out some students loans, and if anyone from the san antonio area would like it invest pm me

I've ruled out the alcohol idea, it just isn't worth it...maybe down the road i'll get a license to serve alcohol but not right now

I really love the idea of having "economy" tobaccos and "premium" tobaccos... what would be a reasonable limit of # of people to 1 hookah?

[Erica]

Two

[entrailsgalore]

You gotta have the AM2 powered gaming machines in that mug dawg. Play some CS or some 2142 while you smoke out, you know what Im saying?

[theshisha]

Hey... I'm planning on opening a new hookah cafe after this Christmas.

Right now we're considering wireless internet, foods, coffee, big screen tv, speakers for music, DJ's on the weekends, belly dancers on special occasions, a seperate "vip" lounge... those are some of our ideas right now

Any suggestions??

Where should we got our hookahs, shisha?

If there are any Hookah cafe owners out there please lend me some of your tips etc...

THANKS

Well I will tell you its not easy. I opened a hookah bar in Athens, GA its called The Shisha Lounge. We are next to UGA a very big college. We have been open 6 months. I will tell you although we are seeing more and more business, it takes a lot more money then you budget. I promise. We were able to open the doors for about 40k ( we had a great spot that needed little build out) If you do not have another job to pay for your house,car,living and bills you are going to need at least another 25-40k depending on where you live. I am still not turning a profit and I dont expect to for another year or so. I have spent another 30k after opening on expenses including advertising. And another 15k in living expenses for 6 months. So lets take a look so far...

40,000 To open
30,000 6 months bills and adv.
$15,000 6 month living

Thats $85,000 so far and I expect to spend another $85,000 before I start seeing a profit. This is very cheap to start a new business but my lounge is very simple. No bellydancers, DJ's , Food , Alcohol

Now if you were to build out a place to hold a kitchen, full bar, and be big enough to have bellydancers you are looking at a whole lot more. Remember when you start, you have to expect to keep throwing money into your business for atleast 2 years. It's not so much about what it costs to open the doors, its what comes after that costs big money.

[Zinite]

Hey... I'm planning on opening a new hookah cafe after this Christmas.

Right now we're considering wireless internet, foods, coffee, big screen tv, speakers for music, DJ's on the weekends, belly dancers on special occasions, a seperate "vip" lounge... those are some of our ideas right now

Any suggestions??

Where should we got our hookahs, shisha?

If there are any Hookah cafe owners out there please lend me some of your tips etc...

THANKS

Well I will tell you its not easy. I opened a hookah bar in Athens, GA its called The Shisha Lounge. We are next to UGA a very big college. We have been open 6 months. I will tell you although we are seeing more and more business, it takes a lot more money then you budget. I promise. We were able to open the doors for about 40k ( we had a great spot that needed little build out) If you do not have another job to pay for your house,car,living and bills you are going to need at least another 25-40k depending on where you live. I am still not turning a profit and I dont expect to for another year or so. I have spent another 30k after opening on expenses including advertising. And another 15k in living expenses for 6 months. So lets take a look so far...

40,000 To open
30,000 6 months bills and adv.
$15,000 6 month living

Thats $85,000 so far and I expect to spend another $85,000 before I start seeing a profit. This is very cheap to start a new business but my lounge is very simple. No bellydancers, DJ's , Food , Alcohol

Now if you were to build out a place to hold a kitchen, full bar, and be big enough to have bellydancers you are looking at a whole lot more. Remember when you start, you have to expect to keep throwing money into your business for atleast 2 years. It's not so much about what it costs to open the doors, its what comes after that costs big money.

Buddy you realize you're bumping 3 year old threads, right?

[gunsboy]

Hahahaha... Thats alot of $$$$$, I am gonna start charging my buddies when they consume my shisha. Thats my business plan to pay off for my hookah supplies.