That's not what I asked numbnuts.
Yes, I know I ninja edited, but you still didn't even answer the quote
So, I was thinking of starting my own business...
- Thread starter Sipher77
- Start date
That's not what I asked numbnuts.
Yes, I know I ninja edited, but you still didn't even answer the quote
consultant
Veteran XX
So what are the tobacco laws there? Can you even smoke inside? or would you provide herbal crap? Just curious...DAMN those tobacco company's! Trapping another generation of smokers!!
Hookah bar as in you come in, smoke some hookah, drink some coffee, and maybe purchase some tobacco smoking devices.
Wrathchild
Veteran XV
Yeah that's what I thought. It will last six months IF you have enough money to project it to last a year.
So basically you are saying that the idea sucks and that it will fail?
you are getting opinions...if its just a place to smoke, it will suck, thats why people buy fucking hookahs. Turn it into a restaurant that you can drink at, not necessarily a bar. just a sit down place where you have some beers on tap and you get get a hookah after your meal...that will bank in a college town
Do you know enough about dozens of cigars and cloves and cigarettes and different types of hookahs and coals and tobaccos?
Are you trying to open up a head shop?
Wrathchild
Veteran XV
I'm a bit cautious because I had a business of my own that failed, and it took a LONG time to recover from it. Just don't go into it half-assed unless you set aside a certain amount of money that you won't mind losing, and are strong enough to not spend a penny more. I kept thinking that my business was just a single turn away from making a profit and borrowed more to get over that hump. You can expect to spend twice as much as you originally planned to get it running.
Also, that's not really my scene so maybe I'm far off, but I can't see anyone wanting to regularly visit a place to drink coffee and smoke tobacco. Even if it is in a hookah, it's still tobacco.
Also, that's not really my scene so maybe I'm far off, but I can't see anyone wanting to regularly visit a place to drink coffee and smoke tobacco. Even if it is in a hookah, it's still tobacco.
Cigars are a pretty complicated item in my opinion and I dont know enough about them. I know everything there is to know about hookah related items and enough about cigarettes to sell them. I know enough about head shop related items as well.
But thats besides the point, if you think it had more of a store/lounge feel, do you think it would be more successful then a venue/bar like feel?
But thats besides the point, if you think it had more of a store/lounge feel, do you think it would be more successful then a venue/bar like feel?
Hookah bars always seemed like an odd business to me. In this day and age when everyone is trying to quit smoking, truth ads on the tv everyday, it just seems that so many people are automatically against your business before you even open the doors. Old people wont get the part about flavored tobacco, they are going to see smoking, and what appears to them to be weed smoking. No matter what crowd comes through the door, everyone in your area will know of your place, and have an opinion. And old people usually are the ones making the laws
You'll have a college crowd, and i would think that like most other businesses in a service industry, you can't really build it around just one thing, like smoking. So that means you'll have to make it a restraunt/diner/headshop w/a hookah bar on the side.
If you make it a food place as well, now you need food license, cook(s), more equipment unless you plan on making for food that you can just warm up in a microwave. Not really something i see going with a hookah bar and depending on your local laws you may or may not need a food license, which means more cost and state health inspectors. A coffee shop may or may not be the same, but i would think that for a coffee shop to do well, its not like you can just go buy a coffee pot and a couple cans of folgers. People can get that at home so you'll have to buy specialized coffee
I don't know about where you are, but here headshops are coming under file by local moral police who use the tact of if drugs are illegal how can a shop that sells paraphernalia be legal? And no matter what you say the items you sell are SUPPOSED to be used for, the local old folks in charge are going to see weed smoking tools being sold by college kids.
Do these kinds of places draw a lot of cops? I've never seen one around here, i would just think that college kids in a place with hookahs would draw a lot of attention from cops who want to make sure there is nothing illegal going on.
But ultimately it comes down to what YOU know about your area. If you see that the local hookah shop is doing well, so well in fact that they have to turn people away, then you have a need that needs to be filled.
To me a hookah bar just feels like something that is a fringe business, something like an all tofu restraunt or something. Something that if people's fickle tastes change...which they do often, that it wouldnt take much for the local hot hookah bar to drop out of favor fast.
If you're serious about opening a business, don't focus so much on a business you want to open, but look around for a business that needs to be opened in your area. What is it people are always bitching about not having, or always bitching that they have to drive far to get to.
You'll have a college crowd, and i would think that like most other businesses in a service industry, you can't really build it around just one thing, like smoking. So that means you'll have to make it a restraunt/diner/headshop w/a hookah bar on the side.
If you make it a food place as well, now you need food license, cook(s), more equipment unless you plan on making for food that you can just warm up in a microwave. Not really something i see going with a hookah bar and depending on your local laws you may or may not need a food license, which means more cost and state health inspectors. A coffee shop may or may not be the same, but i would think that for a coffee shop to do well, its not like you can just go buy a coffee pot and a couple cans of folgers. People can get that at home so you'll have to buy specialized coffee
I don't know about where you are, but here headshops are coming under file by local moral police who use the tact of if drugs are illegal how can a shop that sells paraphernalia be legal? And no matter what you say the items you sell are SUPPOSED to be used for, the local old folks in charge are going to see weed smoking tools being sold by college kids.
Do these kinds of places draw a lot of cops? I've never seen one around here, i would just think that college kids in a place with hookahs would draw a lot of attention from cops who want to make sure there is nothing illegal going on.
But ultimately it comes down to what YOU know about your area. If you see that the local hookah shop is doing well, so well in fact that they have to turn people away, then you have a need that needs to be filled.
To me a hookah bar just feels like something that is a fringe business, something like an all tofu restraunt or something. Something that if people's fickle tastes change...which they do often, that it wouldnt take much for the local hot hookah bar to drop out of favor fast.
If you're serious about opening a business, don't focus so much on a business you want to open, but look around for a business that needs to be opened in your area. What is it people are always bitching about not having, or always bitching that they have to drive far to get to.
