home Business What you need to open a hookah bar. How to open your own hookah bar from scratch: necessary investments and payback

What you need to open a hookah bar. How to open your own hookah bar from scratch: necessary investments and payback

How popular is hookah bar in general? Many people are scared off by the 2013 anti-tobacco law. When preparing hookah, both tobacco-free and tobacco-containing mixtures are used, so other owners of cafes and restaurants, who previously had a so-called hookah area in their establishments, abandoned this idea.

Therefore, from the point of view of legislation, a hookah bar is an absolutely legal type of business activity, subject to compliance with the requirements prescribed by law. This article contains a comprehensive answer to the current question in Russia about how to open a hookah bar and how legal it is.

Opening a hookah bar involves drawing up a clear business plan with the following stages:

Find a room - on the territory of an existing restaurant or cafe (which is more profitable) or separate;
Prepare it for opening in compliance with all legal requirements;
Decorate and decorate the premises;
Purchase the necessary equipment, decide on additional assortment.
Find suppliers of tobacco and non-tobacco mixtures, related products (foil, coals, etc.)
Launch an advertising campaign;

Basic startup costs

Business registration. The cost is about 1000 rubles. – from 20,000.
- about 1000 rubles.
Premises rental – from 20,000.
Design project for a hookah bar – from 30,000 rubles.
Decoration and equipment of the premises - about 200,000 rubles.
Installation of ventilation systems, fire safety, etc. to start operating - about 50,000 rubles.
Purchase of hookahs and spare parts for them – from 50,000.
Hookah maker consumables (tobacco, coals, foil, etc.) – from 10,000 rubles.
Other expenses – 50,000 rubles.

Thus, you will need an initial investment of 400,000 rubles. It’s better to have at least 600,000 rubles in order to be able to pay rent for the premises, pay salaries to employees, etc. if unforeseen circumstances arise.

What is better - opening your own hookah bar from scratch or buying a ready-made business?

Although buying an existing business is a simpler and for many a logical decision, it is not a universal way out of the situation. An owner can sell an existing business for a number of reasons, which usually take a long and expensive time to resolve.

They usually sell an unprofitable business, because one that is working brings good profits to its owner. Usually the most popular reason for selling a business is the founder changing his field of activity. And usually, this is just a beautiful legend for buyers.

When buying a hookah bar, it is important to consider:

Location.
Presence of competitors nearby;
Compliance of the premises with fire safety conditions and Rospotrebnadzor requirements;
Decoration of the premises, style of the establishment;
Turnover for the last few quarters;
Competence of employees;

When purchasing an existing business, it is optimal to hire a business consultant or coach to analyze the company. The reason for selling a hookah bar can be anything, but buying a business that is obviously unprofitable means throwing money away.

Premises requirements

To open your own hookah bar, the requirements for the premises are regulated, first of all, by the law on the prohibition of smoking. Therefore, when choosing, you need to pay attention to certain factors:

The room must have fire alarm, good exhaust hood, ventilation system.
A kitchen should not be placed in a room where hookahs are smoked. Therefore, to open a hookah cafe, you need to open two different premises next door, delivering food and drinks from the cafe to the hookah bar to order. You can also agree to rent a separate area at an existing cafe or restaurant (if hookahs are not on their menu and are not offered to guests).
The room must also correspond SES standards.
A hookah bar is an establishment where people come to sit quietly, smoke and relax. Often its operating hours are 24 hours a day, which may not be liked by residents of nearby houses, so if you open a hookah bar in a residential area, you should take into account the factor of neighbors.
The ideal choice for a place for a hookah bar is premises adjacent to an existing bar or restaurant. A constant flow of customers in a restaurant is very convenient, since if you agree with the restaurant owner and allocate a certain percentage of the profit to him, he will actively advertise your services, and everyone will be happy.

To open a small hookah bar you will need space at least 50 square meters. It is necessary to equip the room by dividing it into individual smoking areas (so that guests can sit in privacy), and allocating several larger areas for offices for large companies.

For zones designed for one or two people, it is enough to allocate about 2-3 square meters area. For large companies - from 5 to 10 squares.

Important! To open a hookah bar, it is completely inappropriate to rent a separate room. It is much more profitable to equip a separate area for any entertainment establishment.

Good to know! When choosing a location, pay attention to the average bill of the establishment where your hookah bar will be located. It must be from 1000 rubles. The minimum number of visitors at a given point per day must be at least 60 people.

Room decoration

Hookah comes from eastern countries, so it is logical to use an oriental theme when decorating the interior. Soft pillows, low tables, all kinds of fabrics, even a mini-tent for a large company - everything can be included.

It is advisable to invest in a good designer who can create a truly unique and recognizable style for the establishment. This, of course, depends on the starting capital with which you plan to launch.

A good audio system and thoughtful lighting are a must. Intimate, subdued soft light creates a cozy atmosphere in the establishment, allowing visitors to truly relax.

Documents required to open a hookah bar

If you don’t want to wait in horror for an unscheduled inspection from Rospotrebnadzor, before opening a hookah bar you should take care obtaining all necessary permits:

Certificate of (individual entrepreneur or LLC);
Permission from the fire department;
Permission from the SES;
License to sell tobacco products (if you plan to serve hookahs with mixtures containing tobacco);
License for retail sale of alcoholic beverages (if it is planned to sell alcoholic beverages in addition to hookah);

Staff

Hookah lovers often have it at home and smoke it regularly. Therefore, the idea of hiring people without experience and quickly teaching them how to make hookahs is often doomed to failure.

An ordinary person who is not a hookah fan will not notice the mistakes of incompetent employees, but with hookah fans these mistakes should not be allowed. Therefore, finding employees will be quite difficult.

Who can be considered a good hookah piper?

A hookah maker must be able to make many different hookahs - fruit-based, water-based, wine-based, designer hookahs;
He must replace the coals in the hookah on time;
He must really love hookahs - only a truly enthusiastic person can devote himself completely to work.
An experienced hookah man creates a special atmosphere with his mere presence, and guests come to such establishments precisely for this.

Usually a hookah man works according to the following payment system: exit fee + percentage from hookah sales + tips from guests.

Exit fee: from 500 rubles.

Usually the cost of a hookah– from 500 to 3500 rubles. The hookah man receives up to 20% of sales.

Sufficient for working in a small establishment two hookah workers. Since an establishment of this format is usually 24 hours a day, hookah workers must work in shifts.

Expenses for from 30,000 rubles per month.

Results

Opening a hookah bar is something that pays for itself quickly – on average, from 3 to 6 months. No major investments required - from 400,000 rubles.

The minimum net profit from a hookah bar is from 80,000 rubles per month. And if you comply with the requirements described in the article, there should be no difficulties with the law and inspectors.

How to open a hookah bar from scratch? Detailed instructions in this video:

This article will discuss the business of opening a hookah bar. Business is far from clear-cut in our country from different points of view, including economic. We will be primarily interested in various aspects of the organization of production: legal, risk, cultural, ultimately resulting in economic ones.

In the context of the trend towards the spread of a healthy lifestyle, a business plan for a hookah bar can be drawn up rather on the basis of residual socially inert processes. It is not entirely correct to consider hookah bar marketing as speculation on creating an attractive image. In the long term, the risks will likely only increase. In our opinion, the risk of a long-term business in a hookah bar is high, on the other hand, at the moment the business pays off quickly, provided that a niche is found. Let's take a closer look.

A few words about hookahs

Before considering the question of how to open a hookah bar, let’s consider what hookah smoking itself is. First of all, you need to understand that hookah smoking is harmful to health. You can keep silent about this for advertising purposes, but you need to imagine it for yourself. The conversation about the usefulness of everything in moderation is not applicable here. The measure of poison is its absence. We are talking about the vast majority of people. If there are any exceptions, they are extremely rare.

Harm of hookah smoking

Doctors identify several factors of the harmful effects of hookah smoking on the body:

Nicotine. When used correctly and with good tobacco, it is less harmful than cigarettes;
Resins. The effects of tar are stronger than those of cigarettes. When using nicotine-free mixtures, an even larger amount of tar is released. And the duration of smoking compared to cigarettes only aggravates this factor;
Smoke. Breathing for a long time any combustion products containing, in addition to tars, carbon dioxide, heavy compounds and a fair share of the table of chemical elements, does not benefit health;
Hygiene. Insufficient sanitary treatment of hookahs in public places can lead to the spread of infectious diseases;
Adding alcoholic beverages. Alcoholic drinks added to hookahs only enhance the harmful effects of these factors.

This is enough not to have any illusions about the benefits of hookah smoking. Another myth is relaxation, stress relief. It will be enough to assume that there are other ways to relieve stress, which also do not have a harmful effect on the body. However, relaxation and stress relief with the help of any smoking is a controversial issue and beyond the scope of this article.

“Benefits” of hookah smoking

However, there are comments according to which hookah smoking is viewed in a positive aspect. Factors that determine the positive aspect of hookah smoking are addiction and sociocultural.

At the moment, there are quite a lot of people who smoke, for whom quitting smoking can lead to negative consequences. It is this group that is “indicated” for smoking, including hookah.

The sociocultural aspect includes the removal of internal tension in certain social groups through chemical influences with ritual and cult components. Unfortunately, this is still cultivated in society, which on the one hand is associated with social inertia, on the other with the interest of certain subjects. The ritual works more like psychotherapy than chemotherapy, however, mythology here is directly intertwined with the psyche and a simple ban will only lead to an even greater increase in internal tension. Enough to understand the processes.

Download a ready-made business plan for a sports bar with a hookah lounge, current for 2019, you can from our trusted partners "Biplane". Download link.

Characteristic features of the business

Financial plan

The payback for a hookah room is quite fast, as an additional service to the basic establishment, or by agreement with any establishment. In the case of a separate hookah restaurant, careful calculation and analysis is required. Let's give an example of calculating a small additional hookah room.

The room for rent in the restaurant is 15 square meters. Staff: 1 hookah man.

Income. It is very difficult to estimate the level of income. Estimated figures start from 15 thousand rubles per month. With this level of income, organizing a hookah room can only be an independent extension of basic services, i.e. Payroll should be excluded from expenses. With a large flow of clients and revenue from 30 to 50 thousand rubles per month, we can talk about an independent business.

Net income in both cases can be estimated at 5 – 10 thousand rubles per month. Or payback from 0.5 to 1 year.

Business plan for a hookah bar: legal aspect + step-by-step opening process + necessary equipment + detailed cost calculations and income forecast.

Capital investments: from 1,010,000 rubles
Payback period: about 1 year

The anti-tobacco law, issued in 2014, prohibiting smoking in public places, gave impetus to the emergence of a new type of business for Russia - the opening of hookah bars.

People go there not only to smoke hookah, but also to relax in a cozy and calm environment.

And for this you need hookah bar business plan, in which all calculations of the costs of opening this case will be provided.

In addition, you should know a number of subtleties related to legislation, which you can find in the article.

Opening a hookah bar: legal aspect

First you need to understand the law that prohibits smoking in public places where catering establishments are located.

Consequently, the ban also affected hookah, which involves burning tobacco.

Therefore, many cafes and nightclubs offer their visitors hookahs with nicotine-free mixtures and syrups and electronic hookahs.

But a hookah bar is not an establishment where people come to eat; the emphasis here is on smoking high-quality and varied hookah.

The very concept of a hookah bar is not enshrined in legislation, therefore, when registering it, it is necessary to indicate (OKPD 2) 92.7 Other services for organizing recreation and entertainment.

In order not to violate the laws related to the ban on smoking in public places, you can:

Opening option	Description
Open a hookah bar that offers drinks and snacks in combination with hookah using nicotine-free mixtures	This option cannot be called a hookah bar in its pure form, since this contradicts the main concept, but if drinks and snacks are only an accompanying service, then you will be able to beat your competitors.
Open a hookah bar in its pure form, as a separate establishment, but without the right to sell drinks and snacks	This option will require you to carefully promote and provide customers with only high-quality and tasty hookah, since only true connoisseurs who understand this pastime will come here.
Open a hookah bar in an isolated room with good ventilation on the territory of a bar, cafe, restaurant or nightclub	Even if these establishments have the same owner, the hookah bar must be registered as a separate business entity. Also, guests with a receipt from an adjacent establishment will be able to bring drinks and snacks to the hookah bar.

Hookah bar business plan: planning

Drawing up a hookah bar business plan begins with planning.

In many large cities, fierce competition has already formed, so you need to carefully analyze the market and calculate the necessary costs of opening an establishment.

And after this you can begin to implement the project.

Summary for hookah bar

In the summary of the business plan for a hookah bar, you need to indicate who, where and why will open it.

Presumably this will be a large city with a population of 700 thousand people.

You also need to indicate the name of your establishment.

It should be unique and memorable.

The main goals of opening a hookah bar establishment are:

organization of leisure facilities among the population;
providing visitors with a wide range of hookahs;
Receiving a profit;
providing people with jobs.

The hookah bar will operate according to the following principles:

Organization of a closed club.

To join the club, customers must fill out a form and then receive a club card.

This can be done after providing your passport.

Schedule:

when a separate hookah bar opens: Monday - Thursday, Sunday: 14:00-2:00;
when opening a hookah bar on the territory of a cafe / restaurant /: coincides with the work schedule of the adjacent establishment.

Payment for services:
- payment according to the amount of time spent (the maximum number of people at the table and hookahs at it is indicated);
- payment for the quantity of hookah ordered.
Additional services:
- background music;
- themed parties;
- Board games;
- the ability to order food and drinks from catering establishments upon presentation of a receipt;
- tea/coffee as a gift (will be included in the price of the hookah, so as not to contradict the legislation).

Marketing strategy in a hookah bar business plan

Target audience of the hookah bar.
As a rule, hookah bars are most often visited by people with above-average income, since the price of a hookah starts from 400 rubles.
It doesn’t matter whether they smoke cigarettes or not.
Depending on this, you need to have an assortment of hookahs with tobacco and nicotine-free mixtures and syrups.
Competitor analysis.
As a rule, in most large cities there are already several hookah bars.
It is important to analyze their concepts, work schedules and cost of services.
Therefore, you need to come up with something new to attract customers.
It could be:
- hookah at reduced prices until certain opening hours;
- loyalty program for regular customers;
- a wider range of hookahs;
- holding promotions and sweepstakes such as: “Bring a friend”, “Buy two hookahs, get the third as a gift”, etc.

The premises and interior of the hookah bar

Before drawing up a business plan for a hookah bar, you need to find a suitable premises.

If you want to open an “independent” hookah bar, then you should focus on the city center, closer to restaurants and so that after visiting them, customers will come to you.

You can also enter into a contract with a nearby establishment for the delivery of drinks and food on terms favorable to you.

Sometimes people don’t want to go somewhere on vacation, but are looking for something closer to home.

If you want to open a hookah bar in a cafe/restaurant/nightclub, you will have to negotiate with the owner of the establishment to rent a separate room.

Premises requirements:

- For a separate hookah bar, the best option would be a room of about 100 square meters. m, this will make it possible to divide it into sections;
- For a hookah bar in an establishment, 20-30 sq.m. is enough. m.
mandatory presence of supply and exhaust ventilation

Without this system, the premises will always be filled with smoke, which will disturb employees, visitors and neighbors of the establishment.

Complaints from third parties are fraught with inspections by the sanitary and epidemiological station and the fire inspectorate.

Particular attention should be paid to the interior.

For these purposes, it is best to hire a designer who can create the appropriate environment.

Many people prefer oriental motifs, but you can beat them with modern trends.

Equipment for hookah bar

In addition to rent and quality repairs, you will need to equip a hookah bar.

At first glance it may seem that you don’t need much, but in reality this is not the case.

The hall will accommodate 48 people.

Thus, 6 people can sit at one table and on two sofas.

Additional seating can be added using chairs or poufs.

To provide your guests with comfort and everything they need, the hookah bar business plan must include a complete list of everything necessary.

Name	Qty, things	Price per one., rub.	Price, rub.
Total:			590,000 rub.
Supply and exhaust ventilation	1	250 000	250 000
Hookahs and accessories	16	3 500	52 500
Sofas or easy chairs	16	7 000	112 000
Tables	8	3 000	24 000
Chairs (poufs)	6	2 000	12 000
TV	1	30 000	30 000
Laptop	1	20 000	20 000
Acoustic system	1	20 000	20 000
Lighting equipment	1	16 000	16 000
Reception desk	1	10 000	10 000
Wi-Fi router	1	2 500	2 500
Signaling	1	10 000	10 000
Decor	1	16 000	16 000
Other	1	15 000	15 000

Hookah bar staff

You don’t need to hire a lot of staff to operate a hookah bar.

The main goal will be to find good hookah providers who understand the types of hookah and can advise visitors.

Since the hookah bar will operate on a daily basis, and the main time of the schedule is in the evening and at night, you need to draw up a staffing schedule.

Most often, in such establishments, staff work in shifts.

Waiters in the hookah bar will not be needed, since guests will bring their own food and drinks.

But you definitely need to find an administrator who will greet visitors.

Advertising to promote a hookah bar

In order for your hookah bar to have guests, you need to make yourself known.

To do this, you can use already familiar ways to attract customers:

creation of a website with a description of services and the ability to book a table;
creating pages on social networks;
advertising on city banners and local newspapers;
distributing leaflets in crowded places;
"word of mouth" radio.

For the opening of a hookah bar, you can organize promotions and raffles, and hold a large party with the invitation of musicians or DJs.

Don’t forget that you always need to promote your establishment, and not just at first.

Therefore, organize themed evenings, competitions on social networks, and think over the optimal loyalty program for regular customers.

Also work on creating a name and logo.

This is how your establishment will be recognized.

Registration of a hookah bar

A hookah bar business plan should include registration costs.

You have two options:

individual entrepreneur registration;

If you open a hookah bar selling food, drinks and alcohol, then you only need to register as a legal entity - LLC.

Also choose a simplified taxation system.

After registering a business, you must also obtain:

permits from the fire service and sanitary and epidemiological station;
licenses for the sale of tobacco and .

Business plan for a hookah bar: project implementation

Calendar plan for opening a hookah bar

With proper planning, the project will take approximately 3 months to complete.

When you find a suitable premises, choose a designer, then proceed to register your business.

At the end of the renovation, you can already look for staff and start actively promoting yourself.

Stage	1 month	2 months	3 months
Business registration
Search for premises
Repairs to the premises and purchase of necessary equipment
Recruitment
Advertising and promotion
Opening

Financial aspect in a hookah bar business plan

Interesting fact:
Smoking a hookah does not become a habit and does not make the smoker addicted. If a heavy smoker does not smoke for a couple of days, nothing bad will happen. Moreover, hookah smoking is the safest way to enjoy tobacco known.

Now you can do the calculations, which will include start-up costs, recurring expenses and income forecast.

Expenses for opening a hookah bar

Opening a hookah bar is not a business that requires minimal investment.

Despite the fact that essentially only smoking services will be provided, large sums will need to be invested in the interior and equipment.

Permitting costs also include the purchase of fire extinguishers.

In general, you will need to have about 1,000,000 rubles at your disposal.

Monthly expenses for a hookah bar

In order for the hookah bar to fully function, you also need to spend money within a month.

This will include rent, employee salaries, purchase of hookah supplies (tobacco, mixtures, syrups, coal, flasks, mushtuks, etc.), as well as payments to other companies that provide their services to the establishment.

Income forecast and payback period calculation

The average cost of a check is planned to be 700 rubles.

Number of checks - 20 pieces.

Then the estimated monthly income will be 420,000 rubles.

Sometimes the average cost of a check can increase to 1,500 rubles, and the number of companies per day can approach 50.

But still, at first there may be “empty” days that will only cover expenses.

Calculation of hookah bar profit:

With this progress, the investment will pay off within 12-13 months.

In the video below, the owner of a hookah bar shares his experience of successfully running this type of business:

Thus, opening a hookah bar with the right approach to business and active advertising is a profitable business with a fairly quick payback period.

You are required to provide your guests with high-quality and varied hookah, follow fashion trends in this industry, and also work on a good entertainment program to brighten up your visitors’ leisure time.

And for these purposes, a correctly compiled detailed hookah bar business plan.

Don't neglect this important point.

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Today, the hookah business is one of the youngest and is characterized by minimal competition and high demand. Creating your own hookah business is very promising and can bring good income. Many potential hookah bar owners are interested in a number of organizational issues, which we will consider in this article.

Features of a hookah bar business

The main feature of a business is that the owner must strictly comply with legal requirements. They state that smoking in public places is officially prohibited. Accordingly, if you open as a catering service, serving tobacco hookah along with dishes/drinks, the Consumer Supervision Authority will quickly impose sanctions.

There are two options to solve the problem:

Creation of a hookah bar in its purest form. Since a food service establishment is not required to provide tobacco to its customers, you are opening a business that will not serve food or drinks. Clients can be asked to take them with them, while at the same time keeping the receipt so that in the event of an inspection they cannot present anything to you. But in this case there is one drawback - the hookah bar must provide exclusively the use of hookahs. This option is less preferable because you will not be able to fully sell other products in the form of drinks and food.
Cafe with hookahs. A good solution would be to open a cafe that offers to order hookah at the same time. The restrictions provided by law are quite simple. You just need to use a nicotine-free mixture. After all, the law prohibits smoking tobacco, but about syrups, smoking stones, etc. it doesn't say anything.

As for the advantages of the hookah business, they are as follows:

the ability to use a wide range of tools for subsequent promotion of the establishment;
the possibility of opening as a semi-closed club, which creates a unique elite atmosphere;
the opportunity to smoke a hookah is not available everywhere, which can be regarded as a competitive advantage;
average level of expenses along with alternative catering establishments;
the possibility of providing services in the open air - a veranda or summer area, if available.

How much does it cost to open a hookah bar?

Investors are always interested in the question of the cost of this event, but the answer to it may not be obvious. The total investment may vary depending on the size of the room, the price of equipment and consumables.

To enter the market is about $20,000, the maximum is limited only by the financial capabilities of the businessman.

Expenses consist of the following items:

monthly rental of premises – minimum $900 per month;
arrangement of a unique interior along with repairs – from $5,000;
purchase of equipment and furniture – from $4,000;
purchase of hookahs - the cost depends on their size, the minimum amount is $3,000 with a total investment of about 4 thousand - everything else includes additional accessories;
purchase and installation of fire extinguishing means (fire extinguishers) – minimum $280;
purchase of smoking mixtures and other types of consumables – from 1 thousand dollars;
carrying out official registration with the relevant authorities - about $200;
cash register - about 200 dollars;
other technical content - about 4 thousand dollars (kettles, coolers, stoves, TV, audio systems, and so on).

Costs may vary depending on who will be working here. At first, students and the unemployed should be invited, i.e. those who urgently need work - the salary can be 20-30 thousand rubles per person. If there is a staff of 5 employees (two administrators, two hookah workers and a manager), the salary fund will be approximately 120 thousand rubles per month.

As for advertising, the budget here can also vary. For example, you will have to pay about $500 for advertising on the Internet. The funds will be used to promote the group on social networks, create targeted ads, etc.

How long does it really take to recoup the costs?

If the forecast turns out to be favorable, after 5-10 months the costs will be fully compensated. In most cases, the payback period is 6-7 months.

If the hookah bar operates successfully, that is, the average number of checks during the month will be 600 units, and its average price will be 750 rubles; if these indicators increase, after six months the owner will begin to earn about 300 thousand rubles per month.