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Hookah Bar Business Plan

Arz al-Lubnan Hookah Bar

Executive summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. it describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">.

Arz al-Lubnan Hookah Bar (Cedars of Lebanon) is a new hookah bar concept which will focus on a combination of Middle Eastern customers and customers over 22 years in age to offer a more adult alternative to hookah bars frequented by college-age customers. The first bar will be established in Trendytown, and managed by the business founders, Sayed and Yasmine Batroun. The business will generate revenues through the sale of flavored tobaccos, non-alcoholic drinks, and appetizers. The business seeks angel investor funding to launch its first bar.

The business projects to become profitable in its first year with good profit from strong sales in the first year. Sales will triple by the third year of operation. Net profit of sales will be respectable due to the high margin on the products sold. Exit for investors is possible from sale of the franchise to a chain of bars looking to expand their market.

Hookah bar business plan, executive summary chart image

Arz al-Lubnan Hookah Bar seeks to achieve the following objectives with the launch of its first hookah lounge:

To establish a franchisable model for hookah bars and initiate fundraising and planning for franchising by its fifth year of operation.

The mission of Arz al-Lubnan Hookah Bar is to provide a comfortable environment, sometimes relaxing and sometimes energetic and stimulating, around which those who love hookah smoking, as well as new converts, can come together. The environment will draw on elements of Middle Eastern culture as well as the culture of the local environment.

Keys to Success

The keys to success for Arz al-Lubnan Hookah Bar are:

Energize the customer base to generate their own culture and events at Arz al-Lubnan Hookah Bar

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Hookah Lounge Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Hookah Lounge Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their hookah bars and lounges. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a hookah lounge business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your hookah bar or lounge as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan

If you’re looking to start a hookah bar or lounge, or grow your existing business, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your lounge in order to improve your chances of success. Your plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Hookah Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a hookah lounge are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the lender will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for hookah lounges.

How to Write a Business Plan for a Hookah Lounge or Bar

If you want to start a hookah lounge or expand your current one, you need a business plan. Below we detail each of the key components to writing a great [sector] business plan:

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of business you are operating and its status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a hookah bar or lounge that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of hookah bars or lounges?

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of hookah lounge you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types of hookah businesses:

In addition to explaining the type of business you will operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to question such as:

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the hookah industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the hookah industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy, particularly if your research identifies market trends.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your hookah business plan:

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your hookah business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments that may be hookah smokers: college students, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of hookah business you operate. Clearly, college students would respond to different marketing promotions than an affluent Baby Boomer, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most hookah businesses primarily serve customers living in their same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other hookah lounge businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t direct competitors. This includes convenience stores, tobacco shops, cigar shops, and vape shops.

With regards to direct competition, you want to describe the other hookah lounge businesses with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be hookah lounges located very close to your location.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a hookah lounge business plan, your marketing plan should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of hookah lounge company that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to hookah, will your lounge serve alcohol, or offer oxygen, or will you sell hookah products for off-premise use?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the location of your hookah lounge company. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, is your hookah lounge located near a college campus, or in an entertainment district? Will you also sell hookah products and accessories online? In this section, document each method by which you will sell your products..

Promotions : The final part of your hookah lounge marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your hookah lounge business, including marketing your business, ordering and tracking inventory, serving customers, and preparing for upcoming customers.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to seat your 1,000 th customer, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to open a hookah lounge in a new location.

Management Team

To demonstrate your hookah lounge business’ ability to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing hookah lounge businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in food service or bar management, or successfully running small businesses.

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.

Income Statement : an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your hookah lounge costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will your lounge be at capacity during evenings and weekends? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets : Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your hookah lounge business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a hookah lounge business:

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your lounge location lease or sample menus for all the products you will serve (hookah, food, beverage, etc.).

Putting together a business plan for your hookah lounge is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the hookah industry, your competition, and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful hookah lounge business.

Hookah Lounge Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my hookah lounge business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your Hookah Lounge Business Plan.

What is the Goal of a Business Plan's Executive Summary?

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of hookah lounge business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a hookah lounge business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of hookah lounge businesses?

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Strategic/Operational Business Plan

Hookah Lounge Business Plan Sample

JUL.27, 2018

Hookah lounge business plan for your own bar business

Do you want to start a hookah bar business? A hookah bar business is undoubtedly one of the most profitable startups, yielding the greatest rate of return as compared to other businesses. A hookah bar is a place where people can come freely and enjoy different flavors of hookahs, drinks, e-liquids, appetizers, cigars and sometimes alcoholic drinks too. Opening a hookah bar will prove a rewarding and profitable business for you, as smoking is banned in public places in many countries.

Before starting it, you need to have a well-structured shisha bar business plan covering even the tiniest bit of details. To help you avoid all the trouble of thinking and making a plan yourself, we are providing a detailed sample hookah lounge business plan for the startup ‘Aladdin Hookah Bar’.

Executive Summary

2.1 the hookah lounge business.

Aladdin Hookah Bar will be a registered hookah bar in Miami at a 10 minutes’ walk from the Bayside Marketplace. Miami is a highly advanced and ordered city; a hookah bar strategically located in the main commercial zone of this populated city will business a lot, as most people and tourists search for a serene place for smoking and relaxing.

The business will be owned and operated by Stephen Gerrard who is well-known in Miami for his reputable catering services operating for the last 15 years.

2.2 Management of Hookah Lounge

Gerrard aims at achieving perfection in hookah bar business by providing an exotic environment and fresh hookah drinks. The business will be managed by Gerrard himself initially and he’ll hire a small team for different tasks.

2.3 Customers of Hookah Bar

Aladdin Hookah Bar will provide fresh fruit hookahs and different types of coffees in a well-designed seductive environment to both permanent and temporary residents of Miami aged 22 and above.

2.4 Target of the Company

If you have decided to open a hookah bar, you must include your targets in your hookah bar business plan to improvise your business at a large scale. Mr. Gerrard’s target is to make his hookah bar’s environment homey and unique by providing a large number of drinks, hookahs, coffees, and teas.

Hookah Bar Business Plan - 3 Years Profit Forecast

Company Summary

3.1 company owner.

Gerrard is famous in Miami for his reputable and distinguished catering service operating for the last 15 years. Due to the individuality of his ideas, he is considered the esteemed choice for managing caterings in events. This year, he wants to start a side business of a hookah bar and is willing to invest both time and money in it.

3.2 Why the Hookah Lounge Business is being started

Due to the policy of WHO to protect non-smokers from passive smoking, smoking is forbidden in public places, and people search for a hookah lounge to smoke. Gerrard is going to launch a hookah bar as he best knows how to open a hookah bar and how to run a hookah lounge successfully. In addition to that, he also aims to generate profit from his comfortable and legal smoking place in Miami.

3.3 How the Hookah Bar Business will be started

After analyzing various aspects of this business, Gerard has decided to manage the bar himself, yet he will hire a team for his assistance and for preparing the menu. The startup costs are as follows:

The detailed start-up requirements, expenses, total assets, total funding required as forecasted by the company’s analysts are given below:

Services for customers

Before starting a hookah bar, you must be clear about the services you are going to provide to your customers as it will help you to estimate opening a hookah bar cost .

Gerrard has exclusive hookah bar ideas , he aims to make a perfect place for spending a quiet afternoon alone or with friends by adorning the big lounge by dim lights and brick walls combined with comfortable sofas and pillows.

Aladdin Hookah Bar will provide all sort of hookah drinks and coffees to its esteemed customers above age 22. Each one of our offerings will be prepared by maintaining strict health and quality measures.

Besides providing simple drinks, wines, and cigars, our major products will include:

Aladdin Hookah Bar will be open twenty-four hours a day.

Before starting a hookah bar, you must be clear about the services you are going to provide to your customers as it will help you to estimate opening a hookah bar cost.

Market Analysis Summary

The first thing to do before starting a hookah bar is to research about how to start a hookah bar business in your state since there are a lot of concerning health regulations in practice. After that, carry out an accurate marketing analysis which will help you to decide the company’s strategies over the next years. It must be incorporated in the initial business plan and all subsequent things must be planned according to it.

Considering its importance, Mr. Gerrard obtained the services of marketing experts to help him develop a hookah bar business plan taking into account the current marketing demands.

5.1 Marketing Trends

If you want to know how much is hookah bar business profitable, you will be glad to know that there are more than 7000 legally registered hookah bars in the US and the number of hookah bars is increasing significantly. According to an IBISWorld report, hookah bars have generated a revenue of more than 900 million dollars in the past few years.

But remember, the success and failure of any business depend upon how keenly you focus on your target customers. A successful marketing strategy can only be developed after knowing the target audience and potential customers.

This sample business plan will help you in defining your target audience, you can take help from this sample business plan even if you don’t know how to start a hookah lounge , In this business plan we have explained how to open up a hookah bar and run it successfully.

5.2 Marketing Segmentation

The following type of target audience will become the future customers of Aladdin Hookah Bar.

Hookah Bar Business Plan - Market Segmentation

5.2.1 General Traffic: The top category of our target customers will be the general traffic i.e. the people who happen to be near our hookah bar and decides to relax and smoke for some time in the hookah bar. We will be benefited a lot as Aladdin Hookah Bar is situated near the main market of Miami, which is visited by thousands of people daily. The exclusive entrance and dim-light theme of Aladdin Hookah Bar will attract the people who search for a place to sit calmly to smoke or to drink hookah.

5.2.2 Companies and Businesses: This category includes all employees working in the various office, companies, and businesses situated near us. As smoking is not allowed in offices, so the workers who want to drink hookah or cigars in their break time will rush towards. The employees of these companies and businesses will buy hookah drinks, coffees and salads from us on a daily basis.

5.2.3 Local Residents: We also aim to target the local residents residing in nearby areas. We are sure that they will be surely addicted to the solace environment we’ll provide, and whenever they want to have a hookah drink, they’ll approach us.

The detailed market analysis of our potential customers is given in the following table:

5.3 Business Target

Our target is to become the best hookah bar in Miami within the first year of launch. We also aim to recover our initial capital within 3 years of our launch and grow our sales by 30% each year. We’ll achieve our target by providing the best quality drinks and environment and by valuing our customers.

5.4 Product Pricing

Product pricing is the most important factor affecting the sales of a new business. We have priced our items and drinks in the same range as our competitors in the market. But the products which are only provided by us such as Code Blue Hookah will be a little costlier as more effort will be required for its preparation.

After you have understood how to open up a hookah bar you must plan your business strategy , you can take help from this sample business plan on how to open up a hookah lounge .

High Quality Business Plan and Professional Support

It was amazing to work with OGS Capital for our business plan. They promptly responded our enquires and delivered document on time.The document was well organized high quality and content.We succeded with Alex and his team support. We thank you guys again for professional approach and easy communication.

6.1 Competitive Analysis

Aladdin Hookah Bar will have a tough competition because there are thousands of already established hookah lounges in Miami. Moreover, people are always hesitant to try a restaurant business plan that’s why Gerrard has decided that Aladdin Hookah Bar will be decorated in a unique manner, to attract the customers for the first time.

Our biggest competitive edge is our location and the wide parking space for our customers. Lastly, we will provide our customers with the best standard and quality products in a healthy environment where we’ll do proper aeration system to purify the air from the smoke.

6.2 Sales Strategy

For attracting the majority of people in the startup of a business, Gerrard has planned some types of advertisements.

6.3 Sales Monthly

Hookah Bar Business Plan - Sales Monthly

6.4 Sales Yearly

6.5 Sales Forecast

Personnel plan

After a great research on how to start a hookah bar business , Gerrard has devised his personnel plan, which is given here for your help.

7.1 Company Staff

Stephen Gerrard will himself act as the Aladdin Hookah Bar Manager and will be responsible for the daily activities. The company will initially hire the following people:

To ensure the best quality service, all employees will be selected through vigorous testing and will be kept in check for their dealing with clients.

7.2 Average Salary of Employees

The following table shows the forecasted data about employees and their salaries for the next three years.

Financial Plan

You can never estimate how much is a hookah bar business profitable unless you devise its financial plan. As the last step of your business plan, you must prepare a financial plan, to manage your investments and profits.

Aladdin Hookah Bar will be solely financed by Mr. Gerrard and no equity funding or outside loan will be required unless the business expands faster than forecasted.

8.1 Important Assumptions

8.2 brake-even analysis.

Hookah Bar Business Plan - Brake-even Analysis

8.3 Projected Profit and Loss

8.3.1 profit monthly.

Hookah Bar Business Plan - Profit Monthly

8.3.2 Profit Yearly

Hookah Bar Business Plan - Profit Yearly

8.3.3 Gross Margin Monthly

Hookah Bar Business Plan - Gross Margin Monthly

8.3.4 Gross Margin Yearly

Hookah Bar Business Plan - Gross Margin Yearly

8.4 Projected Cash Flow

Hookah Bar Business Plan - Projected Cash Flow

8.5 Projected Balance Sheet

8.6 business ratios.

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Home » Business ideas » Food Industry » Hookah Bar & Lounge

How to Write a Hookah Bar & Lounge Business Plan [Sample Template]

Are you about starting a hookah bar & lounge? If YES, here is a complete sample hookah bar business plan template & feasibility report you can use for FREE . The truth is that, if you choose to start a business just for the sake of making money, you are likely going to struggle to grow the business.

When the going gets tough as expected, you are likely going to pull out. One business that falls under this category is a hookah bar; you cannot successfully run a hookah bar business if you aren’t a smoker yourself.

The fact that The World Health Organization (WHO), in conjunction with Governments of various Countries are clamping down on smoking in public places just in a bid to protect non- smokers from the harmful effect of smoking makes hookah bar welcome loads of clients who usually love to share their experience with friends ( smoking tobacco with friends ) in a cozy environment.

Right there in the Airports, Cinemas, Shopping Malls and Public places in general, you might have noticed the “ Smoking Not Allowed ” signs hung at various spots informing the general public that the area is a no smoking zone. However, if you took your time to make enquiry, you would find that there are hookah bars and cigar lounges just around the corner.

Banning smoking in public places is actually a blessing in disguise for people with the intention of starting a hookah bar or a cigar lounge. Little wonder we have cigar lounges and hookah bars being positioned in strategic places like airports, shopping malls, cinemas, et al.

Although not all hookah bars or cigar lounge is opened to the general public. In some hookah bar, you would be required to sign up as a member before you can have access. Below is a sample Hookah Bar business plan template that can help you to successfully write your own with little or no difficulty.

A Sample Hookah Bar Business Plan Template

Table of Content

1. Industry Overview

3. our products and services, 4. our mission and vision statement, 5. job roles and responsibilities, 6. swot analysis, 8. our target market, 9. sales and marketing strategy, 10. sales forecast, 11. publicity and advertising strategy, 12. our pricing strategy, 14. sustainability and expansion strategy.

The hookah bar / lounge which is also known as a shisha bar or den, especially in united kingdom and some parts of Canada is an establishment where patrons share shisha from a communal hookah or nargile which is placed at each table.

This is a location where tobacco smokers can purchase and smoke tobacco and cigars freely without the fear of breaking the law of a country or city. Businesses in this industry usually provide limited food and alcohol services as a means of increasing their revenue generation.

According to the American Cancer Society – ACS, hookah basically a flavored tobacco and it is smoked out of a ‘hookah’ water pipe. The tobacco is often called shisha which is a higher grade hookah with only molasses and flavoring added. It is a centuries old practice and most likely originated from india.

Hookah bars are mostly found in college towns and urban areas and are regarded by some as a trendy way to socialize and embrace multiculturalism. Some people of Middle Eastern or South Asian extraction consider them a continuation of their own cultural traditions.

Some hookah bars have well-equipped kitchens and are more similar to wine bars. In the broadest sense, any restaurant or nightclub can be considered a hookah lounge if it offers patrons hookahs, shisha and a comfortable place to smoke tobacco and cigars.

Because of several state anti-tobacco laws, most Hookah bars have made the transition from smoking traditional shisha to smoking herbal shisha because it contains no tobacco or nicotine and is legal indoors in areas specific to the prohibition of tobacco and cigar smoking. Besides, herbs do produce tar when they burn.

In recent time, the Hookah bars cum Cigar Lounges industry has made a strong comeback in the united states over the last five years as a large increase in tobacco consumption has boosted the demand for tobacco related products. In the face of regulatory hurdles in obtaining exemption from state indoor smoking bans, both industry participation and revenue have grown at rapid rates since 2010.

No doubt, as the economy continues to grow and improve over the next five years, more consumers will likely indulge in premium cigars and tobaccos at high-end hookah bars or cigar lounges, helping the industry sustain its growth and widen profit margins. So also, with the United States recent steps toward normalization of relations with Cuba will definitely expand access to the country’s high-end cigars and tobaccos, providing an opportunity for the industry to maximize profits.

The Hookah Bars cum Cigar Lounges industry is indeed a thriving industry in the United States, Canada and in most countries in Europe, Statistics has it that the Cigar Lounges and Hookah Bars industry in the United States of America, is worth $2 billion, with an estimated growth rate of 11.0 percent.

There are about 7,684 legally registered and licensed cigar lounges / Hookah bars businesses scattered across the United States of America and they are responsible for employing about 17,980 people. The industry is an open industry hence a low level of market share concentration.

In order to invest wisely, you need to carry out a research on the industry or line of business you intend investing in. if you are opening a hookah bar for the first time, it is important you conduct a thorough research so that you can be well informed and guided when making the choices of what you want from the array of options that are available to you.

Researching will open you up to the various opportunities you can leverage on and how you can access them. It’s not compulsory that you must be the one to carry out the research; you can pay professionals to help you garner the needed information.

Any entrepreneur who wants to start a hookah bar business in the US would definitely be confronted with tough competition out there. The truth is that, you will not only compete with hookah bars /smoke shops / cigar lounges in your location or city, but you would be competing with every other entertainment options such as wine bars, night clubs, restaurants, casinos et al where cigars and tobacco et al are retailed and can be freely smoked.

For instance, people go to bars to drink, smoke and socialize and they tend to get more when they go to night clubs or other entertainment hub. In night clubs, people do not only drink, smoke and socialize, but they also dance if they choose to and get entertained.

2. Executive Summary

Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC is a neighborhood hookah bar cum cigar lounge that will be located on the ground floor of one of the busiest campus communities with a robust international in the United States of America – The University of California – Los Angeles. We have been able to secure a one-year lease of a vacant shop within the campus facility. We are fortunate to secure a facility with an option of renewal for 5 years at an agreed rate that is favorable to us.

We are going to be involved in the sale of traditional shisha, sale of herbal shisha sale of cigars, sale of tobacco-related accessories, sale of other tobacco products, sale of food and drink, mass marketing cigars and cigarillos, sale of premium cigars, providing a cigar-friendly smoking environment, sale of assorted red and white wines, sale of beer and liquor, sale of distilled spirits, martinis and tobacco et al to campus students and visitors in a conducive environment that is specifically designed for socializing and networking and free from all forms of violence.

Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC is designed and constructed to meet both the health and safety standard as recommended by the local authority. Our customers are going to be treated with good music at all times. We have made provision for live band, karaoke, country side music and jazz et al. This will be played at the background to create the ambience that our customers will cherish.

We are in business to make profits at the same to give our customers value for their money; we want to give people the opportunity to choose from the wide range of shisha, assorted cigars, tobaccos and drinks that are manufactured both in the United States of America and overseas.

Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC will go all the way to make available in our hookah bar most of the shisha, tobacco and cigar brands produced in the United States of America and in other parts of the world especially in countries like Cuba, India and Italy.

We aware that hookah bars easily attract intellectuals and business people and we know that the campus community is one of the places where we can easily tie down these people especially when they have to socialize.

We will ensure that all our employees are selected from a pool of qualified and customer centric people in and around Los Angeles – California and also from any part of the United States. We will make sure that we take all the members of our workforce through the required trainings that will position them to meet the expectation of the company and to compete with other players in the United States and throughout the globe.

Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC is owned by Clarence Williams and his immediate family members. Clarence Williams has managed several cigar lounges, smoke shops, bars and night clubs in Los Angeles and Las Vegas prior to opening his own hookah bar. He has the magic wand to attract people who go to cigar lounges and hookah bars on a regular basis.

Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC is going to operate a standard and health compliance hookah bar in University of California – Los Angeles that will make available shisha, most of the cigar products and accessories that can be found in a standard cigar lounge or hookah bar in the United States.

We will also ensure that we go all the way to make available assorted wines and alcoholic drinks in our smoke hookah bar. These are some of our product and service offerings;

Our Business Structure

Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC is a business that is established to be a pacesetter when it comes to how standard hookah bar should be run in Los Angeles and even in the United States of America. We have the goal of assembling a team of dedicated workforce who will give our customers excellent customer service at all times, a team that will ensure that we will continue to have repeated customers and a team that will indeed make us the melting pot for smokers and socialites in Los Angeles.

In view of the above, we have been able to follow suits on what is obtainable in standard hookah bars and cigar lounges in the United States and perhaps improve on the structure with time when the need arises. We will work hard to ensure that we only attract people with the right mindset to help us achieve our business goals and objectives in record time.

Below is the business structure that we will build Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC;

Greeters / Customer Service Agent / Table Attendant

Security Officers

Chief Executive Officer – CEO:

Hookah bar Manager:

Bartender / Baristas:

Accountant / Cashier:

Disc Jockey (DJ)

Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC is established with the aim of becoming the melting point for smokers and socialites in Los Angles which is why we have taken our time to critically analyze and conduct SWOT analysis to be able to identify areas we need to work on if indeed we want to achieve our business goal.

No investor would want to invest his or hard earned money without assessing the risks involved in the venture and also his or her capability to deliver and make profits from the business. The ability to make profits from any business and to favorably compete with competitors in the industry starts with the result you get from your SWOT analysis.

In view of that, Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC hired a business and HR specialist to help her conduct SWOT analysis for the business and below is a summary of the result that was generated;

Our strength as a company are, excellent and detailed customer service a wide range of assorted shisha, cigars, tobaccos, and alcoholic drinks both from the United States and other parts of the world. Excellent facility, excellent ambience and perfect location for a hookah lounge in metropolitan city like Los Angles.

Our perceived weakness could be that we are new business, and we may not have the financial muscle to sustain the kind of publicity we want to give our business.

Opportunities:

There are unlimited business opportunities available to hookah bar businesses in busy communities like University of California – Los Angeles; Los Angeles is one of the cities in the world where social life is at its peak. Besides the campus facility where our hookah lounge is located is one of the busiest in the United States and it is open to loads of opportunities due to the influx of international students especially from India and other Asia countries.

Another opportunity that we stand to leverage on is the fact that we can easily order any brand of shisha, cigar, tobacco, wine and drinks directly from the manufacturer with little or no stress.

Just like any other business, one of the major threats that we are likely going to face is economic downturn. It is a fact that economic downturn affects purchasing / spending power. Another threat that may likely confront us is the arrival of a new hookah bar, cigar lounge or wine bar in same facility or within same location where our target market exist and who may want to adopt same Business model like us.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

Market Trends

Despite the fact that the hookah bars cum cigar lounges industry has long existed in the United States, it is starting to fall back into fashion. Innovative flavors and different varieties of shisha and cigars have increased demand over the last five years.

Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) clearly indicated that 40.0 percent of people who try smoking try flavored cigarettes or cigarillos. Consequently, this industry has jumped back into a growth phase.

A close observation of the trends in the industry shows that hookah use has increased dramatically among American and European youth in recent years because of the social atmosphere it creates, and because many young adults believe hookah is a safer alternative to cigarette smoking, for that reason they do not fully understand the health effects that come along with it. In order to remain open, many hookah lounges cannot sell food or beverages. Roughly 90 percent of the cities that have put a ban on smoking in public places have exemptions for hookah bars.

Most hookah bars in the United States have chic or ultramodern elements such as glass tables, plasma televisions, and oxygen bars et al. Most bars in the U.S. require patrons to be at least 18 years of age to smoke shisha and 18 years of age to purchase ( exceptions are Utah, Arizona, Alabama, and New Jersey: 19 years of age to smoke ).

However the laws in some other states require the patron to only be 18 years of age to purchase or possess tobacco, which in a hookah bar, the patron is doing none of these, for that reason one is likely going to find under age teenagers in many hookah bars in the United States

No doubt, the Hookah Bars cum Cigar Lounges industry will continue to improvise on ways to increase sales. They seek to remove the association of shisha, tobacco and cigar with high – end clientele and overwhelming cigar lists and replace it with a more casual and relaxing atmosphere.

Many of these hookah lounges are furnished with nooks and cozy booths encased in rich colors and plush surroundings in hopes their guests will linger. Hookah lounges look to embrace the intellectual stimulation linked to shisha, cigar and tobacco and offer an alternative to the hookah bar scene. The phlegmatic environment lends itself to a good socializing setting with a less crowded feel and more intimate appeal.

In recent time, hookah lounges have begun to incorporate a larger variety of alcoholic drinks and food choices as part of their product offerings. It is obvious that adding these product offerings help in creating alternate source of generating sales and increasing their overall income even if they struggle to sell their shishas, cigars and tobaccos.

Before starting our hookah lounge business in Los Angeles – California, we conducted a market survey and feasibility studies and we are certain that there is a wide range of people who would patronize our hookah lounge on a regular basis.

In view of that, we have created strategies that will enable us reach out to various groups of people who are likely going to become our loyal customer. Below are our target markets;

Our competitive advantage

We are mindful of the fact that there are stiffer competitions in the hookah bars cum cigar lounges industry in the United States of America; hence we have been able to hire some of the best business developer to handle our sales and marketing.

Part of what is going to be our selling point is the fact that we operate a standard and health compliance hookah bar, in a perfect location (one of the busiest campus facilities in University of California – Los Angeles, the United States) for the kind of business that we run and also the fact that our hookah lounge facility is highly secured.

Another factor that will give Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC competitive edge is that we have enough parking space to accommodate the numbers of customers our hookah lounge can contain per time. We are not ruling out the fact that we have a dedicated and customer centric workforce that are willing to go the extra mile to give our customers full value for their money and time whenever the patronize our hookah lounge.

We are not ignoring the fact that we are among the few neighborhood hookah lounge in Los Angeles that sells almost all the brands of shisha, cigar, tobacco, and alcoholic drinks available in the United States of America, crafted beers, distilled spirits, liquors et al and obviously, that will surely count towards our advantage in the market place and also the robust experience of our CEO and the hookah bar manager is also a positive for Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC.

Lastly, our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be among the best within our category ( startups hookah lounges, wine bars and night club businesses in the United States ) in the industry meaning that they will be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and achieve all our aims and objectives.

Sources of Income

Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC is established with the aim of maximizing profits in the hookah bars cum cigar lounges industry and we are going to go all the way to ensure that we do all it takes to attract our target market. The sources of income for Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC are stated below;

One thing is certain when it comes to hookah lounge business, if your hookah lounge is cozy, relaxing, well stocked and centrally positioned, you will always attract customers cum sales and that will sure translate to increase in revenue generation for the business.

We are well positioned to take on the available market in Los Angeles California and we are quite optimistic that we will meet our set target of generating enough income / profits from the first six month of operations and grow the business and our clientele base.

We have been able to critically examine the hookah lounge market and we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast. The sales projections are based on information gathered on the field and some assumptions that are peculiar to similar startups in Los Angeles – CA.

Below are the sales projections for Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC, it is based on the location of our business and other factors as it relates to hookah bars start – ups in the United States;

N.B : This projection is done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown and there won’t be any major competitor offering same products and customer care services as we do within same location. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.

Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

Top of the list on our marketing and sale strategy document is generating a buzz for our hookah lounge via word-of-mouth and leveraging on road show around UCL campus community.

Despite the fact that our first outlet is located inside University of California Los Angeles, the model of hookah lounge we intend running is a neighborhood bar hence we are not going to rely only on the conventional ways of marketing.

We don’t have the plans to run paid adverts on Local TV stations, local radio stations or even local newspaper but we will sure maximize every other available means to promote our business. Our unique selling proposition is that we have a collections of almost all the brand shishas, cigars and tobaccos produced in The United States in our hookah lounge, we also have assorted alcoholic drinks et al.

In view of that, we are going to adopt the following marketing strategies to ensure that we do not only attract customers but generate repeated sales from them. Parts of the marketing and sales strategies that we will adopt are;

Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC is a campus hookah bar and we will ensure that we create the buzz that will make people in our area know about us and what we do. We are quite aware that one of the effective ways of promoting our hookah lounge is to create special internal promotions which in turn will help us achieve our aim of leveraging on word of mouth publicity.

Here are the platforms we intend leveraging on to promote and advertise Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC;

The prices of our shishas, cigars, tobaccos, wines, beers, and other alcoholic drinks et al will be what is obtainable in the market. In fact we will try as much as we can to sell below the industry’s average so as to attract loads of customers. We also have plans in place to discount our products once in a while and also to reward our loyal customers.

Payment Options

The payment policy adopted by Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC is all inclusive because we are quite aware that different customers prefer different payment options as it suits them but at the same time, we will ensure that we abide by the financial rules and regulation of the United States of America.

Here are the payment options that Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC will make available to her clients;

In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will enable our client make payment for farm produces purchase without any stress on their part. Our bank account numbers will be made available on our website and promotional materials to clients who may want to deposit cash or make online transfer for our products.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

In setting up any business, the amount or cost will depend on the approach and scale you want to undertake. If you intend to go big by renting a place, then you would need a good amount of capital as you would need to ensure that your employees are well taken care of, and that your facility is conducive enough for workers to be creative and productive.

This means that the start-up can either be low or high depending on your goals, vision and aspirations for your business.

The tools and equipment that will be used are nearly the same cost everywhere, and any difference in prices would be minimal and can be overlooked. As for the detailed cost analysis for starting a hookah lounge business; it might differ in other countries due to the value of their money.

This is what it would cost us to start Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC in the United of America;

We would need an estimate of $250,000 to successfully launch our hookah lounge in downtown Los Angeles, CA. This amount includes the salary of all employees and the CEO (Owner) for 3 months.

Generating Funds/ Startup Capital for Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC

Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC is a private business that is owned by Clarence Williams and his immediate family members and they intend to finance the business alone. Although they have plans to make the hookah bar manager part owner of the business after 5 or 7 years of services, but that does not stop him from reserving well over 80 percent stake of the business for himself and his family.

Since they are the sole financier of the business, they have decided to adopt the following means to generate start – up capital for the business;

N.B: Mr. Sleek Davenport and his family have been able to generate $100,000 the breakdown shows that they generated $75,000 from their personal savings and sale of their stocks and they generated $25,000 soft loans from their family members and friends. The balance of $150,000 will be generated as loan facility from the bank.

The future of a business lies in the numbers of loyal customers that they have the capacity and competence of the employees, their investment strategy and the business structure. If all of these factors are missing from a business (company), then it won’t be too long before the business close shop.

One of our major goals of starting Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC is to build a business that will survive off its own cash flow without the need for injecting finance from external sources once the business is officially running. We know that one of the ways of gaining approval and winning customers over is to properly position our hookah lounge, ensure adequate security, availability of various brand of shishas, cigars, tobaccos, alcoholic drinks and excellent customer service et al.

Purple & Blue Hookah Bar®, LLC will make sure that the right foundation, structures and processes are put in place to ensure that our staff welfare are well taken of. Our company’s corporate culture is designed to drive our business to greater heights and training and re – training of our workforce is at the top burner.

As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of three years or more. We know that if that is put in place, we will be able to successfully hire and retain the best hands we can get in the industry; they will be more committed to help us build the business of our dreams.

Check List / Milestone

hookah business plan sample

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