I want to open a cigar lounge, where do I start?
I’m currently a senior in college and a few friends of mine what to start a cigar lounge. We’ve been talking about it since we started college. We realize the amount of work it will take to start a lounge that will actually make money. I’ve been to cigar bars in Texas, Illinois, and Florida and not one lounge has been consistent as far as popularity and customers. One cigar lounge in Illinois I go to has a beautiful lay-out, very spacious, a huge selection but that’s it. They don’t sell alcohol because of zoning and Illinois law, and that could be why the place is usually empty on a random 2 o’clock weekday, or the same six guys come in on the weekend. A cigar lounge in Florida is small, pretty decent selection, they sell alcohol, but it seems they’re taking a younger customer approach by selling hookah and cigars. So more of a mixed market, to younger hookah smokers and more mature cigar smokers. So now my questions?
My friends and I are fairly flexible when it comes to location. I’m currently in Nebraska where cigar lounges don’t seem to be a huge market here. The other locations we’ve talked about are Illinois, Texas, Cali, New York, Florida, and possibly Georgia. From the states I’ve listed (and any ones I didn’t list) where would a cigar lounge be most successful?
Our perfect lounge would be spacious, huge selection, full bar, with private rooms for meetings, large groups, or whoever wants to spend the money to use a room. What else could our cigar lounge have that would be appealing to you as the customer? We thought about supplying hookah for a younger crowd, but out of my group of friends I personally feel that would bring in a younger crowd which might push the high paying cigar smokers out of the door. I also don’t want the smoke to clash. I love hookah smoke, but if I’m smoking a cigar I want the smell of cigar smoke, not flavored shisha.
What do you think?
The last thing I’m thinking is adding a mini micro brewery to my lounge. We would have three beers available. Two house beers and one seasonal beer is what we’d sell. Customers can crates of our beer for consumption at home, or they can have them on draft at out bar/lounge. Now I’ve been home brewing for awhile, so I know that this would be very difficult to incorporate in out lounge. It would be very costly to set the micro brewery up, and I would need to hire someone to manage that area. I know this is costly, and probably a terrible idea, but I thought I’d see what everyone thought about the idea. If money was no object, would you like to enjoy a smoke and some beer on draft that has been brewed at the lounge? Or would you pass completely?
Thanks for all the help guys. I’ve been coming up with ideas for three years now with my buddies. We want to start a business that is successful and makes money. My dad has started four businesses on his own, he’s very successful in his work, but he’s never had a business that was ultra successful. So I know how hard it is, but I just want some extra help and ideas to really make my mind up on wether or not it makes sense at all? Thanks for the help guys!
It’s not a bad idea and I don’t see why a bank wouldn’t give you a loan to start y’all out. The whole bar thing will be a lot harder because you have to deal with federal, state and local liquor laws and have a beer that people will want to buy. Cigar bar I say go for it, beer bar might take a little more work.
First you need to find a place with lax smoking laws. Most places won’t allow a cigar bar anymore, unless tobacco sales make up a certain percentage of the business. Even then some places won’t allow them to sell alcohol. I think you need to do some major research not only about current laws, but about potential laws.
Second, skip the micro brewery. The truth is cigars and micro brews aren’t a great mix. This isn’t the 80s, people have a lot of mirco-brews to choose from these days, it isn’t just a novelty. You’d have to do better than those guys and you’d only draw people who wanted to smoke. Let’s be honest, a good microbrewery is mostly about food, after the beer. The target audience of the micro-brewery in my experience is the middle aged family man, who liked beer a lot when he was young and now wants a place with good food to take his family to. Heavy smokers aren’t that obsessed with beer. So its a gimmick, but you’d be better off providing a good selection of other’s craft beers on tap. You’re better off putting your money into high end scotch, as cigars tend to go with hard liquor.
Third, Hookah bars. I agree with your friends. Hookah bars are a hipster trend, which will soon be over. The hookah hipster doesn’t intersect with the cigar smoker. It isn’t a matter of age. It’s a matter of preference. Nobody who just laid out the cash for an expensive cigar is going to want to smell someone else’s hookah. I think the place in florida is more a place to smoke in public than a real cigar bar.
Location. You need to find a place with either one of two things. Businessmen who are willing to pay for cigars or hipsters willing to jump on last decades trend. Your target audience is going to shrink every year, it’s too hard to smoke in too many places and the trend has shown a sharp drop. Most smokers are either addicts or the “I smoke cigars at card games and stag events” people.
The private room thing is a good idea. Dont’ look to rent these for business conferences. That ship has long ago sailed. But you could do well off of catering private smokers. Hook up with a good deli and rent the rooms for private events, a.k.a. stag parties and card games.