Letter to my Local Hookah bar.

[Jtrainx5]

In hopes of improving my cities lack of a good hookah bar, i'm sending a message to the GM/owner (not sure which one reads them) asking them to improve the way they do hookah.

in short, they use mya QT's with the stock hoses that aren't cleaned (not washable i think). stock mya bowl packed with SB or fantasia.

Here is the letter, if anyone can improve it to sound less like i'm attacking the business, and more like i was to see them grow. please feel free.

please pardon the grammar mistakes unless its a critical error


Jacks Hookah bar rockford IL



Heya Jack/whoever keeps up with your mail.
Wanted to let you know, your Hookah bar is great, the mood feels just right. love the paintings and the music, looks very classy over all.

I stopped in Saturday night last week, the place was very chill, but that's where things went down hill pretty fast, me and my buddy ordered a bowl of pumpkin spice (fantasia) when the girl brought it to where we were sitting, i noticed the base had a ton of water (makes it harder to pull, level was 2 inches or so from the top of the vase) but i know mistakes happen and it was no where near unusable.

as soon as we got the smoke rolling we noticed, a not so good taste, im honestly not sure if it was the hose ghosted with some flavor from the last time it was used or what. my buddy described it as plasticy grape. but it died off after 10minutes or so.

the flavor of the pumpkin spice lasted about 30 minutes, about 5 minutes before the 2nd coal came out the bowl was done, and the 2nd coal just burned the bowl after the 3rd pull.

i would not mind the flavor lasting only 30minutes (got 20 good minutes of flavor after the plastic grape wore off) but i have bought Fantasia's pumpkin spice and gotten 45 minutes to a hour before the flavor was gone. im not sure if the bowl was packed light or what, but it was super disappointing for myself and my friend.

I mentioned to the employee that i'd love to see Jacks get some higher quality shisha like Nakhla or Al fakher. both of which make a large amount of solid flavors that last 1hour+ and are a quarter of the price retail for starbuzz and fantasia (250g box goes for $10-$11 retail) that would also open up your profit margin abit since starbuzz is super expensive.

also of course natural coals would help, since they last a full 45minutes before more are needed. and cheaper as well. and no chemical taste means better flavor.

might also check out some better Washable (super cheap) hoses, http://ultimatehookah.com/Fancy-Hookah-Hose-FH.htm that way if they ghost with a flavor. you can replace them cheaply, not to mention the draw on these are much less restricted then on the mya hoses ya use currently.

I still love your place, the hookah part of the operation just seems to need some attention, if nothing else i'd love to pay a fee just to bring my own hookah/shisha and pack it there and smoke. that would open up new doors, or even bring your own rig and pay a smaller fee to pack it with a flavor there maybe?

i really want to see Jacks hookah bar do well, i'll be glad to lend a helping hand, or some hookah tips to get a better more reliable smoke. anything i can do to make my home town hookah bar stay around.

if there is anything i can do, send me a message here. i hope i dont come across as a know-it-all, just trying to help.

Thanks for taking the time to read this insanely long message.
Josh S.

[nerdy]

Your letter needs some work. I'm way too tired and have to get 2 hours of sleep before my final exams but I edited it a bit.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...wybvCjHgg/edit

[Jtrainx5]

Originally Posted by nerdy

Your letter needs some work. I'm way too tired and have to get 2 hours of sleep before my final exams but I edited it a bit.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...wybvCjHgg/edit

Thanks nerdy, you are my saving grace now get some sleep and GL! we are all rooting for ya

[Dan]

I definitely say go with Nerdy's. It's much more professional and will come off a bit more constructive. I really hope the lounge listens and does well!

[Zyst]

GL @Nerdy with the exams.

Otherwise, I usually make friends insanely fast, and the most straight forward way seems to be becoming at least acquaintances with the owner and then giving him the tips in a friendly manner. The way I improved my local hookah bar (to a lesser extent, but their hookahs are not THAT bad anymore) was just talking to the owner for a while, then telling him I'd show him how a real hookah was made, so a bit before hours I came over with my hookah, nats, nakhla and fired it up, and he gave me beer for free.

His mind, needless to say was blown. He doesn't use nats (because they are REALLY hard to get here in Mexico, and they are around 30 bucks per box of 108pc) but he uses nakha and AF now, and I also taught his bartender which also prepares the hookahs how to make them in exchange for a permanent 50% discount on hookahs. So overall it was worth it, I got a nice discount and all in all it was good.

[faisal]

as long as you take out the word 'super' in all instances, its all good

[Jtrainx5]

Originally Posted by faisal

as long as you take out the word 'super' in all instances, its all good

Lol its whats I get for writing it at 3am haha. Thats why I love HP

[KidRozno]

The hookah bar in my town uses KM's, NuHoses and Natural Coals.

[Neorej]

Originally Posted by nerdy

Your letter needs some work. I'm way too tired and have to get 2 hours of sleep before my final exams but I edited it a bit.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...wybvCjHgg/edit

Nicely done !

Goodluck there with ur exams

[john_6_2]

Originally Posted by nerdy

Your letter needs some work. I'm way too tired and have to get 2 hours of sleep before my final exams but I edited it a bit.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...wybvCjHgg/edit

Well said. Good luck on your exams nerdy

[nerdy]

Thanks guys! Exams are all done for the day, gotta prepare for tomorrows, sigh.

I edited the letter a little. I also had some grammatical mistakes but I tried to keep it as original as yours even though I wanted to start from scratch ;-p

In any event, I hope they take your letter into consideration! It woud be really cool of them if they listened. After all, what business doesn't want to better themselves per the suggestion of its customers?

[battousai]

Nice work nerdy, the letter reads well. Jtrainx5 good luck on the proposal! Most bars I've seen need the help.

[MalikManc]

It's strange how so many Hookah cafe's/bars exist which are owned by people who don't have a clue what they are doing, how did they come to own them in the first place, they must have had some hookah enthusiasm to go ahead and make a business from it in the first place, I don't get it
You see many people on here too saying they are opening a smoke lounge and need some advice and when they talk about their current plan it's usually crap involving QL's and such!
And yet so many of us on here have enough knowledge and expertise on the subject but don't get the opportunity in life to take on such a venture while people without a clue do!
It's very odd if you ask me!

[battousai]

Originally Posted by MalikManc

It's strange how so many Hookah cafe's/bars exist which are owned by people who don't have a clue what they are doing, how did they come to own them in the first place, they must have had some hookah enthusiasm to go ahead and make a business from it in the first place, I don't get it
You see many people on here too saying they are opening a smoke lounge and need some advice and when they talk about their current plan it's usually crap involving QL's and such!
And yet so many of us on here have enough knowledge and expertise on the subject but don't get the opportunity in life to take on such a venture while people without a clue do!
It's very odd if you ask me!

I have always wondered why people open lounges and stick to ql and sb and fantasia ( which I do enjoy on occasion). I have no idea why they dont put effort into branching out and learning that there are many different ways to pack a bowl and or hookah to last longer and have better flavor. For the most part I think its because most people that go to bars really dont know the difference between a well packed bowl and the bowl they are paying for at the bars so they have no comparison to make suggestions or even complain.

[MalikManc]

Originally Posted by battousai

I think its because most people that go to bars really dont know the difference between a well packed bowl and the bowl they are paying for at the bars so they have no comparison to make suggestions or even complain.

This may be true but personally if this was my business I would not rely on the ignorance of my clients, I would strive to be the best in the business or at least the best in the business locally. If you own a business you should take pride in it and do your utmost to cater for everybody the enthusiasts and newbies alike.
I would want to pack the best bowls and give my customers long sessions from the 1 bowl, you are still making a good profit from the shisha not to mention the drinks etc that they are buying too.
I think some of these lounges want the bowl to die quick in the hopes that they buy another but I would rather they enjoy a nice long session from 1 bowl, continue to buy drinks and come back again in the future!
When I studied business one thing I learned was that customer satisfaction comes first and the profits take care of themselves!

[battousai]

Originally Posted by MalikManc

This may be true but personally if this was my business I would not rely on the ignorance of my clients, I would strive to be the best in the business or at least the best in the business locally. If you own a business you should take pride in it and do your utmost to cater for everybody the enthusiasts and newbies alike.
I would want to pack the best bowls and give my customers long sessions from the 1 bowl, you are still making a good profit from the shisha not to mention the drinks etc that they are buying too.
I think some of these lounges want the bowl to die quick in the hopes that they buy another but I would rather they enjoy a nice long session from 1 bowl, continue to buy drinks and come back again in the future!
When I studied business one thing I learned was that customer satisfaction comes first and the profits take care of themselves!

You are very right. I know the lounge here does not do a good job of satisfaction of the customer nor training of their staff. When I used to stop by with friends there, the bowls would last about 30 mins and they would try and give us another coal which immediately burn the bowl right up. On top of that they wold not use washable hoses or even change them out regularly so there were flavors that were present that shouldnt have been. I might have to make some suggestions for better service.

[MalikManc]

I think this thread may have inspired us all to pick up our pens and contact our local smoke lounge
Then again if any of us are in the position to do so it would be worth building your business plan for yourself and taking the crown for your areas best shisha/hookah lounge by opening one yourself since the competition is so weak, good luck to any HP members who do!

[Aesir Elite]

I wish I had a local lounge to write too. The only one that was in my town was sketchy. They used good shisha and KM's though. But it was in a bad part of town and got shut down a while back.

[battousai]

Originally Posted by MalikManc

I think this thread may have inspired us all to pick up our pens and contact our local smoke lounge
Then again if any of us are in the position to do so it would be worth building your business plan for yourself and taking the crown for your areas best shisha/hookah lounge by opening one yourself since the competition is so weak, good luck to any HP members who do!

I hear that. too bad I dont want to run my own business, still in school lol.