Hookah Bar Proposal

Submitted by Bronce11 on Mon, 08/10/2009 - 11:52.

How would you classify a hookah bar? I have a proposal for one and I'm trying to figure out if it falls under our zoning classifications. Its not straight retail because of onsite consumption and its not food/beverage. Anyone else come across this? Thanks.

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Hookah - two flavors

Submitted by omarm on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 12:31.

There are two flavors (no pun intended)

1. A restaurant (use) with a hookah operation served on the outdoor patio (accessory in nature).

2. Indoor lounge serving hookah inside. In California they cannot serve food or alcohol in doors, only non-alcoholic beverages.

In many ways the indoor lounge variant is more of a commercial recreation/facility.

Re: Hookah Bar Proposal

Submitted by plannerjohn on Tue, 08/11/2009 - 10:39.

Hookah bars are definitely one of those grey areas and each city I've spoken to seems to muddle through on a case by case application, usually in coordination with the health department to ensure that regulations regarding smoking in public are complied with.

I'm not sure where you're located, but I've been in establishments that served hookahs in both San Francisco and Monterey, California. Both were restaurants, with Hookahs on the menu as a dessert item. More recently a hookah bare opened up down the street here in Portland, Oregon. I don't know if they serve food or alcohol, but it doesn't appear to be a restaurant of sorts, more of a coffee shop sort of place (i.e. espresso drinks, small snacks, etc...). This might be closer to what you're looking at. You might start by giving all three of these cities a call, or closer jurisdictions that have hookah bars in operation.