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The Burning Tree may have moved, but it's still got the same ol’ soul
In 2010, Bryce Bergheim saw an opportunity to do more than just sell glass pipes and other smoking devices and gear. By expanding his headshop into a hookah bar, Bergheim tapped a niche market, opening The Burning Tree along Wai‘alae Avenue.
The space was only capable of fitting a small number of customers, but with the addition of a B.Y.O.B. policy and live music almost every night of the week, word quickly spread. The shop began filling to capacity on a nightly basis.
Hoping to build upon the success of his initial venture, Bergheim re-opened The Burning Tree at its current location, transforming an abandoned two-story building on Ke‘eaumoku Street into a bustling hookah hotspot with the same positive energy and good vibes as the first location, but with a greater capacity (with further renovation still underway).
Sitting down with Bergheim in one of The Burning Tree’s two V.I.P. rooms, we discussed his humble beginnings at the old shop, filling the hookah niche and what the future has in store for The Burning Tree brand.
Evan Morgan (EM): First off, talk a little bit about yourself, and share some insight into how you came up with the Burning Tree business model.
Bryce Bergheim (BB): I moved out here about eight years ago—went to college here. I had a background in smoke shops back home in Washington and opened The Burning Tree three years ago, originally as a smoke shop. But there’s a lot of competition in that, so I ended up giving the hookah idea a go. There was definitely a demand for it. We started with just a few small tables and expanded on that by adding the live music, and everything just took off.
We moved out here to the new location about a year ago and hit the ground running ever since. We’re the name in town when it comes to hookah; we’re the guys.
EM: How did the original concept come about?
BB: B.Y.O.B. was a big one. We started thinking about what would keep people here, smoking and hanging out. Adding the live music has always been a big part of what we’ve wanted to do and what we’ve done in the past.
The vibe that we set is very come-as-you-are—everyone’s welcome. We’ve got military, tourists, locals, students—it’s a very social atmosphere. You can go table to table and make friends. It’s a lot cheaper and more laid-back than the bar atmosphere. What we’ve built here is a culture that you can’t really buy.
We are constantly fine-tuning all the hookahs, all the flavors, the best brands, with the goal of offering our customers the absolute best product. We currently stock over 125 different flavors. All of our hookahs are handmade, straight from Egypt. What we offer is what you will find in any of the best lounges around the world.
EM: In terms of building on past success and expanding to this new location, what main goal did you have in mind?
BB: Space and location. We were able to get both over here. We’ve got prime real estate in this very busy intersection; we’re very visible, we’ve got our own parking and the space to grow is basically what we were looking for.
For the downstairs area, we’re planning a lounge atmosphere with a club vibe, while with the upstairs we have an open-air, more chill vibe for people that want to go on dates or just want to have some quiet.
A lot of time and energy has gone into getting to this point, but within a month or two we should have everything fully optimized. Once that gets going, we’re looking to host a couple hundred people a night, with even more on the weekends.
EM: What’s the future for The Burning Tree, and where would you like to take that brand moving forward?
BB: We want to be the McDonald’s of the hookah industry. We want to franchise out, copy the model that’s worked so well here and move it to new places so that when you go to a Burning Tree, it’s just like being out here.
EM: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?
BB: Everything we do is all about Hawai‘i. We want to continue to embrace that, keep it. That’s what got us here, and we want to keep that Aloha vibe so that no matter where you go, you feel like you’re here.
Not many places have regulars that come five times a week, like we have since we’ve been open, and seeing that lets us know that we’re doing something right. We want to keep that going and want to try to make everyone fall in love with us all over again.
keep people here, smoking and hanging out. Adding the live music has always been a big part of what we’ve wanted to do and what we’ve done in the past.
The vibe that we set is very come-as-you-are—everyone’s welcome. We’ve got military, tourists, locals, students—it’s a very social atmosphere. You can go table to table and make friends. It’s a lot cheaper and more laid-back than the bar atmosphere. What we’ve built here is a culture that you can’t really buy.
We are constantly fine-tuning all the hookahs, all the flavors, the best brands, with the goal of offering our customers the absolute best product. We currently stock over 125 different flavors. All of our hookahs are handmade, straight from Egypt. What we offer is what you will find in any of the best lounges around the world.
EM: In terms of building on past success and expanding to this new location, what main goal did you have in mind?
BB: Space and location. We were able to get both over here. We’ve got prime real estate in this very busy intersection; we’re very visible, we’ve got our own parking and the space to grow is basically what we were looking for.
For the downstairs area, we’re planning a lounge atmosphere with a club vibe, while with the upstairs we have an open-air, more chill vibe for people that want to go on dates or just want to have some quiet.
A lot of time and energy has gone into getting to this point, but within a month or two we should have everything fully optimized. Once that gets going, we’re looking to host a couple hundred people a night, with even more on the weekends.
EM: What’s the future for The Burning Tree, and where would you like to take that brand moving forward?
BB: We want to be the McDonald’s of the hookah industry. We want to franchise out, copy the model that’s worked so well here and move it to new places so that when you go to a Burning Tree, it’s just like being out here.
EM: Is there anything else that you’d like to add?
BB: Everything we do is all about Hawai‘i. We want to continue to embrace that, keep it. That’s what got us here, and we want to keep that Aloha vibe so that no matter where you go, you feel like you’re here.
Not many places have regulars that come five times a week, like we have since we’ve been open, and seeing that lets us know that we’re doing something right. We want to keep that going and want to try to make everyone fall in love with us all over again.
Issue #11
November 1, 2013