Interview with Melassaua

Hello Pavel, tell us a few words about you, how long have you been in the hookah industry? How did you come up with the idea to start your own company? What did you do before the hookah industry?

In the hookah industry I’m more than 15 years, the idea to start my own company came in 2011 when I trained the first person and he confidently entered the market and strengthened, this gave me the impetus, before the hookah industry were school and college years, tried himself in different areas of IT, labor specialties, repairing phones, civil service, the only thing that constantly moved me this desire to eat, normally dressed, and have his own place. I grew up very poor, was not in childhood and adolescence to buy myself what I want, and it was the little things, clothes, food, phone, computer, I grew up and just dreamed of a computer that would have constant access to the Internet for self-development. Now I’m looking for solutions to create hookah bowls which will take the originality, I want to create a whole line of hookah bowls, which would be equal in price and quality.

Tell us about your company – what is unique about it, what is its mission, how did the name come about?

Melassaua company is engaged in teaching the production of hookah mixes, gels, pastes, stones, tobacco and tobacco-free mixes. The mission of this company to get the ideal tobacco market, to raise the hookah production to a new level, and to give the opportunity to do what they love, those who do not have such an opportunity, the training is mainly online, it is very rare when experts go to the production, we have learned over 4 years of work as precisely as possible to give feedback on matters of interest, we want that b world hookah production level went to a new level and the products were more accessible. The name came from hookah molasses, earlier it was the main activity of the company, sales and creation of hookah flavored molasses.
 What flavors do you use? If specific names are secret, can you tell us about manufacturing technology in general?

We use more than 10 manufacturers, such as Germany, Russia, France, USA, Belgium, Austria, Poland and Turkey.
Some I can name:

What tastes do you find most interesting and cool?

The top 50 flavors are all of course I won’t list them all, but :

  • Berry lineup
  • Fruit line
  • Citrus line

For me personally, the top are mint, raspberry, grapefruit, mango, peach, lemon, quince, plum, apple, and a few fruit mixes.

What’s your top selling item that your customers love?

Our customers are like part of a big family, and everyone is individual in their tastes and views, they love mint, ice, prunes, raspberries, cookies, wild berries.

Tell us about the peculiarities of your production

Yes, there are a couple of features. The first is that we have a very interesting approach.
We also develop more than one technology, we have a very wide choice of cold and hot methods of technological solutions.

We can also refine any technological process.

Separately we take apart each product on:

  • Smokiness
  • Heat resistance
  • Consistency
  • Strength
  • Appearance
  • Saturation
  • Clarity
  • Flavor

We offer a wide range of services.
Besides selling equipment, components and production training, we also do turnkey packaging and label design, consulting and assistance in creating a technical floor plan, help with documentation, websites, advertising, target audience selection, market analysis, creating a mix of flavors and aromas, selection of potential customer contacts, monitoring, our designers and marketing experts have been working with us for many years on a freelance basis.

We also work completely turnkey from 0 to market the finished product.
The customer receives:

  • A finished product of 1-2-3 strength ranges .
  • More than 30 mono flavors
  • And about 15 mixes
  • Finished production according to the customer’s request.
  • Packaging
  • Website
  • Social networks
  • Advertising

Can you tell me who in the hookah industry uses your equipment and has been trained by you?

This information is confidential. But I can name the countries of the last year which entered the market with our help or have had a finished product, Ukraine, Russia, the USA, Germany, Egypt, the Arab Emirates, and Turkey.

Maybe one day I will be able to create a portfolio, but not in the near future.

We care about our students, and about protection of their rights and their information.

Every product in the market is special whether it is our product or not and every product will find its customer.

As an addition to the previous question, can you tell us about your school alumni, where they work, which of them are you proud of?

I am proud of all of them, regardless of whether they entered the international market or work in their own city or individually for themselves. These people realized their dream, they created their own product which has no analogues on the market, I consider it a great success and a great achievement in life.

 How is your school organized? Who are the teachers?

Self-training and the construction of the training plan took more than a year until we came to the right approach, teaching mostly I personally, because the team is engaged in a little bit of other business, training is he online, in three stages, identifying tasks and the first tests that would get the student specific addition to the desired, then we go through the main components and manufacturing processes, and the final stage of the output of the finished product and its revision, takes time from 30 to 90 days depending on how much time a day the student can devote
 Why is it profitable to work with you?

Individual approach
Low price policy
We achieve the desired result regardless of the time, we have no limits, we can work for a year at a price of one course, most importantly, that the student was satisfied with the product before it goes to market.
We have no additional commissions like many, we have a fixed rate, and it includes everything.
In addition, extensive experience allows us to work with the most complex tasks.  Our components are time-tested, we are always smoky and delicious, and the price corresponds to the quality.

What countries do you co-operate with?

Mainly Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and very many European countries.

Was it difficult to launch the training?

Yes, it was very difficult to launch training, we were going for a long time, the whole Melassaua team was looking for information, traveling around the world, collecting everywhere a little bit of technology and traditions, then went out on video conferences and shared experience and knowledge, most visits to hookah mixes production did not give the desired result, some just dropped their hands, hundreds of thousands of own trials, examples of mistakes and exceptions, the idea appeared more than 15 years ago, and 10 years we were going to it slowly and surely, also appeared flavored molasses, thanks to people from far east and Asian countries, in our trainings there are gathered traditions of many years of making hookah mixes and changed to modern components, also we are not standing still, constantly studying, trying something new, tests and research is a normal working day in our team.

How long did it take?

The first one was after 3 years of training and testing.
The second one was after 6 years.
We started to train professionally and massively after 10 years of trainings and tests.

How does online training work?

Online training begins with a survey, I ask a person about goals, objectives and desired result, then we discuss his vision of the product, how it should be, we choose the model, discuss market and taste preferences, discuss schedule and capabilities of the person.
Also depends on the country’s availability of components for training, after mutual understanding, we choose payment options and how a person will be convenient, full or partial payment, after payment, a person receives a minimum list of equipment needed for training to fully simulate and reproduce the manufacturing process, a mini replica of the factory production, then components and discussion of priorities in technology. After the training begins, the person receives the necessary information, it is very important for us to have constant photo and video reports at our request that we can understand what was done so that is not so, what needs to be changed, every sheet is special and has its own temperature regime, we are never guided by the characteristics of producers, we do tests with the students, so they understand and have an idea of how to distinguish it and what are the temperature standards for a particular stage of work, then we break down all the technological processes on the samples, and after testing by the estimates of man or people, if there are several, we derive several options and begin to refine them to the desired result.

How much does your training cost?

Tea and tobacco leaf training course costs $2,500
Gels, pastes, blends, stones, $1,000.
No additional hidden costs.
This amount is from 0 to market the finished product.

What advice can you give to aspiring entrepreneurs?

First of all do not give up, whatever it was do not give up and bring it to the end.
Just take the quality of the city and the country, and be original, do not look at someone else, do not look at the top list, create your own, be unique, develop, there is no limit to perfection, constantly try something new, something interesting, update your product and keep up with the times, release additions create and create.
Develop invest in yourself and your business.

How did the idea of creating my own course come about?

The idea came when I was at school, I thought about own production, but due to lack of experience it was difficult to choose the niche, over time I met like-minded people in my student years, but because of different worldviews the idea was not successful, a couple of years later I finally decided and began to move forward and build a team, met people, more opinions, more ideas, then search for information and comparison, and came to the conclusion that in the world there are many people who need this service.
What are the goals for 2021?

To implement a lot of projects, get to a new level, create my own channel on YouTube, and naturally evolve and not stand still. At the moment I’ve started to explore what is necessary to open my channel on the YouTube platform, choose relevant content, also I study equipment and space, what should be the attributes and accessories, how to serve the target audience and how to shoot better.
At the moment I’ve decided on the list of positions in the team.
This will be:

  • Content manager
  • Blogger anchor
  • Operator
  • Editor
  • Quadcopter pilot
  • SEO specialist
  • Targetologist
  • Marketing Specialist
  • Data Processing Manager

I would like very much to influence the conditions of excise duty all over the world, so people could work officially and could develop and enter the global market.
Also if possible I would think about the production of waterpipes, bowls and accessories, but it’s in the future.

Were there any difficulties during the quarantine?

Yes, there were definitely difficulties for our team, students and producers with whom we cooperate, but we did not give up, and confidently moved forward. The role of closed borders around the world played a very strong role, also the turnover of manufacturers around the world dropped for a while.
A wish or two for our readers

I would like to wish our readers development, to connect with like-minded people, to get together more often and talk in person, it will be interesting and useful to many, I wish everyone good health and pleasant reading.

Thank you very much for the interview.

Thank you very much Angelina for your interest in our company, good luck in your work and development, it is very interesting to read about the world’s manufacturers and interesting personalities who attached a part of themselves to the development of hookah industry.

 

#Interview
#Melassaua
#tobacco

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