How Pokeworks Is Taking Advantage of the Raw Fish Phenomenon
When Pokéworks opened in midtown Manhattan in December 2015, its co-founder Kevin Hsu wondered if he had made a huge mistake. “The first evening, no one stepped foot inside, apart from two drunk college kids asking if we sold shark,” remembers the 36-year-old entrepreneur. The answer was no. His fast-casual eatery served the traditional Hawaiian bowl of marinated raw fish. “I thought maybe we were trying to introduce a food that the masses were just not ready for. No one had a clue what poke was or how to say it.” (“Poke” rhymes with “OK,” for the record.)
But business picked up once nearby office workers learned they could get a large bowl of lavishly seasoned ahi tuna for $13.50 -- less than the price of two sushi rolls in other restaurants nearby. Introducing an Instagram-worthy, seaweed-wrapped poke burrito also helped. “One freezing day in January, I arrived to see a line outside that stretched past a neighboring Chick-fil-A,” recalls Hsu. “I thought, Wow, if this many New Yorkers prefer raw fish in the middle of winter, this could work anywhere.”
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Two years in, there are 18 Pokéworks locations in key North American cities such as Seattle, Chicago and Vancouver, five of which are , and the busiest locations average 700 to 800 servings a day. In January, the company is embarking on an expansion program to open another 80 locations, primarily franchised, across the U.S. “This isn’t some trendy bicoastal thing,” says
