Aloha Poke Announces New Fort Lauderdale Location.
Poke! Not with your finger, with a fish. Pronounced poké or po-kay, the dish is traditional Hawaiian dish of diced and seasoned raw fish, but now at most locations you get it with rice and toppings! It's become quickly popular over the last five years and now can be found in most cities.
Aloha Poke Co. announced its newest location and franchisee. Husband and wife team Rody Berotte and Tahnie Danastor are long-time residents of South Florida, and they will open their new store in the Fort Lauderdale area in early 2023.
The menu features marinated and plain ahi tuna, salmon, tofu and more for your main protein You get to choose your base of rice or greens, and then pick from a variety of toppings and dressings to mix it all together. Plus, choose from the little, big or Kahuna size bowl.
This will be Aloha Poke Co.'s second South Florida location and first in Broward County. Aloha Poke Co. entered the Florida market in 2018 with a location in Boca Raton that has experienced steady growth since its opening.
"At first, I did not know anything about poke food," said Berotte. "My wife talked to me about it and made me try it. Because I was born and raised in Haiti, I am naturally attracted to rice, seafood, and almost every ingredient in a poke bowl."
Berotte brings a real-world understanding of the restaurant industry to his franchises. As a young boy growing up in Haiti, he helped his mother expand her business creating traditional Haitian delicacies. When he arrived in the U.S., he attended the University of Miami while working for a large multi-unit franchisee. Eventually, he felt it was time to branch out and expand his entrepreneurial interests. Berotte's wife, Tahnie, an OB-GYN with a private practice in Pembrooke Pines, joins him in this venture.
"Aloha Poke will bring a new style of fast casual food to my community," said Danastor. "As a doctor, I see my patients paying closer attention to what they eat. Aloha Poke's fresh fish and vegetables and beautiful presentation mean our customers will eat foods that are better for the body."
"Rody and Tahnie are a perfect fit within our select franchisee community of similarly driven, experienced, successful entrepreneurs," said Chris Birkinshaw, CEO of Aloha Poke Co. "We are proud to have them as brand ambassadors for continued growth in the vibrant South Florida market."
Aloha Poke Co. will begin 2023 buoyed by a strong 2022 performance in which the company recorded +13% comparable store sales in the first half of the year and +15% projected by the end of Q4. Aloha Poke Co.'s recent expansion includes signed franchise agreements in Maryland and Florida, two new locations in metro Chicago, and the scheduled opening of the second of eleven locations in Houston, Texas.
In the six years since its founding, Aloha Poke Co. has grown to 20 locations in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Georgia, and Washington, D.C. In addition to the brand's responsibly sourced menu and simple, efficient operations, franchise restaurant investors are drawn to Aloha Poke Co.'s attractive initial capital requirements, unit economics, and appealing sales-to-investment figures.
To learn more about Aloha Poke Co. Franchise opportunities, visit https://alohapokefranchising.com, and for more information about the brand, visit the company website at https://www.alohapokeco.com.
PHOTO/SOURCE: Aloha Poke Co. and PRN
