Muscle Maker’s newest subsidiary Pokemoto, a 19-location and growing Hawaiian poke bowl concept known for its healthier modern culinary twist on a traditional Hawaiian poke classic, announced that it has signed four new franchise agreements in Connecticut, the brand’s core market with the heaviest concentration of Pokemoto eateries. Pokemoto is the largest Hawaiian Poke chain in the state and the newly signed agreements will bring its total count in Connecticut to fourteen locations – six corporate owned and operated stores, four open and operating franchise stores plus the four newly signed franchise agreements.
Pokemoto has announced signing 25 franchise agreements over the last 45 days. Recently signed franchise agreements were in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Mississippi. Pokemoto currently has open locations in six states – Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Georgia, Maryland and Virginia.
The four new franchise agreements in Connecticut focus on the cities of Milford, Danbury, North Haven and Shelton. The Pokemoto real estate team will concentrate on sites that check the brand’s demographic boxes including a heavy presence of Millennials and Gen-Zs, typically in an area with a heavy collegiate presence.
The 25 new franchise agreements, when opened, will bring the Pokemoto chain to 44 locations, expanding the chain’s footprint over 238 percent since its acquisition in May 2021.
“When we acquired Pokemoto in May 2021, we had 13 open locations. In a few short months, we opened 6 new locations bringing our total open store count to 19 Pokemoto locations. In addition, we signed 25 franchise agreements. When these new franchises are open, this will bring our total store count to 44. We believe this represents significant growth over the last few months,” says Mike Roper, CEO of Muscle Maker, Inc. “Our franchising team has been working tirelessly to keep the momentum going with new deals and prospective franchisee outreach as we head into the new year. Our goal is to be the largest Hawaiian Poke company in the $1.2B Poke market space and we think the latest signings are examples of how we are making progress against this strategy. We are expanding through corporately owned and operated locations and franchising while always looking at potential strategic acquisitions. We’ve been bolstering our franchise sales resources via numerous channels while identifying viable locations for new corporate stores. As a matter of fact, we have signed leases and started construction on two new corporately owned and operated locations in the Miami market and have begun planning for a location in the Jacksonville Florida market as well.”
