Koi Poke, a local build-your-own-custom-poke-bowl restaurant that has grown to include six Arizona locations since its inception in May of 2017, has announced plans to franchise on a national level under the name Koibito Poke. Former Major League Baseball Pitcher Todd Stottlemyre, who helped lead the expansion of Koi Poke throughout Arizona, serves as the principle leader of these franchise efforts.
“With the quick success of Koi Poke in Arizona and realizing we have the potential to build the right team to leverage a brilliant plan for creating a franchise model, it was impossible for us not to look at expanding this brand on a national level,” says Stottlemyre, who in the year 2000 was the recipient of both the Branch Rickey Award, given to those in recognition of exceptional community service and the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, given to players that best exemplify the spirit and character of Lou Gehrig both on and off the field via community and philanthropy. “Creating a remarkable culture is massive differentiator and our focus is not to follow the standard but to become it. We aim do that on a national level by creating families of entrepreneurs mixed with high-performing coaching to create a new standard to which other companies can set their benchmark.”
After his successful baseball career, Stottlemyre entered the world of Wall Street before launching his own investment fund. In addition to founding the Koi Franchise LLC model, the best-selling author of Relentless Success has also created a high-performance coaching program, Stottlemyre International, with CEOs of major companies such as Merrill Lynch, Home Builders Assn, APS, Canada White Sports, Tennessee Insurers. Through his own experiences of successes and self-admitted failures, Stottlemyre, who has served on the boards of organizations such as United Way, Caring for Kids, Not My Kid and the Leukemia Society, hopes to engage people to live their lives without limits.
Koibito Poke (Koibito, with Koi being the slang of this term, which means love in Japanese) is set roll out its franchise efforts first with the West Coast including California, Las Vegas, Colorado, and Washington. Franchise opportunities will then be available in markets in the Midwest and beyond including Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and Arkansas. Franchisee fee is $30,000 and for the first 18 months, entrepreneurs that are awarded a franchise will receive a lifetime four percent royalty.
