Pokemoto, Muscle Maker, Inc.’s expanding Hawaiian poke bowl restaurant concept, today announced the grand opening of a new company owned Pokemoto in Northeast Philadelphia, PA. The newest Pokemoto Hawaiian eatery replaced a Muscle Maker Grill location as part of its brand optimization strategy set in action last year. The company continues to look at corporate Muscle Maker Grill locations to identify whether or not Pokemoto can be added in some capacity or if Pokemoto should replace existing operations to increase topline sales. The management team recently decided to convert a Muscle Maker Grill location on the Fort Meade military base in Maryland to a Pokemoto and has reported being pleased with its performance to date.
Located at 2550 Grant Ave, the newly converted space in the city of brotherly love boasts the brand’s new interior design package adorn with bright colors, surf boards, ukuleles and tunas on the walls promoting a comfortable dine-in experience for those who want to sit and enjoy their Hawaiian inspired cuisine and boba tea. This location also has a built-in designated area for 3rd party pick up such as SnackPass, UberEats, DoorDash and GrubHub to promote speed of service and contactless pickup; a feature that is important to the company given its business is driven primarily by Millennials and Gen-Z’s.
The Philadelphia Pokemoto marks the second conversion of a company owned Muscle Maker Grill to a Pokemoto restaurant. The Fort Meade military base in Maryland being the first conversion for the company. Soldiers have been receptive to the change and enjoy the new “healthier for you” options and linear flow that allows them to walk away with their customized bowls, salads and burritos. The model accelerates the company’s speed of service allowing it to serve more customers during prime dining hours.
“The gears of our brand optimization plan have been turning and this is our second Muscle Maker Grill conversion to a Pokemoto to date. We’re happy with our decisions to make the move at both former Muscle Maker Grill locations. We had an opportunity to potentially grow our revenue from an already leased space while expanding our visibility for our growth vehicle brand, Pokemoto. By strategically converting this location to a Pokemoto we’re able to seed another core market, making it easier to get in front of potential franchisees in and around the market. This “seed” location gives us another Pokemoto on the map where we can bring potential franchisees to experience what Pokemoto is all about – delicious bowls (and more), boba teas and a great customer experience. This particular location in Philadelphia has our full-on brand new interior design package and we’re looking forward to showing it off!” says Michael Roper, CEO.
Roper continues “This is our fourth opening, and second company store opening announced in just over two weeks. We also recently released that we now have 44 franchise agreements signed. Our current strategy focuses on the expansion of Pokemoto through both corporate and franchise locations. The team will continue to execute against the plan of getting new deals signed while working with current franchisees to open new locations. We’re aiming to become a big player in the poke segment and I’d say we’re well on our way given our recent announcements.”
Each franchise location sold generates up to $25,000 per agreement when signed as well as an ongoing royalty up to 6% of net sales once opened.
