Franchising

Pokemoto opens within sister concept

Provided

August 30, 2022

Pokemoto, Muscle Maker Inc.'s Hawaiian poke bowl restaurant concept, has opened a company-owned store in Orange Park, Florida. The shop shares the same leased space as Superfit Foods, Muscle Maker's meal prep sister brand. This announcement comes on the heels of the Mississippi grand opening announcement early last week.

Located at 700 Blanding Blvd., the Superfit Foods space is about 4,000 square feet with Pokemoto occupying 300 square feet. The non-traditional Pokemoto location is designed to optimize takeout or order online through third-party partners such as SnackPass, UberEats, DoorDash and GrubHub.

Superfit Food's production of fresh-to-order meal prep exists in the background of the space in a commercial kitchen and a fully refrigerated cooler room where meals are assembled and held for distribution to homes and over 30 pickup spots in the Jacksonville area.

"The Orange Park Pokemoto is a very unique location for our company. We saw an opportunity to grow not only our revenue from an already leased space; so no additional rent and limited overhead, but to also expand our visibility for potential franchisees in and around the market," CEO Mike Roper said in a company press release. "This 'seed' location gives us another Pokemoto on the map where we can bring potential franchisees to experience the brand firsthand and taste the food. This location, while a smaller footprint than our traditional Pokemoto restaurants, features our newly designed interior graphics package, new exterior signage and updated menu."

Roper said the brand is focused on expansion through corporate and franchise locations.

"Our team is working diligently to secure new franchise agreements while taking signed deals through our full process of signing, development and construction, training and ultimately, the grand opening," he said. "We have open, or coming soon, Pokemoto eateries in 13 states, 43 franchise agreements sold to date and nine locations currently under construction."

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, Roper said. The company recently announced a military veteran's discount by reducing the initial franchise fee from $25,000 to $10,000 — a savings of $15,000 for military veterans.