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A global turnover that will reach $1.94 billion by 2023. We’re talking about poke, the famous Hawaiian dish of grains, raw fish, and vegetables, which is trendy and loved even in our country. The record number of requests was recorded in 2020, with a 110% increase in orders on the Just Eat food delivery platform, during the lockdown period (data from the Just Eat Online Food Delivery Market Observatory).

If Italians have embraced the dish, it’s also thanks to the work of the leading poke franchising networks in Italy, which demonstrate how a franchising network in the food sector can be built focusing on innovation and the simplicity of raw materials.

4 Secrets to Building a Food Format: The Case of I love Poke

In addition to pleasing consumers, poke is a format that has attracted the “appetites” of investors. For example, I love Poke, the franchising chain led by Rana Edwards, managed to secure a round of €14 million, led by Francesco Manzi, a real estate and retail entrepreneur with partnerships with McDonald’s, KFC, and Burger King.

To bring success to her chain, Rana focused on Farm to Table, a business model in which each ingredient is offered fresh and natural. The brand has standardized a formula based on four concepts: “custom, fast, fresh, and healthy.” With “custom,” the brand aims to adapt to the customer for each individual ingredient, with each poke prepared on the spot. “Fast” is the most important challenge won by the brand: to marry the desire for maximum customization with speed in serving the dish (a circumstance made possible by easy ingredient arrangement in the point of sale, facilitating customer choice).

And then there are the two concepts related to the quality of the offer, namely “Fresh,” with fresh fish and vegetables delivered every morning, and quality of ingredients. To ensure quality standards for all points of sale, the company decided to rely on a single production center (between Pioltello and Segrate) that supplies all raw materials: fish, sauces, and marinades that remain fresh thanks to advanced production techniques, such as liquid nitrogen freezing.

In summary, there are four factors that have allowed her format to reach 30 points of sale and 100 employees today: 1) quality of raw materials; 2) maximum customization, 3) maximum control over production with a single center supplying the other points of sale; 4) new preservation techniques, such as liquid nitrogen used for freezing.

Technology that Accelerates a Franchise: The Case of PokeHouse

A fifth secret that explains the success of poke formats is the ability of entrepreneurs to speak the language of young generations, focusing precisely on new technologies. An example is PokeHouse, the franchising led by Matteo Pichi and Vittoria Zanetti, which has built a business model with a strong digital component.

It is precisely the proprietary CRM that has allowed the company to manage its customer data, with a data-driven approach. This approach has helped the brand reduce the level of risk and change strategy more reactively than competitors.

The brand, which has secured a €20 million round (led by Eulero Capital) and has 60 stores in Italy and Europe, also has other lessons to teach those who want to create a food format in poke. First of all, a lean, “light” start, as startups teach, with the company starting by experimenting with a small dark kitchen as a market test, and then only later opening a laboratory in Rozzano.

Furthermore, it focused on delivery right from the start, ahead of competitors. This allowed it to navigate the stormy waters of the pandemic well, having already developed a channel.

In summary, the experience of PokeHouse helps us understand what are another 4 secrets of a successful food format:
1) continuous data analysis;
2) a lean approach, starting with small steps and a limited budget and then growing gradually;
3) being able to anticipate market trends, as happened with delivery;
4) building an omnichannel user purchasing experience, offering tools such as an application to promote direct interaction with the consumer, reducing the weight of intermediaries.