Starbucks came along,” says Pen-
ney. “Mexican food was reasonably
popular before Chipotle made it
more mainstream. Poke is com-
pletely new for most Americans. In
time, it could be viewed as another
iteration of sushi.”
This doesn’t mean that poke
restaurants can’t make good money;
analysts say the good ones can. But
even if the number of Hawaiian-
American restaurants grows tenfold,
that still makes for only 8,000
locations, compared with the almost
80,000 pizza joints in the U.S.
With that in mind, Pokéworks
says it is hedging its growth by
balancing more expensive, bigger
spaces for fast-casual dining with
smaller take-out joints. “We want
a mixture of sizes” says Kevin
Hsu. “Poke is now mainstream,
and we’re competing for the same
prime sites as other restaurants.
It’s a real land grab.”
Whether poke ends up taking off
in franchises, or as part of a broader
menu offering at established
seafood or Japanese restaurants, it’s
too early to say. But no matter what
happens, this much is guaranteed:
Poke won’t have this spotlight for-
ever. “There is $4.6 trillion sitting
there in private equity funds, and
everyone is looking for the next
food fad to invest in,” says Allen.
“You can find a small market for
every kind of food, but they can’t all
work on the same scale.”
Miller, for his part, is sanguine.
He points out that not so long ago
Americans hadn’t heard of sushi,
and now there are thousands of
sushi restaurants in the U.S. doing
$2.3 billion in revenue. “Is this
the cupcake craze?” he says. “No.
It’s not a novelty. It’s a delicious,
healthy cuisine that Hawaiians
have enjoyed for years.”
Boyd Farrow has written
about business, technology,
and travel forThe Financial
Times, The Times of London,
and Fast Company.
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