Franchise News

Entrepreneurial Couple Targets Fort Lauderdale for their New Stores

Aloha Poke Co., the nation's premier fast casual poke restaurant concept, announced its newest location and franchisee. Husband and wife team Rody Berotte and Tahnie Danastor are long-time residents of South Florida, and they will open their new store in the Fort Lauderdale area in early 2023.

After experiencing poke, Berotte decided that Aloha Poke Co. was the perfect complement to his existing franchise portfolio. "At first, I did not know anything about poke food," said Berotte. "My wife talked to me about it and made me try it. Because I was born and raised in Haiti, I am naturally attracted to rice, seafood, and almost every ingredient in a poke bowl."

Berotte brings a real-world understanding of the restaurant industry to his franchises. As a young boy growing up in Haiti, he helped his mother expand her business creating traditional Haitian delicacies. When he arrived in the U.S., he attended the University of Miami while working for a large multi-unit franchisee. Eventually, he felt it was time to branch out and expand his entrepreneurial interests. He chose Aloha Poke Co. partly due to the ease of operations, strong digital presence, and beautiful, modern store design.

Berotte's wife, Tahnie, an OB-GYN with a private practice in Pembrooke Pines, joins him in this venture. "Aloha Poke will bring a new style of fast casual food to my community," said Danastor. "As a doctor, I see my patients paying closer attention to what they eat. Aloha Poke's fresh fish and vegetables and beautiful presentation mean our customers will eat foods that are better for the body."

This will be Aloha Poke Co.'s second South Florida location and first in Broward County. Aloha Poke Co. entered the Florida market in 2018 with a location in Boca Raton that has experienced steady growth since its opening.

"Rody and Tahnie are a perfect fit within our select franchisee community of similarly driven, experienced, successful entrepreneurs," said Chris Birkinshaw, CEO of Aloha Poke Co. "We are proud to have them as brand ambassadors for continued growth in the vibrant South Florida market."

Aloha Poke Co. will begin 2023 buoyed by a strong 2022 performance in which the company recorded +13% comparable store sales in the first half of the year and +15% projected by the end of Q4. Aloha Poke Co.'s recent expansion includes signed franchise agreements in Maryland and Florida, two new locations in metro Chicago, and the scheduled opening of the second of eleven locations in Houston, Texas. 

In the six years since its founding, Aloha Poke Co. has grown to 20 locations in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Georgia, and Washington, D.C. In addition to the brand's responsibly sourced menu and simple, efficient operations, franchise restaurant investors are drawn to Aloha Poke Co.'s attractive initial capital requirements, unit economics, and appealing sales-to-investment figures.

Aloha Poke Co. seeks to grow its exciting, health-forward, fast casual concept with qualified entrepreneurs and experienced restaurant franchisees in key growth markets, including Florida, Texas, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Ideal Aloha Poke Co. franchisees have restaurant operations or business management experience and share the desire to positively impact the nation's need for quick, beautiful, sustainable poke bowls.

To learn more about Aloha Poke Co. Franchise opportunities, visit https://alohapokefranchising.com, and for more information about the brand, visit the company website at https://www.alohapokeco.com.

Proudly reimagining the idea of fast food, Aloha Poke Co. quickly packs pole-and-line caught ahi tuna, Patagonian salmon raised without antibiotics, and other clean, simple, responsibly sourced ingredients into beautiful, delicious bowls. Founded in 2016 at downtown Chicago's French Market, Aloha Poke Co. and its franchisees have grown to 20 locations throughout the Midwest, Southeast, Southwest, and Mid-Atlantic.