Poke Es Bar Inc

What Poke Es Bar Inc does

Poké Bar (legally Poke Bar Restaurants, operating under JB Brothers, Inc.) is a privately-held fast-casual restaurant chain specializing in customizable Hawaiian-style poké bowls. The brand traces its origins to the founders' Yanagi Sushi restaurant opened in 1989 in Northridge, California, and was relaunched as the Poké Bar concept in 2012. The company serves individual consumers — health-conscious diners, busy professionals, and families — seeking fresh, customizable meal alternatives to traditional fast food. Its core product is a six-step build-your-own bowl system across three tiered sizes: Small ($8.99), Medium ($10.99), and Large ($12.99), with bases, proteins (tuna, salmon, spicy tuna, albacore, tofu, scallop, shrimp, octopus), mix-ins, sauces, and toppings selected from a broad menu. Sushi-grade fish is delivered fresh daily, supported by over 30 years of sushi expertise claimed as competitive differentiation. The operating entity is JB Brothers, Inc., headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

The business model relies on a hybrid franchise-and-company-owned structure across approximately 69 storefronts spanning 8 US states (Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawaii, New York, Oregon, Texas, Washington), Canada (British Columbia), and South Korea (Seoul), with pipeline interest in Australia and New Zealand. Revenue is generated primarily through direct per-bowl transactions (pay-as-you-go pricing) and supplemented by catering orders, franchise fees, and royalties. Distribution is broadened through third-party delivery aggregators (DoorDash, UberEats, GrubHub, Postmates, Seamless, Eat24), online-ordering platforms (Menufy, Ritual, the company's own order.online storefront), a corporate-catering channel (EzCater), and POS infrastructure (Square, Clover). Marketing channels are concentrated on Instagram, Facebook, Yelp, and review-driven organic discovery. The company employs 501–1,000 staff across the system.

There is no proprietary technology platform, no mobile app, no disclosed API, and no AI/ML capability. No venture capital, private equity, or institutional funding rounds are reported, and there is no evidence of mergers, acquisitions, or executive transitions in the input data. Revenue is not publicly disclosed, and no external investor quality or valuation signals are present.

Name

Poke Es Bar Inc

Legal name

Poke Bar Restaurants

Website

https://ilovepokebar.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Poké Bar is a privately-held fast-casual restaurant chain operating roughly 69 franchise and company-owned locations across the US, Canada, and South Korea, serving customizable Hawaiian-style poké bowls to health-conscious individual consumers seeking fresh meals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Direct Food Sales: Revenue is generated through one-time transaction sales at restaurant locations, where customers build and purchase customized poke bowls. Pricing follows a tiered model based on bowl size (Small, Medium, Large). The company also generates revenue through catering orders and potentially franchise fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Poké Bar operates a fast-casual restaurant franchise chain serving customizable Hawaiian-style poké bowls built from sushi-grade fresh-daily fish, proteins, mix-ins, sauces, sides, and toppings. Bowls are offered in three sizes (Small $8.99, Medium $10.99, Large $12.99), with additional revenue from catering orders and a franchise program sold to entrepreneurs across the US and international markets.

Product overview

Poké Bar is a fast-casual dining restaurant chain offering customizable poké bowls. The core product is the Build Your Own Bowl system, allowing customers to choose from bases (white rice, brown rice, noodles, mixed greens, tortilla chips), proteins (tuna, salmon, spicy tuna, albacore, tofu, scallop, shrimp, octopus), mix-ins, sauces, sides, and toppings. The company operates on three bowl sizes: Small ($8.99), Medium ($10.99), and Large ($12.99). Additional offerings include catering services for events and a franchise program for expansion across US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand markets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Poké Bar Restaurant Fast-casual poké bowl restaurant chain offering fresh, customizable Hawaiian-style poke bowls with fresh-daily sushi-grade fish, proteins, mix-ins, sauces, and toppings across 69 franchise and company-owned locations.
• Build Your Own Bowl Customizable bowl product allowing customers to select a base (white rice, brown rice, noodles, mixed greens, tortilla chips), protein (tuna, salmon, spicy tuna, albacore, tofu, scallop, shrimp, octopus), mix-ins, sauces, sides, and toppings; available in Small ($8.99), Medium ($10.99), and Large ($12.99) sizes.
• Poké Bar Catering Customizable catering service for meetings, events, and parties, offering poké bowls for gatherings both small and large, supported by the EzCater platform integration.
• Poké Bar Franchise Franchise program allowing entrepreneurs to open Poké Bar locations, with active support for the US, Canada, South Korea, and pipeline expansion into Australia and New Zealand.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration12 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Tropical Smoothie Cafe: Tropical Smoothie Cafe is a fast-casual franchise chain built on a healthy, customizable menu and franchise-led unit growth — broadly comparable to Poké Bar on franchise model, healthy-eating positioning, and unit-level economics.
• Sweetgreen: Sweetgreen is a leading fast-casual chain offering customizable, fresh, healthy bowls with a build-your-own format — broadly comparable to Poké Bar on customization-driven fast-casual positioning and ingredient quality narrative.
• CAVA: CAVA is a fast-casual Mediterranean chain with a build-your-own bowl model and aggressive franchise-driven unit growth — broadly comparable to Poké Bar on customization architecture and franchise expansion playbook.
• Chipotle Mexican Grill: Chipotle is the dominant fast-casual customization chain with an assembly-line build-your-own model and fresh-ingredient positioning — broadly comparable to Poké Bar on customization-driven fast-casual format and supply chain emphasis.
• Panera Bread: Panera Bread is a fast-casual bakery-cafe chain offering customizable menu items and a franchise-driven footprint — broadly comparable to Poké Bar on fast-casual customization and franchise expansion model.

Others

• Jamba: Jamba is a smoothie and açaí bowl franchise chain with a similar franchise-driven growth model and bowl customization, but operates in the smoothie category rather than poke — thematically related through fast-casual bowls and franchising.
• Pollo Tropical: Pollo Tropical is a fast-casual Caribbean grill franchise chain with a similar franchise expansion model and corporate store mix, but operates in a different cuisine category than Poké Bar.

Direct peers

• Sweetfin: Sweetfin is a Los Angeles-based fast-casual poke bowl chain offering customizable Hawaiian-style bowls with sushi-grade fish — directly comparable to Poké Bar on product, customer, fast-casual format, and quality positioning.
• Island Fin Poké (formerly Mainland Poké): Island Fin Poké (formerly Mainland Poké) is a franchise-driven poke bowl chain with a similar build-your-own concept — directly comparable to Poké Bar on product category, franchise model, and unit-level customization experience.
• Ahi Poké: Ahi Poké is a New York-based poke bowl chain serving build-your-own bowls with sushi-grade fish — directly comparable to Poké Bar on product offering, customization depth, and fast-casual restaurant model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/pokebar
• Instagraminstagram.com/pokebar
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/poke-bar-corporate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Poke Es Bar Inc