Poke House to make UK debut after acquiring Ahi Poké

By Restaurant

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 Poke House to make UK debut after acquiring Ahi Poké

Related tags Ahi Poké Poke House Multi-site R200

Italian poke chain Poke House is to make its debut in London following the acquisition of UK poke brand Ahi Poké.

The group will open its first Poke House branded venue in London’s Notting Hill this June with six more venues due to be open by the end of Summer in the capital and 13 more planned to launch across the country’s major cities

The move comes after the closing of a €20 million Series B funding round for Poke House which will be used to accelerate the international expansion of the company. The acquisition of Ahi Poké marks a step in the company’s wider plans to grow to around 200 new venues across Europe.

Ahi Poké currently operates six venues in the capital, in Canary Wharf, Fitzrovia, Fulham, Bloomberg, Spitalfields and Victoria, and will continue to operate under the Ahi Poké name in the short term.

Poke House was founded in Milan in November 2018 by Matteo Pichi and Vittoria Zanetti and is expected to have a turnover of more €40 million in 2021. It operates 30 restaurants across Italy, Portugal and Spain, and employs more than 400 people, and is one of the fastest-growing European foodtech scale-ups.

“The new funding round and the expansion in the UK market, with the acquisition of Ahi Poké and the forthcoming launch of the first Poke House restaurant in the capital, set two milestones in the brand’s exciting growth path,” says Pichi.

“We realised early on that poke could be a product with great potential, but at the same time many other chains were starting to introduce it on their menus. That's why we decided to strongly differentiate our high quality fast casual offer and invest heavily in technology.

“Our data-driven approach allowed us to scale at a much higher rate than a classic restaurant chain, and to adapt the business strategy in a very reactive and effective way.”

 

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