May 5, 2025 • 30 mins
In this episode of the Restaurant Technology Guides podcast, Jeremy Julian, the Chief Revenue Officer for CBS North Star, interviews Ha Ly, the head of marketing for Poke Works. They discuss the rapid expansion of Poke Works across the U.S. and delve into the unique aspects of the poke cuisine. Ha describes poke as a build-your-own bowl concept featuring raw fish cured in various sauces, emphasizing freshness and flavor. They talk about the national penetration of Poke Works, its key marketing strategies for entering new markets, and enhancing guest experiences. Additionally, Ha shares insights on Poke Works' new Hawaiian Hot Plates menu and the importance of their loyalty program in driving repeat customer visits. The conversation provides a comprehensive overview of the brand's growth, guest acquisition strategies, and the exciting new offerings designed to attract a wider audience.
00:00 PokeWorks
00:56 Introduction and Guest Introduction
02:10 Discovering Poke Cuisine
06:08 Poke Works Expansion and Market Penetration
07:25 Marketing Strategies and Customer Engagement
10:34 Loyalty Programs and Customer Retention
21:28 New Product Offerings and Future Plans
24:19 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
This is the RestaurantTechnology Guides podcast,
helping you run your restaurantbetter.
Jeremy Julian (00:14):
In today's episode, we are joined by Ha
Lee, who is head of marketingfor Poke Works.
We talk a ton about, uh, thevalue of what Poke is doing and
how much it's expanded in the USand how really in every major
market, uh, uh, poke is awell-known.
Product and really how theycontinue to grow throughout the
(00:36):
US as well as how they continueto bring guests back in for
second, third, and fourthvisits.
If you don't know me, my name isJeremy.
Julian.
I am the Chief Revenue Officerfor CBS North Star.
We sell the North Star point ofsale product.
Check us out at c cbs northstar.com and now onto the show.
Welcome back to the RestaurantTechnology Guys podcast.
(00:58):
I thank everyone out there forjoining us.
As I say, each and every time.
I know you guys have got lots ofchoices, so thanks for hanging
out.
Today is one of my favoritetypes of cuisines, and quite
frankly, it's one of the brandsthat introduced me to this, this
cuisine outside of a littleroadside stand in Hawaii years
ago.
But, I am joined by Ha Ly, Ithink is how you say your last
name.
Did I mess that?
the last name up?
Okay, so ha why don't youintroduce yourself to our
(01:21):
audience and then we'll talkabout, this unique cuisine and
where the brand's at and whereit's going.
Ha Ly (01:26):
Yeah, my name's Ha.
thanks for the intro.
Excited to be here.
I'm the, head of marketing forPoke Works.
I've been, I've been part ofthat, team for about a year and
a half now.
prior to that, I've been intechnology companies, big and
small.
mostly larger tech companiesfor, a decade and a half.
but fairly new to the restaurantindustry.
Really captivated by it.
(01:47):
My, I have family members thathave been in it for decades.
and, just really excited to be,to be working with Poke Works.
the partners and I have knowneach other, for a number of
years.
we have, experimented, started,another business together as
well, Really familiar with thefounding group.
Amazing guys.
And, the concept, of Poke Worksis real simple.
(02:10):
It's basically build your ownpoke bowls.
so we try to focus on freshingredients, really delicious
flavor profiles that appeal to,a wide variety of folks.
But, the key element here isthat poke it your way, build
your own concept, because.
The folks love choice.
They love fresh foods, andthat's what we deliver at Poke
(02:33):
Works.
Jeremy Julian (02:34):
And for those that are not on the coast or not
as familiar with Poque, describethe cuisine.
'cause I know we were talkingpre-show.
I know even in, north Texaswhere I live, the amount of
poque compared to where I was inSouthern California, it's night
and day different and you go toHawaii and it's for those that
are less familiar with it.
Explain what Poque is, where didit come from, the origin and,
(02:55):
tell the story of what Poque isand why it's such a, because for
me, I love it.
I'm, I will likely have pokesoon in the next couple of days
because it, it's now on mybrain.
But, for those that are lessfamiliar with Poque and the
cuisine itself, what is it?
Ha Ly (03:09):
Yeah, so Poke really is, is one of the core I would say,
and.
Quite legendary, Hawaiian,cuisines out there.
And it is basically, raw fishthat is cured in various sauces.
And so you have, typically ahi.
Or salmon, that is in a soybased, or a choy based, sauce.
(03:33):
And with that as a marinate, ithas this incredible umami
flavor.
And then you toss it with fresh,fresh, vegetables and herbs.
sometimes it's hki, seaweed,sometimes it's just some really
crunchy, slices of the whiteonion.
but.
it's typically served over rice.
and that's it.
(03:54):
But in our case, we take thismaximal list approach to it
where you could really stack, I.
you're poke with tons of crunchyadd-ons like garlic crisps,
onion crisps, wanton and youcould put on a bed of, white
rice or salad mix.
But Poke originally came, Iwould say is best known from
(04:16):
Hawaii.
It's a classic, just, given howfresh the seafood is out there,
and the flavor profiles, it'sreally easy to eat and it's, I
just think of it as sushi, butwith a lot more flavor.
Jeremy Julian (04:28):
and the thing I love about it is, one, it's
healthy, So it's fresh.
It's, especially if you get itover lettuce, it's low carb.
and my goodness, the amount ofdifferent permutations that you
can have.
The thing I also love about itis, at Poke Works, you guys have
got a lot of different saucesthat you can add on top of it,
which obviously makes it lesshealthy.
'cause now we got a mayonnaisebased sauce, that's spicy or
(04:48):
whatever else.
again, you talk about it, I liketo equate it almost to a
Chipotle or a subway type ofexperience.
is that fair?
As an example, you've got startwith your base and then you move
your way through the line atPoke Works again, I've been, but
for those, painting a picturefor those that haven't been,
that's how it all works.
Ha Ly (05:05):
Yeah, exactly.
it's got that build your ownline experience.
and so you choose your base, youchip, you choose your protein
and you choose your flavor.
I think the key difference thereis in the flavor and the sauces
is the sauce that you use,that's gonna be marinating
giving a lot of uniqueness, andumami to that, to that fresh
fish or fresh protein.
(05:27):
it's really.
the key differentiator betweenkind of other build your own
concepts, but yes, it's, you goin, the first thing you'll do is
choose your base and choose yourformat because we have, our
bowls and we also have aburrito, concept.
but then I.
Yeah, we got a burrito.
We actually got our kickstartearly on because we, we created
(05:48):
this burrito, buildium, pokeburrito, which kind of caught
fire early on, in the brand's,life.
But yes, and then you chooseyour toppings.
After you choose your sauces,everything gets tossed together
and at the end you get a heapingbowl of poke plus base.
and, whatever you choose to topit with.
Jeremy Julian (06:07):
Yeah.
thanks for sharing.
For those that have notexperienced it, where are you
guys at penetration wise?
'cause I think Poke because ofboth the product and its
fantastic product and I thinkonce you get through the
initial, I don't understand whatthis I.
it ends up being one of thesevery craveable type of products.
and again, you and I weretalking about that a little bit.
So where are you guys at from anational, nationwide expansion
(06:28):
perspective?
I think the brands, I think yousaid 10 years old, help me
understand, where are you guysat now and what is, what does
the format look like as you guyscontinue to expand across the
nation?
Ha Ly (06:38):
Yeah.
we started in New York, and thenwe quickly moved to the West
Coast.
But now, poke in general iscoast to coast.
It's well known, 10 years agowhen Poke works, kickstarted the
Build Your Own Poke experience,it was a little bit less well
known, but.
the expansion has been extremelyrapid.
almost every state will have apoke concept, whether it's a
(07:01):
small, let's say family ownedoperation or as part of a brand.
There are regional brands allover the country already.
we have 65 stores in the us.
We've got 10 outside of the us.
and we're continuing tobasically grow even within
domestic us.
And, we have, internationalinterest as well.
Jeremy Julian (07:21):
Love that.
so for you, that's in charge ofmarketing and trying to get the
word out about what's going on.
How do you think about goinginto new markets?
how do you think about I guessexposing this product into a new
market that may be familiar withit, but aren't as familiar with
the Poke Works brand name andall of that, talk me through
your thought process.
'cause we have a lot oflisteners that are on, that are
trying to get outside of theircore markets of New York,
(07:42):
Chicago, la, San Francisco,wherever.
So how do you think about thosedifferent, experiences and how
you seed the market before youguys go in and open the doors?
Ha Ly (07:52):
just like many other concepts, we are, we've got
signage up, we're plastering thewindows, the surfaces outside of
the store just to get thatstreet level visibility.
that's one.
the second thing is almost everymarket that Poke works enters or
will enter, the concept of pokeis already, it's already there.
so it's, as a cuisine.
(08:13):
It's almost already well knownin every single locale that
we're gonna be entering.
The second thing is, Hawaiianfood, is also something that
many folks are familiar with,right?
They may not know exactly everydish, but they know that it's
out there, right?
We, we've got amazing, examplesof that from Hawaiian Bros.
l and l, ELL, like all of these,Really notable brands have been
(08:36):
in their markets a long time, sowe get the benefit of that.
Now when it comes to, opening astore, we're out there, our, our
partners and, ourselves, we'reout there hitting the We're
promoted, we're promoting it inthe neighborhoods that we're
launching in.
We've got local PR running.
and so we're executingeffectively every single
marketing and pr.
(08:57):
Campaign or tactic that youwould expect from a new local,
new local store opening.
And then what we focus on thenis really just the, as boring as
it sounds, just the basics.
Every guest that comes indeliver high quality service,
make sure the food is deliciousand fresh.
And, our stores Accelerate bothon third party and first party
(09:21):
in terms of visibility.
we've got some, some strategiesthat we've been executing the
past year and a half.
That's worked exceptionallywell.
but it really is that we're not,there's, no airplane flying
overhead with poke works, on thetail.
we're just executing and makingsure every guest that comes
through our doors, has a goodenough experience and ex dining
(09:41):
experience that they go and telltheir friends.
Jeremy Julian (09:43):
Yeah.
And I, the one thing I would sayabout the store that's local to
me is the, the level of energywhen you come into the store is
always really high.
So you feel like you're wantedwhen you come in.
And I'm sure we've all been toplaces where you walk in and
it's it's dull, it's dreary.
You want the food.
'cause you saw some review onGoogle that says it's good, but
then you walk in and you'relike, you people don't even want
me to be here versus at least atthe store that's local To me,
it's like, Hey, welcome, welcomein and can I, can I help you
(10:07):
through the menu?
And I think that.
Is also a testament to you guysexecuting well is for those that
aren't as familiar.
You, you're, you help walk themthrough the experience versus
just expecting that they'regonna know exactly what they
want.
I'm sure you guys have thoseguests that know exactly what
they want and it's not aproblem.
And then there's others you cantell that are looking around
going, what did I just walkinto?
And at least the store that Isaid local here to me, they do a
(10:28):
fantastic job of walking youthrough, walking you through
that experience.
Ha Ly (10:33):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jeremy Julian (10:34):
ha.
Talk to me a little bit aboutclient acquisition.
we talked about new store clientacquisition, and I know you and
I, prior to hitting the recordbutton, had talked about,
loyalty and just, how do youengage with guests?
Because again, I think it's beena misnomer in the restaurant
industry for a long time, and inretail in general.
Obviously e-commerce and pizzahave had it down for a long time
because they knew who theirguest is.
(10:55):
And a lot of restaurants havemade the excuse that says, I
have no idea who my guest is.
How am I supposed to know who myguest is?
And I think it's a fallacy, andI'd love for you to share, you
come outta the high tech world,and then really are now in
restaurants.
And you probably have heard someof these things, even internal
to your own brand going, no.
We're not able to figure thesethings out.
But for our listeners thatmaybe.
Have this myth in their mindthat they can't figure out who
(11:16):
their guests are.
Help understand, help ouraudience understand how you're
able to do that, and then howyou're able to continue to move
them.
Up the funnel into a place wherethey're engaging with the brand
more often because I think alltoo often when we've got
trackers in our pocket everyday, we've got credit cards that
are, that the data's out therein the world.
And I think too many people usethe excuse that says, I don't
(11:37):
know who my guests are, or, I'mgonna ruin my guest experience
by stopping them and asking themif they're part of the loyalty
program.
Help me understand how you guyshave solved for some of that.
Ha Ly (11:44):
Yeah.
we don't have enough time to gothrough this.
I could literally be here, for acouple of days talking through
strategy, tactics, technologies.
and to your point, a lot of myexperience actually comes from
the e-commerce world where wewere acquiring and trying to
identify, customers and guestsat scale.
and the past year and a halfwe've been doing a lot of
(12:04):
rethinking as a brand as to who.
That customer set is, and ifyou, if we zoom out, what we're
ultimately trying to do is,serve really fresh poke, and
other entrees.
Simply to, prospective gueststhat are hungry.
They're looking for somethingdelicious, something fresh.
(12:25):
we don't exclude folks.
there's no such thing as a,somebody that eats purely,
hamburgers or eats solely pizzawhen they go out and consider
something dying.
We wanna make sure that we showup when guests are hungry,
right?
that's the ultimate kind ofbarometer for success, is how
many of those guests can weserve?
and at the highest level,there's always social media,
(12:47):
right?
We're engaging constantly onsocial media.
but when it comes to our breadand butter strategy, it's
really.
We want to make sure we're rightthere at the right time when
guests are hungry.
And the great thing is, by andlarge guests tell us when
they're hungry,
Jeremy Julian (13:03):
Yes.
Ha Ly (13:04):
and this, we've seen this, over and over again in
every single kind of, businessthat, does customer acquisition
demand, capture really well and.
One of the big areas, of course,is making sure that you show up
on Google Maps or Yelp reallynicely, because when someone's
hungry and they're not entirelysure, they haven't made up their
(13:26):
mind where they're going,they're pulling out their phone,
right?
You have a phone, I have aphone.
Every, almost every person inthis country has a phone, that,
that has, that has money tospend on lunch and dinner.
And so you're gonna pull it outand you're gonna look.
You know what?
I'm looking for a restaurant.
I'm looking for lunch, I'mlooking for dinner.
You might be looking for asalad.
Whatever it is you're gonnatell, the phone.
(13:48):
look, I'm hungry right now.
I'm ready to go pick upsomething to eat for myself or
for my family.
we have strategies in place thatensures that, our service, our
quality, is reflected and weshow up well and, we show up
often for those guests.
Jeremy Julian (14:03):
I love that idea.
And I think far too few peopleconsider that says, am I in that
relevant data set?
And I think we all go out andare like, Hey, I'm hungry.
What do I want to do?
And if it's not in one yearrotation, I.
meaning like almost everybodyreads the same 10 places every
week.
they're like, oh, I'm gonna goto Chipotle today and I'm gonna
go to Poke Works tomorrow andI'm gonna, I'm gonna go to Jimmy
(14:23):
John's the next day.
Like they have the same 10restaurants that they go through
the Rolodex in their head beforethey do that.
And so if you're not in thatconsideration set, I.
It's hard.
And number two, if I'm now indiscovery motive, I want
something different for dinner,I want something different for
lunch, and it doesn't show upand be relevant.
How are you capturing thosepeople though?
So now I've come in, you and Italked a little bit prior to
(14:43):
about the value of your guys'loyalty package and the fact
that is.
A way to communicate with yourguests directly, How have you
guys considered that?
Because again, I think all toomany restaurants go, oh, that's
too much work.
I can't get my cashiers to do.
I've heard every excuse in thebook and I think it's awful and
I really struggle.
Or it's too expensive to havethat.
But at the end of the day.
(15:04):
we need to be able tocommunicate with our guests to
know what's going on.
I had a previous guest on thathad a problem with their fries.
They were using regular tablesalt instead of kosher salt to
salt their fries, and they weregetting feedback from their
loyalty guests saying, there's aproblem with your fries.
Something changed this week.
They had a new cook on the line.
And with that, they were able togo fix the problem'cause they
(15:25):
were getting direct feedbackfrom the guests.
And so in that case, knowingwhere those people are at and
what's going on with them, whenthey come in, when they fall
off, all of those kind of thingsis really critical in my mind.
And I think too few restaurantsinvest the time and energy in
it.
So how are you guys, how haveyou guys even considered that
when you acquire them?
How do you get them into thecycle so that you're top of mind
when they're ready to eat?
Ha Ly (15:46):
Oh, okay.
I can take another day.
But, just to break
Jeremy Julian (15:49):
I know I keep giving you these softballs, but
I'm like, I want people tothink, Hey, if I haven't at
least started capturing an emailaddress or something, you've
gotta be there because if you'renot, other people are, and
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Ha Ly (16:39):
Yeah, no, you bring up a good point.
There were several, guest touchpoints that you talked about
there.
One was what happens if somebodyshows up in store?
they've indicated they're comingin, they're dining with us,
they're gonna be our guest.
the second thing is, I.
how we show up and how do weshow up again and this changes
channel to channel.
like the way we do this instores on our own channel is
(16:59):
different from the way we do iton DoorDash or Uber Eats.
I.
and it's different, also fromeven ezCater, which is our one
of our catering partners.
and then the third question youhad was, how do you respond to
them when they're reaching out?
so just to break this out intothose three parts, let's start
with a simple one, which is whathappens when a guest has an
issue or, they.
(17:19):
want to call our attention tosomething.
One of the, one of the benefitsthat we offer to our franchise
partners is that we centrally,triage any inbound
communications, from, from ourguests across every single
channel.
So it, we will see every singlemessage on DoorDash, on Uber
Eats on our app.
(17:41):
In our stores.
And so we have internally guestservice and and guest support
centrally.
We monitor every single channel.
We respond to all the reviewsand commentary that we get.
and, when we need more depth ofdetail, we'll work with our
franchise partners to ferretthat out.
Our goal is always to make itright for our guests, so if
(18:01):
anything goes wrong, reach out.
Anybody reaching out across anychannel.
We will be there to listen andwe're gonna follow up.
and this way we provide thatconsistency of service, and
that's really crucial for us.
the second,
Jeremy Julian (18:14):
just wanna be heard when they have a problem
and you gotta respond.
'cause if you don't, it feelslike you don't care.
sorry.
I'll let you keep going.
Ha Ly (18:20):
oh no, e exactly.
that is the key thing, right?
do we fix your problem?
And the answer to that has toalways be yes.
the second thing is, Talkingabout how does this work,
channel to channel.
So it's different across, wefound that it is different
across each channel.
and when a guest comes in andthey dine with us for the first
time, turns out that thosemechanisms of, showing up again
(18:41):
and again, and having thatvisibility is built right into
most channels.
DoorDash, Uber Eats, they knowthat once we've locked in on
restaurants that we loveordering from.
Promote that, right?
You and I, when we open up ourapps.
We're too busy to drive or cook.
we're gonna look and write.
Immediately when you open yourapp, you're gonna see, hey, you
(19:03):
ordered from these, three to 10restaurants before, and Uber
Eats and DoorDash.
in most third parties, they willtell you like, where you order
from last, do you wanna reorderagain?
And of course, the secret thereis how do you get somebody to
order the first time?
So we've got a few things, goingup, strategies that we deploy
there to make sure that hey, aguest has ordered a first time,
(19:24):
a second time, a third time, andthen, we'll probably cool it off
on the marketing a bit, but onceyou get that pattern going, I.
These third party channels, theyknow they're gonna promote the
most popular spots any of us,prefer to dine at.
just because it's, themechanisms make sense.
It's higher conversion value,faster, time to decisioning.
and that's how we focus channel,the channel to show up first, a
(19:46):
second, a third, a fourth, fifthtime, and then allow those
platforms to just elevate ourvisibility.
Jeremy Julian (19:53):
Before you go on to 0.3 real quick, one thing
that somebody said to me is thata lot of times, 70% of first
time guests don't come back, andthat baffled me.
I had a guest that I was talkingto last week when I was at a
trade show.
I said 70%.
I don't know if you guys arefinding that same thing, but if
I could get.
25% of that 70% to come back,you're gonna drive, a really
significant sale volume forproducts.
(20:16):
again, if I'm buying a Yeticooler, I'm probably not coming
back for a Yeti cooler everymonth, but I can come back to
Poke Works, every week if I needto.
And so I think restaurants, I.
Need to figure out how to getthat first time guest to come in
a second time and that secondtime guest to come back a third
time.
So I love that idea that youguys are in tune with that and
making sure that you're makingsure the product is really good,
(20:36):
making sure they had a greatexperience, and then driving
them to that other behavior.
Ha Ly (20:40):
Y Yep.
it's, I don't know about thestats for other brands.
we're doing okay I would say onrepeat visitation, even on our
team, our lifecycle marketingeffort right now is okay.
Like how do we optimize andmaximize that second visit?
Literally, that's our goal.
Like we have a certain secondvisit metric we know where.
It probably is in the market forthe top tier, restaurant brands
(21:04):
out there.
And we have a singular focus of
Jeremy Julian (21:07):
How do I get them there the
Ha Ly (21:08):
close that gap.
Jeremy Julian (21:08):
get'em in the second time and you have a great
product, you're gonna end upbeing that repeat.
You'll be on the, you'll be onthe cycle, most likely.
'cause they're local, I wouldassume.
Ha Ly (21:16):
Yep, exactly.
It, it's, but that's our focus,it's, there's nothing, no,
nothing complex about, justclose the gap on the second
purchase, close the gap on thethird purchase.
And then we keep going
Jeremy Julian (21:26):
rest takes care of itself.
I love that.
you and I talked pre-show aboutdifferent product offerings that
you guys have been playing with.
Tell me a little bit more aboutwhy you guys are considering
adding, in addition to Poke someother local flavors that, that I
think, pair well with Poke andwhy have you guys considered
that?
'cause it's hard.
It's hard to execute.
Okay.
and now you guys are addingmore.
Tell me more about what kind ofyou guys are thinking about from
(21:47):
that perspective.
Ha Ly (21:49):
thank you for the lead in on this, but, for us it's really
exciting.
We recently launched HawaiianHot Plates.
It's, it's a play on the, theclassic, Hawaiian plate lunches.
and the reason for doing that isthat frankly, guests can only
eat so much raw fish in a week.
poke fundamentally starts offwith really high quality, raw
seafood.
(22:09):
But with that said, there'slimitations to how many times,
guests might be wanting to havepoke.
And so for those that have youngchildren, for those that have
families where they're trying topick, different, different
options for more than oneperson, it behooves us to
actually create.
(22:30):
an additional category thatwould appeal to more folks,
right?
and that comes in the form of,Hawaiian plate lunches.
for us it's, we call'em the, thehot plates and really it's mac
salad.
it is fresh greens and it is,hot proteins over a better rice.
and this kind of balances outour portfolio of options.
(22:52):
You know now instead of comingin, you're not feeling poke.
You could expect the same highquality ingredients, same
service, freshness, and reallyflavor profiles and that
deliciousness, from, from PokeWorks.
And I think that's a compellingoffer for a lot of our guests.
Jeremy Julian (23:09):
Yeah.
No, and when you were sharingabout it with me before the
show, I was like, Ooh, thatsounds, it's gonna be hard even,
quite frankly, when I go intothe store and be like, okay, so
I want this or do I want that?
And, maybe I'll be one of thosepeople that'll have two entrees
in the day and take the rest ofit home.
love that idea.
how are you, how is that rolloutgoing?
Are you guys, I'm, we'rerecording this in, late April.
Are you guys is it at all 65stores?
Is it just starting to roll out?
where are you guys at in thatcontinuum?
Ha Ly (23:30):
Yeah.
it's a national rollout.
It's been rolled out for a fewweeks now.
it, it is doing, I don't wannasay any numbers, but it's doing
surprisingly well.
and so we've seen, an uptick inorders across almost all of our
stores too.
you could probably guess it, butone of them is holy Chicken.
That is doing exceptional.
and, we're excited for the next12 months we're gonna be
(23:53):
amplifying that message,repeating it, for a long time to
come.
And we think it's gonna be astrong staple on our menu.
Jeremy Julian (24:00):
and the thing I'd said to you that I love that you
guys are considering is that noveto, I've got kids and if they
don't want poke, but I wantpoke, like we have to fight.
it's I want poke.
They don't want poke.
And it's then.
And so sometimes we would go totwo different restaurants, but
now if they've got all theseother options, it's like, Hey,
you're gonna go have the.
have these other plates and, hotplates while I have poke.
And I think it'll be great fromthat perspective.
ha what did we miss?
What did we miss about thebrand?
(24:21):
What did we miss about where youguys are at?
what else do you want thelisteners to hear before we wrap
up?
'cause we're getting close totime on wrapping.
Ha Ly (24:27):
Yeah.
the one thing is we, thatquestion you had asked around,
how do we keep and retain ourguests?
we, we didn't quite get, throughto the one remaining question,
which is, how do we do that forour first, first party?
Channel, we do that through ourloyalty program.
poke Works Rewards is, is anational program.
We've had it for a long time.
We recently went through arefresh in November, where we
(24:48):
changed up our, rewards programto create, more frequent rewards
for our guests.
And so we've seen tremendoustraction and success with that.
our rewards program is actuallygrowing, four times faster than
it was last year.
yeah, it's, as I mentioned,pre-show, the, the traction,
blew our minds.
We weren't even sure.
(25:09):
that it could grow that fast.
But, our goal is to keep itgoing.
it, seems to be, compelling, tomany of our guests and many are
signing up for it.
The second thing is, it's drivenreally significant sales
increases, so we're looking forthat visitation.
and we think the combination of,service quality flavor kind of
brings guests in over and overagain.
(25:30):
And, we hope that, we're able toreally, reward our most loyal,
guests and keep them comingback, keep, keep serving them.
Jeremy Julian (25:39):
and I think, one of the things that I've always
recognized about your brand andreally the cuisine type.
Is if you're a Poke K Works fan,you are like rabid, like you're
one of those people that, thatwants to go and wants to support
the brand.
At least that's what I've seenboth on social and just kinda
people that I'm like, peoplejust love it.
And so from the fact that youguys are giving them more and.
Able to not only acquirecustomers, but be able to drive
(26:00):
those sales.
how have you guys considered it?
And again, just I'd love alittle bit of education.
You talk about giving thoseloyal guests even more for those
naysayers that might be outthere that are like, I can't
keep giving away more food.
My food costs have gone up.
Inflation.
They come up with all these darnexcuses.
why has giving away more beensuch a sales driver?
Because I think all too often,and again, I know that I'm
(26:23):
preaching to the choir here'cause you guys have been
executing on this.
Why has that been such acritical piece of ensuring the
repeat visits?
Because I think it's, I thinkpeople, step over dollars to
pick up dimes from time to timethinking about, cost savings
instead of driving top linesales.
Ha Ly (26:38):
I think it's, it's always been a marketing tactic, right?
it's just the question of, like,where do you want to, provide
the value?
And for us, we can either take,take those dollars, plow it into
more paid marketing, or we take,Some of those dollars and give
it right back to our guests.
and where we came from when itcame to rewarding our, rewarding
(26:59):
our most valuable guests was,Hey, you'd have to come visit us
five times before you see anyrewards.
We just, it didn't sit rightwith us.
and so our new program actually,helps round out, a meal.
And what I mean by that is.
One, you could visit us, one totwo times and you're eligible
for that first, reward, right?
That could be a drink, thatcould be a miso soup.
(27:21):
That could be a side, and allthat does is saying every other
visit, every two to threevisits, when you come in, we're
gonna just.
We're gonna feed you.
we're gonna, you go in, come in,get that entree, get that, that
drink that's a reward, or thatspam masui or, or that side and
really flesh out your meal, havea real sizable meal, and get
(27:44):
more for your dollars.
And thank you for yourpatronage.
and so we're not trying to giveyou a free ball every five to
six visits.
We're just trying to make yourmeal a little bit more full, and
make our guests a little bitmore, satisfied with every
visit.
Jeremy Julian (27:58):
I love that thought.
'cause it's that idea ofabundance and really being there
to, to see the value.
'cause I think even as peopleare struggling with, just the
state of the economy and all ofthese things, if I can get more
and potentially have thesethings more frequently, it
creates that I.
Reward cycle that ends upbringing me back.
ha, tell our listeners a littlebit more, how would you want
them to engage, it sounds likesigning up for the loyalty
program is almost a no brainer,especially if there's one close
(28:20):
to you.
But, how do you want them toengage?
How do you want our listenersthat are getting done at the end
of this recording, to engagewith Poke Works and learn more
about it?
Ha Ly (28:27):
Yeah.
find us on social media, pokeworks co.
and if you're nearby, stop in.
Grab a meal, with Poke Works andlearn more@pokeworks.com.
Jeremy Julian (28:37):
Awesome.
So I asked this question of alot of restaurant brands, what's
your go-to, what outside of thenew hot plates that, that you're
excited for, what is your newgo-to?
So if they've never had Poke Kworks, what would you tell them?
Is it salmon?
Is it, is it, is it the tuna?
is it the white rice?
Is it the salad?
what's your go-to and what wouldyou recommend our listeners that
have never been so that theyhave just a wow experience at
(28:58):
Poke Works the first time theygo,
Ha Ly (28:59):
okay.
First timers, try out oursignature works.
a large percentage of folksthat's new to Poke and new to
Poke works orders.
Our signature works or A bitfamous for that.
we've, chef crafted deliciousoptions, whether it's tuna or
salmon or something else.
my personal favorite is UmamiYahi.
I like the Ahi, I heard oursalmon's real good.
(29:20):
it actually is delicious.
and for me, I like to top it offwith chili Crisp.
we crafted the chili crispourselves.
it's incredibly delicious, butit's got some serious heat to
it, so be careful.
Jeremy Julian (29:33):
Yeah.
Yeah.
be, be sparing on it if you're,if your stomach's not ready for
it.
I personally love the spamMusubi.
I, my wife's like, how do youeat that stuff?
But I don't know, ever since Iwas little, the first time I
went to Hawaii, when I waslittle, I started eating spam
musubi.
And ever since now I'm like,it's one of my go-tos.
And she's You just got afreaking big old bowl of poke.
Why do you need more spam?
But it's yeah, she won't let me,she won't let me get it at the
house.
So anytime I'm out, it's it'sone of my go-tos ha.
(29:56):
Thank you so much for educatingour listeners.
Thank you for what you do toreally, quite frankly, bridging
the gap of kind of in-storemarketing, above store
marketing, e-commerce, andtrying to drive that.
'cause I think.
Far too.
Restaurants consider thesethings, and there's a lot more
tools at our fingertips that Ithink, people can use.
And to our listeners, guys, likeI said, you guys have got lots
of choices.
Please go check out Poke Works,and if there's a store near you,
(30:18):
please go visit, support thefranchise, support the product,
let us know how you liked it,and make it a great day.
Thanks for listening to TheRestaurant Technology Guys
podcast.
Visit restaurant technologyguys.com for tips, industry
insights, and more to help yourun your restaurant better.
This is the RestaurantTechnology Guides podcast,
helping you run your restaurantbetter.
Jeremy Julian (00:14):
In today's episode, we are joined by Ha
Lee, who is head of marketingfor Poke Works.
We talk a ton about, uh, thevalue of what Poke is doing and
how much it's expanded in the USand how really in every major
market, uh, uh, poke is awell-known.
Product and really how theycontinue to grow throughout the
(00:36):
US as well as how they continueto bring guests back in for
second, third, and fourthvisits.
If you don't know me, my name isJeremy.
Julian.
I am the Chief Revenue Officerfor CBS North Star.
We sell the North Star point ofsale product.
Check us out at c cbs northstar.com and now onto the show.
Welcome back to the RestaurantTechnology Guys podcast.
(00:58):
I thank everyone out there forjoining us.
As I say, each and every time.
I know you guys have got lots ofchoices, so thanks for hanging
out.
Today is one of my favoritetypes of cuisines, and quite
frankly, it's one of the brandsthat introduced me to this, this
cuisine outside of a littleroadside stand in Hawaii years
ago.
But, I am joined by Ha Ly, Ithink is how you say your last
name.
Did I mess that?
the last name up?
Okay, so ha why don't youintroduce yourself to our
(01:21):
audience and then we'll talkabout, this unique cuisine and
where the brand's at and whereit's going.
Ha Ly (01:26):
Yeah, my name's Ha.
thanks for the intro.
Excited to be here.
I'm the, head of marketing forPoke Works.
I've been, I've been part ofthat, team for about a year and
a half now.
prior to that, I've been intechnology companies, big and
small.
mostly larger tech companiesfor, a decade and a half.
but fairly new to the restaurantindustry.
Really captivated by it.
(01:47):
My, I have family members thathave been in it for decades.
and, just really excited to be,to be working with Poke Works.
the partners and I have knowneach other, for a number of
years.
we have, experimented, started,another business together as
well, Really familiar with thefounding group.
Amazing guys.
And, the concept, of Poke Worksis real simple.
(02:10):
It's basically build your ownpoke bowls.
so we try to focus on freshingredients, really delicious
flavor profiles that appeal to,a wide variety of folks.
But, the key element here isthat poke it your way, build
your own concept, because.
The folks love choice.
They love fresh foods, andthat's what we deliver at Poke
(02:33):
Works.
Jeremy Julian (02:34):
And for those that are not on the coast or not
as familiar with Poque, describethe cuisine.
'cause I know we were talkingpre-show.
I know even in, north Texaswhere I live, the amount of
poque compared to where I was inSouthern California, it's night
and day different and you go toHawaii and it's for those that
are less familiar with it.
Explain what Poque is, where didit come from, the origin and,
(02:55):
tell the story of what Poque isand why it's such a, because for
me, I love it.
I'm, I will likely have pokesoon in the next couple of days
because it, it's now on mybrain.
But, for those that are lessfamiliar with Poque and the
cuisine itself, what is it?
Ha Ly (03:09):
Yeah, so Poke really is, is one of the core I would say,
and.
Quite legendary, Hawaiian,cuisines out there.
And it is basically, raw fishthat is cured in various sauces.
And so you have, typically ahi.
Or salmon, that is in a soybased, or a choy based, sauce.
(03:33):
And with that as a marinate, ithas this incredible umami
flavor.
And then you toss it with fresh,fresh, vegetables and herbs.
sometimes it's hki, seaweed,sometimes it's just some really
crunchy, slices of the whiteonion.
but.
it's typically served over rice.
and that's it.
(03:54):
But in our case, we take thismaximal list approach to it
where you could really stack, I.
you're poke with tons of crunchyadd-ons like garlic crisps,
onion crisps, wanton and youcould put on a bed of, white
rice or salad mix.
But Poke originally came, Iwould say is best known from
(04:16):
Hawaii.
It's a classic, just, given howfresh the seafood is out there,
and the flavor profiles, it'sreally easy to eat and it's, I
just think of it as sushi, butwith a lot more flavor.
Jeremy Julian (04:28):
and the thing I love about it is, one, it's
healthy, So it's fresh.
It's, especially if you get itover lettuce, it's low carb.
and my goodness, the amount ofdifferent permutations that you
can have.
The thing I also love about itis, at Poke Works, you guys have
got a lot of different saucesthat you can add on top of it,
which obviously makes it lesshealthy.
'cause now we got a mayonnaisebased sauce, that's spicy or
(04:48):
whatever else.
again, you talk about it, I liketo equate it almost to a
Chipotle or a subway type ofexperience.
is that fair?
As an example, you've got startwith your base and then you move
your way through the line atPoke Works again, I've been, but
for those, painting a picturefor those that haven't been,
that's how it all works.
Ha Ly (05:05):
Yeah, exactly.
it's got that build your ownline experience.
and so you choose your base, youchip, you choose your protein
and you choose your flavor.
I think the key difference thereis in the flavor and the sauces
is the sauce that you use,that's gonna be marinating
giving a lot of uniqueness, andumami to that, to that fresh
fish or fresh protein.
(05:27):
it's really.
the key differentiator betweenkind of other build your own
concepts, but yes, it's, you goin, the first thing you'll do is
choose your base and choose yourformat because we have, our
bowls and we also have aburrito, concept.
but then I.
Yeah, we got a burrito.
We actually got our kickstartearly on because we, we created
(05:48):
this burrito, buildium, pokeburrito, which kind of caught
fire early on, in the brand's,life.
But yes, and then you chooseyour toppings.
After you choose your sauces,everything gets tossed together
and at the end you get a heapingbowl of poke plus base.
and, whatever you choose to topit with.
Jeremy Julian (06:07):
Yeah.
thanks for sharing.
For those that have notexperienced it, where are you
guys at penetration wise?
'cause I think Poke because ofboth the product and its
fantastic product and I thinkonce you get through the
initial, I don't understand whatthis I.
it ends up being one of thesevery craveable type of products.
and again, you and I weretalking about that a little bit.
So where are you guys at from anational, nationwide expansion
(06:28):
perspective?
I think the brands, I think yousaid 10 years old, help me
understand, where are you guysat now and what is, what does
the format look like as you guyscontinue to expand across the
nation?
Ha Ly (06:38):
Yeah.
we started in New York, and thenwe quickly moved to the West
Coast.
But now, poke in general iscoast to coast.
It's well known, 10 years agowhen Poke works, kickstarted the
Build Your Own Poke experience,it was a little bit less well
known, but.
the expansion has been extremelyrapid.
almost every state will have apoke concept, whether it's a
(07:01):
small, let's say family ownedoperation or as part of a brand.
There are regional brands allover the country already.
we have 65 stores in the us.
We've got 10 outside of the us.
and we're continuing tobasically grow even within
domestic us.
And, we have, internationalinterest as well.
Jeremy Julian (07:21):
Love that.
so for you, that's in charge ofmarketing and trying to get the
word out about what's going on.
How do you think about goinginto new markets?
how do you think about I guessexposing this product into a new
market that may be familiar withit, but aren't as familiar with
the Poke Works brand name andall of that, talk me through
your thought process.
'cause we have a lot oflisteners that are on, that are
trying to get outside of theircore markets of New York,
(07:42):
Chicago, la, San Francisco,wherever.
So how do you think about thosedifferent, experiences and how
you seed the market before youguys go in and open the doors?
Ha Ly (07:52):
just like many other concepts, we are, we've got
signage up, we're plastering thewindows, the surfaces outside of
the store just to get thatstreet level visibility.
that's one.
the second thing is almost everymarket that Poke works enters or
will enter, the concept of pokeis already, it's already there.
so it's, as a cuisine.
(08:13):
It's almost already well knownin every single locale that
we're gonna be entering.
The second thing is, Hawaiianfood, is also something that
many folks are familiar with,right?
They may not know exactly everydish, but they know that it's
out there, right?
We, we've got amazing, examplesof that from Hawaiian Bros.
l and l, ELL, like all of these,Really notable brands have been
(08:36):
in their markets a long time, sowe get the benefit of that.
Now when it comes to, opening astore, we're out there, our, our
partners and, ourselves, we'reout there hitting the We're
promoted, we're promoting it inthe neighborhoods that we're
launching in.
We've got local PR running.
and so we're executingeffectively every single
marketing and pr.
(08:57):
Campaign or tactic that youwould expect from a new local,
new local store opening.
And then what we focus on thenis really just the, as boring as
it sounds, just the basics.
Every guest that comes indeliver high quality service,
make sure the food is deliciousand fresh.
And, our stores Accelerate bothon third party and first party
(09:21):
in terms of visibility.
we've got some, some strategiesthat we've been executing the
past year and a half.
That's worked exceptionallywell.
but it really is that we're not,there's, no airplane flying
overhead with poke works, on thetail.
we're just executing and makingsure every guest that comes
through our doors, has a goodenough experience and ex dining
(09:41):
experience that they go and telltheir friends.
Jeremy Julian (09:43):
Yeah.
And I, the one thing I would sayabout the store that's local to
me is the, the level of energywhen you come into the store is
always really high.
So you feel like you're wantedwhen you come in.
And I'm sure we've all been toplaces where you walk in and
it's it's dull, it's dreary.
You want the food.
'cause you saw some review onGoogle that says it's good, but
then you walk in and you'relike, you people don't even want
me to be here versus at least atthe store that's local To me,
it's like, Hey, welcome, welcomein and can I, can I help you
(10:07):
through the menu?
And I think that.
Is also a testament to you guysexecuting well is for those that
aren't as familiar.
You, you're, you help walk themthrough the experience versus
just expecting that they'regonna know exactly what they
want.
I'm sure you guys have thoseguests that know exactly what
they want and it's not aproblem.
And then there's others you cantell that are looking around
going, what did I just walkinto?
And at least the store that Isaid local here to me, they do a
(10:28):
fantastic job of walking youthrough, walking you through
that experience.
Ha Ly (10:33):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jeremy Julian (10:34):
ha.
Talk to me a little bit aboutclient acquisition.
we talked about new store clientacquisition, and I know you and
I, prior to hitting the recordbutton, had talked about,
loyalty and just, how do youengage with guests?
Because again, I think it's beena misnomer in the restaurant
industry for a long time, and inretail in general.
Obviously e-commerce and pizzahave had it down for a long time
because they knew who theirguest is.
(10:55):
And a lot of restaurants havemade the excuse that says, I
have no idea who my guest is.
How am I supposed to know who myguest is?
And I think it's a fallacy, andI'd love for you to share, you
come outta the high tech world,and then really are now in
restaurants.
And you probably have heard someof these things, even internal
to your own brand going, no.
We're not able to figure thesethings out.
But for our listeners thatmaybe.
Have this myth in their mindthat they can't figure out who
(11:16):
their guests are.
Help understand, help ouraudience understand how you're
able to do that, and then howyou're able to continue to move
them.
Up the funnel into a place wherethey're engaging with the brand
more often because I think alltoo often when we've got
trackers in our pocket everyday, we've got credit cards that
are, that the data's out therein the world.
And I think too many people usethe excuse that says, I don't
(11:37):
know who my guests are, or, I'mgonna ruin my guest experience
by stopping them and asking themif they're part of the loyalty
program.
Help me understand how you guyshave solved for some of that.
Ha Ly (11:44):
Yeah.
we don't have enough time to gothrough this.
I could literally be here, for acouple of days talking through
strategy, tactics, technologies.
and to your point, a lot of myexperience actually comes from
the e-commerce world where wewere acquiring and trying to
identify, customers and guestsat scale.
and the past year and a halfwe've been doing a lot of
(12:04):
rethinking as a brand as to who.
That customer set is, and ifyou, if we zoom out, what we're
ultimately trying to do is,serve really fresh poke, and
other entrees.
Simply to, prospective gueststhat are hungry.
They're looking for somethingdelicious, something fresh.
(12:25):
we don't exclude folks.
there's no such thing as a,somebody that eats purely,
hamburgers or eats solely pizzawhen they go out and consider
something dying.
We wanna make sure that we showup when guests are hungry,
right?
that's the ultimate kind ofbarometer for success, is how
many of those guests can weserve?
and at the highest level,there's always social media,
(12:47):
right?
We're engaging constantly onsocial media.
but when it comes to our breadand butter strategy, it's
really.
We want to make sure we're rightthere at the right time when
guests are hungry.
And the great thing is, by andlarge guests tell us when
they're hungry,
Jeremy Julian (13:03):
Yes.
Ha Ly (13:04):
and this, we've seen this, over and over again in
every single kind of, businessthat, does customer acquisition
demand, capture really well and.
One of the big areas, of course,is making sure that you show up
on Google Maps or Yelp reallynicely, because when someone's
hungry and they're not entirelysure, they haven't made up their
(13:26):
mind where they're going,they're pulling out their phone,
right?
You have a phone, I have aphone.
Every, almost every person inthis country has a phone, that,
that has, that has money tospend on lunch and dinner.
And so you're gonna pull it outand you're gonna look.
You know what?
I'm looking for a restaurant.
I'm looking for lunch, I'mlooking for dinner.
You might be looking for asalad.
Whatever it is you're gonnatell, the phone.
(13:48):
look, I'm hungry right now.
I'm ready to go pick upsomething to eat for myself or
for my family.
we have strategies in place thatensures that, our service, our
quality, is reflected and weshow up well and, we show up
often for those guests.
Jeremy Julian (14:03):
I love that idea.
And I think far too few peopleconsider that says, am I in that
relevant data set?
And I think we all go out andare like, Hey, I'm hungry.
What do I want to do?
And if it's not in one yearrotation, I.
meaning like almost everybodyreads the same 10 places every
week.
they're like, oh, I'm gonna goto Chipotle today and I'm gonna
go to Poke Works tomorrow andI'm gonna, I'm gonna go to Jimmy
(14:23):
John's the next day.
Like they have the same 10restaurants that they go through
the Rolodex in their head beforethey do that.
And so if you're not in thatconsideration set, I.
It's hard.
And number two, if I'm now indiscovery motive, I want
something different for dinner,I want something different for
lunch, and it doesn't show upand be relevant.
How are you capturing thosepeople though?
So now I've come in, you and Italked a little bit prior to
(14:43):
about the value of your guys'loyalty package and the fact
that is.
A way to communicate with yourguests directly, How have you
guys considered that?
Because again, I think all toomany restaurants go, oh, that's
too much work.
I can't get my cashiers to do.
I've heard every excuse in thebook and I think it's awful and
I really struggle.
Or it's too expensive to havethat.
But at the end of the day.
(15:04):
we need to be able tocommunicate with our guests to
know what's going on.
I had a previous guest on thathad a problem with their fries.
They were using regular tablesalt instead of kosher salt to
salt their fries, and they weregetting feedback from their
loyalty guests saying, there's aproblem with your fries.
Something changed this week.
They had a new cook on the line.
And with that, they were able togo fix the problem'cause they
(15:25):
were getting direct feedbackfrom the guests.
And so in that case, knowingwhere those people are at and
what's going on with them, whenthey come in, when they fall
off, all of those kind of thingsis really critical in my mind.
And I think too few restaurantsinvest the time and energy in
it.
So how are you guys, how haveyou guys even considered that
when you acquire them?
How do you get them into thecycle so that you're top of mind
when they're ready to eat?
Ha Ly (15:46):
Oh, okay.
I can take another day.
But, just to break
Jeremy Julian (15:49):
I know I keep giving you these softballs, but
I'm like, I want people tothink, Hey, if I haven't at
least started capturing an emailaddress or something, you've
gotta be there because if you'renot, other people are, and
you're losing out to them.
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(16:30):
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4 9 9 6.
Ha Ly (16:39):
Yeah, no, you bring up a good point.
There were several, guest touchpoints that you talked about
there.
One was what happens if somebodyshows up in store?
they've indicated they're comingin, they're dining with us,
they're gonna be our guest.
the second thing is, I.
how we show up and how do weshow up again and this changes
channel to channel.
like the way we do this instores on our own channel is
(16:59):
different from the way we do iton DoorDash or Uber Eats.
I.
and it's different, also fromeven ezCater, which is our one
of our catering partners.
and then the third question youhad was, how do you respond to
them when they're reaching out?
so just to break this out intothose three parts, let's start
with a simple one, which is whathappens when a guest has an
issue or, they.
(17:19):
want to call our attention tosomething.
One of the, one of the benefitsthat we offer to our franchise
partners is that we centrally,triage any inbound
communications, from, from ourguests across every single
channel.
So it, we will see every singlemessage on DoorDash, on Uber
Eats on our app.
(17:41):
In our stores.
And so we have internally guestservice and and guest support
centrally.
We monitor every single channel.
We respond to all the reviewsand commentary that we get.
and, when we need more depth ofdetail, we'll work with our
franchise partners to ferretthat out.
Our goal is always to make itright for our guests, so if
(18:01):
anything goes wrong, reach out.
Anybody reaching out across anychannel.
We will be there to listen andwe're gonna follow up.
and this way we provide thatconsistency of service, and
that's really crucial for us.
the second,
Jeremy Julian (18:14):
just wanna be heard when they have a problem
and you gotta respond.
'cause if you don't, it feelslike you don't care.
sorry.
I'll let you keep going.
Ha Ly (18:20):
oh no, e exactly.
that is the key thing, right?
do we fix your problem?
And the answer to that has toalways be yes.
the second thing is, Talkingabout how does this work,
channel to channel.
So it's different across, wefound that it is different
across each channel.
and when a guest comes in andthey dine with us for the first
time, turns out that thosemechanisms of, showing up again
(18:41):
and again, and having thatvisibility is built right into
most channels.
DoorDash, Uber Eats, they knowthat once we've locked in on
restaurants that we loveordering from.
Promote that, right?
You and I, when we open up ourapps.
We're too busy to drive or cook.
we're gonna look and write.
Immediately when you open yourapp, you're gonna see, hey, you
(19:03):
ordered from these, three to 10restaurants before, and Uber
Eats and DoorDash.
in most third parties, they willtell you like, where you order
from last, do you wanna reorderagain?
And of course, the secret thereis how do you get somebody to
order the first time?
So we've got a few things, goingup, strategies that we deploy
there to make sure that hey, aguest has ordered a first time,
(19:24):
a second time, a third time, andthen, we'll probably cool it off
on the marketing a bit, but onceyou get that pattern going, I.
These third party channels, theyknow they're gonna promote the
most popular spots any of us,prefer to dine at.
just because it's, themechanisms make sense.
It's higher conversion value,faster, time to decisioning.
and that's how we focus channel,the channel to show up first, a
(19:46):
second, a third, a fourth, fifthtime, and then allow those
platforms to just elevate ourvisibility.
Jeremy Julian (19:53):
Before you go on to 0.3 real quick, one thing
that somebody said to me is thata lot of times, 70% of first
time guests don't come back, andthat baffled me.
I had a guest that I was talkingto last week when I was at a
trade show.
I said 70%.
I don't know if you guys arefinding that same thing, but if
I could get.
25% of that 70% to come back,you're gonna drive, a really
significant sale volume forproducts.
(20:16):
again, if I'm buying a Yeticooler, I'm probably not coming
back for a Yeti cooler everymonth, but I can come back to
Poke Works, every week if I needto.
And so I think restaurants, I.
Need to figure out how to getthat first time guest to come in
a second time and that secondtime guest to come back a third
time.
So I love that idea that youguys are in tune with that and
making sure that you're makingsure the product is really good,
(20:36):
making sure they had a greatexperience, and then driving
them to that other behavior.
Ha Ly (20:40):
Y Yep.
it's, I don't know about thestats for other brands.
we're doing okay I would say onrepeat visitation, even on our
team, our lifecycle marketingeffort right now is okay.
Like how do we optimize andmaximize that second visit?
Literally, that's our goal.
Like we have a certain secondvisit metric we know where.
It probably is in the market forthe top tier, restaurant brands
(21:04):
out there.
And we have a singular focus of
Jeremy Julian (21:07):
How do I get them there the
Ha Ly (21:08):
close that gap.
Jeremy Julian (21:08):
get'em in the second time and you have a great
product, you're gonna end upbeing that repeat.
You'll be on the, you'll be onthe cycle, most likely.
'cause they're local, I wouldassume.
Ha Ly (21:16):
Yep, exactly.
It, it's, but that's our focus,it's, there's nothing, no,
nothing complex about, justclose the gap on the second
purchase, close the gap on thethird purchase.
And then we keep going
Jeremy Julian (21:26):
rest takes care of itself.
I love that.
you and I talked pre-show aboutdifferent product offerings that
you guys have been playing with.
Tell me a little bit more aboutwhy you guys are considering
adding, in addition to Poke someother local flavors that, that I
think, pair well with Poke andwhy have you guys considered
that?
'cause it's hard.
It's hard to execute.
Okay.
and now you guys are addingmore.
Tell me more about what kind ofyou guys are thinking about from
(21:47):
that perspective.
Ha Ly (21:49):
thank you for the lead in on this, but, for us it's really
exciting.
We recently launched HawaiianHot Plates.
It's, it's a play on the, theclassic, Hawaiian plate lunches.
and the reason for doing that isthat frankly, guests can only
eat so much raw fish in a week.
poke fundamentally starts offwith really high quality, raw
seafood.
(22:09):
But with that said, there'slimitations to how many times,
guests might be wanting to havepoke.
And so for those that have youngchildren, for those that have
families where they're trying topick, different, different
options for more than oneperson, it behooves us to
actually create.
(22:30):
an additional category thatwould appeal to more folks,
right?
and that comes in the form of,Hawaiian plate lunches.
for us it's, we call'em the, thehot plates and really it's mac
salad.
it is fresh greens and it is,hot proteins over a better rice.
and this kind of balances outour portfolio of options.
(22:52):
You know now instead of comingin, you're not feeling poke.
You could expect the same highquality ingredients, same
service, freshness, and reallyflavor profiles and that
deliciousness, from, from PokeWorks.
And I think that's a compellingoffer for a lot of our guests.
Jeremy Julian (23:09):
Yeah.
No, and when you were sharingabout it with me before the
show, I was like, Ooh, thatsounds, it's gonna be hard even,
quite frankly, when I go intothe store and be like, okay, so
I want this or do I want that?
And, maybe I'll be one of thosepeople that'll have two entrees
in the day and take the rest ofit home.
love that idea.
how are you, how is that rolloutgoing?
Are you guys, I'm, we'rerecording this in, late April.
Are you guys is it at all 65stores?
Is it just starting to roll out?
where are you guys at in thatcontinuum?
Ha Ly (23:30):
Yeah.
it's a national rollout.
It's been rolled out for a fewweeks now.
it, it is doing, I don't wannasay any numbers, but it's doing
surprisingly well.
and so we've seen, an uptick inorders across almost all of our
stores too.
you could probably guess it, butone of them is holy Chicken.
That is doing exceptional.
and, we're excited for the next12 months we're gonna be
(23:53):
amplifying that message,repeating it, for a long time to
come.
And we think it's gonna be astrong staple on our menu.
Jeremy Julian (24:00):
and the thing I'd said to you that I love that you
guys are considering is that noveto, I've got kids and if they
don't want poke, but I wantpoke, like we have to fight.
it's I want poke.
They don't want poke.
And it's then.
And so sometimes we would go totwo different restaurants, but
now if they've got all theseother options, it's like, Hey,
you're gonna go have the.
have these other plates and, hotplates while I have poke.
And I think it'll be great fromthat perspective.
ha what did we miss?
What did we miss about thebrand?
(24:21):
What did we miss about where youguys are at?
what else do you want thelisteners to hear before we wrap
up?
'cause we're getting close totime on wrapping.
Ha Ly (24:27):
Yeah.
the one thing is we, thatquestion you had asked around,
how do we keep and retain ourguests?
we, we didn't quite get, throughto the one remaining question,
which is, how do we do that forour first, first party?
Channel, we do that through ourloyalty program.
poke Works Rewards is, is anational program.
We've had it for a long time.
We recently went through arefresh in November, where we
(24:48):
changed up our, rewards programto create, more frequent rewards
for our guests.
And so we've seen tremendoustraction and success with that.
our rewards program is actuallygrowing, four times faster than
it was last year.
yeah, it's, as I mentioned,pre-show, the, the traction,
blew our minds.
We weren't even sure.
(25:09):
that it could grow that fast.
But, our goal is to keep itgoing.
it, seems to be, compelling, tomany of our guests and many are
signing up for it.
The second thing is, it's drivenreally significant sales
increases, so we're looking forthat visitation.
and we think the combination of,service quality flavor kind of
brings guests in over and overagain.
(25:30):
And, we hope that, we're able toreally, reward our most loyal,
guests and keep them comingback, keep, keep serving them.
Jeremy Julian (25:39):
and I think, one of the things that I've always
recognized about your brand andreally the cuisine type.
Is if you're a Poke K Works fan,you are like rabid, like you're
one of those people that, thatwants to go and wants to support
the brand.
At least that's what I've seenboth on social and just kinda
people that I'm like, peoplejust love it.
And so from the fact that youguys are giving them more and.
Able to not only acquirecustomers, but be able to drive
(26:00):
those sales.
how have you guys considered it?
And again, just I'd love alittle bit of education.
You talk about giving thoseloyal guests even more for those
naysayers that might be outthere that are like, I can't
keep giving away more food.
My food costs have gone up.
Inflation.
They come up with all these darnexcuses.
why has giving away more beensuch a sales driver?
Because I think all too often,and again, I know that I'm
(26:23):
preaching to the choir here'cause you guys have been
executing on this.
Why has that been such acritical piece of ensuring the
repeat visits?
Because I think it's, I thinkpeople, step over dollars to
pick up dimes from time to timethinking about, cost savings
instead of driving top linesales.
Ha Ly (26:38):
I think it's, it's always been a marketing tactic, right?
it's just the question of, like,where do you want to, provide
the value?
And for us, we can either take,take those dollars, plow it into
more paid marketing, or we take,Some of those dollars and give
it right back to our guests.
and where we came from when itcame to rewarding our, rewarding
(26:59):
our most valuable guests was,Hey, you'd have to come visit us
five times before you see anyrewards.
We just, it didn't sit rightwith us.
and so our new program actually,helps round out, a meal.
And what I mean by that is.
One, you could visit us, one totwo times and you're eligible
for that first, reward, right?
That could be a drink, thatcould be a miso soup.
(27:21):
That could be a side, and allthat does is saying every other
visit, every two to threevisits, when you come in, we're
gonna just.
We're gonna feed you.
we're gonna, you go in, come in,get that entree, get that, that
drink that's a reward, or thatspam masui or, or that side and
really flesh out your meal, havea real sizable meal, and get
(27:44):
more for your dollars.
And thank you for yourpatronage.
and so we're not trying to giveyou a free ball every five to
six visits.
We're just trying to make yourmeal a little bit more full, and
make our guests a little bitmore, satisfied with every
visit.
Jeremy Julian (27:58):
I love that thought.
'cause it's that idea ofabundance and really being there
to, to see the value.
'cause I think even as peopleare struggling with, just the
state of the economy and all ofthese things, if I can get more
and potentially have thesethings more frequently, it
creates that I.
Reward cycle that ends upbringing me back.
ha, tell our listeners a littlebit more, how would you want
them to engage, it sounds likesigning up for the loyalty
program is almost a no brainer,especially if there's one close
(28:20):
to you.
But, how do you want them toengage?
How do you want our listenersthat are getting done at the end
of this recording, to engagewith Poke Works and learn more
about it?
Ha Ly (28:27):
Yeah.
find us on social media, pokeworks co.
and if you're nearby, stop in.
Grab a meal, with Poke Works andlearn more@pokeworks.com.
Jeremy Julian (28:37):
Awesome.
So I asked this question of alot of restaurant brands, what's
your go-to, what outside of thenew hot plates that, that you're
excited for, what is your newgo-to?
So if they've never had Poke Kworks, what would you tell them?
Is it salmon?
Is it, is it, is it the tuna?
is it the white rice?
Is it the salad?
what's your go-to and what wouldyou recommend our listeners that
have never been so that theyhave just a wow experience at
(28:58):
Poke Works the first time theygo,
Ha Ly (28:59):
okay.
First timers, try out oursignature works.
a large percentage of folksthat's new to Poke and new to
Poke works orders.
Our signature works or A bitfamous for that.
we've, chef crafted deliciousoptions, whether it's tuna or
salmon or something else.
my personal favorite is UmamiYahi.
I like the Ahi, I heard oursalmon's real good.
(29:20):
it actually is delicious.
and for me, I like to top it offwith chili Crisp.
we crafted the chili crispourselves.
it's incredibly delicious, butit's got some serious heat to
it, so be careful.
Jeremy Julian (29:33):
Yeah.
Yeah.
be, be sparing on it if you're,if your stomach's not ready for
it.
I personally love the spamMusubi.
I, my wife's like, how do youeat that stuff?
But I don't know, ever since Iwas little, the first time I
went to Hawaii, when I waslittle, I started eating spam
musubi.
And ever since now I'm like,it's one of my go-tos.
And she's You just got afreaking big old bowl of poke.
Why do you need more spam?
But it's yeah, she won't let me,she won't let me get it at the
house.
So anytime I'm out, it's it'sone of my go-tos ha.
(29:56):
Thank you so much for educatingour listeners.
Thank you for what you do toreally, quite frankly, bridging
the gap of kind of in-storemarketing, above store
marketing, e-commerce, andtrying to drive that.
'cause I think.
Far too.
Restaurants consider thesethings, and there's a lot more
tools at our fingertips that Ithink, people can use.
And to our listeners, guys, likeI said, you guys have got lots
of choices.
Please go check out Poke Works,and if there's a store near you,
(30:18):
please go visit, support thefranchise, support the product,
let us know how you liked it,and make it a great day.
Thanks for listening to TheRestaurant Technology Guys
podcast.
Visit restaurant technologyguys.com for tips, industry
insights, and more to help yourun your restaurant better.
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