Muscle Maker Grill Inc. has purchased Pokemoto, a 13-unit customizable poke bowl chain with restaurants in Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the company based in League City, Texas, said Tuesday.
The purchase is the company’s second one this year and the third since it went public last year.
In March it bought prepared-meal maker Superfit Foods LLC, which followed its acquisition of Happy Meal Prep last November. It used the latter’s infrastructure to ship Muscle Maker Grill meals nationwide.
Muscle Maker Inc. said Pokemoto was its largest purchase, with revenue of $3.65 million in 2020, slightly up from $3.64 million in 2019. Its 2020 EBITDA was $507,000, down from $970,000 in 2019 due to increased costs in the face of the pandemic.
That adds substantially to Muscle Maker’s own top line from last year of $4,5 million.
CEO Mike Roper said the acquisition of Pokemoto fit Muscle Maker’s strategy of growing in non-traditional markets, as it has locations near several universities: Yale University, Fairfield University, University of Connecticut Stamford, University of New Haven, Southern Connecticut State College, Quinnipiac University and Franklin Pierce University.
“The concept also fits perfectly within our ghost kitchen model,” he said in a release announcing the acquisition. “Buying yet another growth-oriented multi-unit concept accelerates our top line revenue growth and adds another strong brand to the delivery only side of the business.”
He added that Muscle Maker management had identified cost and operational efficiencies in acquiring Pokemoto.
Muscle Maker Grill is a health-oriented fast-casual chain.
“We believe that this concept will continue to grow rapidly as we implement our nationwide strategy,” he said “My team and I have been involved with the rollout of brands historically and we believe we have the experience to take Pokemoto to the next level. I believe prospective franchisees will be excited when they look at the store level economics, low buildout costs along with the ease of operations, and see how wide open the country is to place Pokemoto restaurants in prime locations. We believe we can grow this brand into something that people can enjoy in every state in the country.”
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