Following the encouraging results since opening half of their sites, Island Poké, London’s largest poké brand, have now reopened 3 more of their 8 stores in London bringing the total number to 7.
The additional stores include Southbank, Victoria and Bow Lane in the City with only their Fitzrovia site remaining closed for the time being. All open sites will be taking part in the Eat Out to Help Out scheme when it launches next week.
As part of the relaunch Island Poké have added more dishes to its House Bowls menu with a broader range of prices, without compromising on the great quality of ingredients you’ve come to know and expect. New additions to the menu include a salad bowl for £5, a new vegan bowl with smoked tofu in a shiitake teriyaki sauce, and a spicy twist on their classic ahi tuna bowl.
Also, the Huli Huli chicken bowl now comes with a burnt corn salsa, edamame, spring onions and crispy shallots. Customers can still build their own bowls too.
With more customers working from home, a bigger focus is now on their digital channels. They are now working with multiple delivery platforms, and are planning to expand their delivery reach across London with dark kitchens in more residential areas like Battersea and Camden due to open in August.
For customers that are still close by to the stores, there is a new online click and collect ordering option via the website and the Island Poké app. The app allows customers to order ahead, skip the queue and earn digital loyalty points and rewards like free toppings and bowls.
All the necessary health and safety precautions have been implemented to make sure that both the teams and customers feel safe. There will be limited numbers of customers in store at any one time, social distancing measures for the queues and sit-in diners, divider screens between the server and customer, and frequent cleaning and sanitising of both front and back of house.
Founder James Porter said, “It feels great to be back open and to see our customers again. We had the new menu and pricing planned for before the lockdown, and despite the impact on our business the past couple of months has had, we still felt that introducing some lower prices was the right thing to do for our customers, particularly now that they are likely to be much more cautious with their spending.
'We’re really excited to expand our reach across London and get people their poké fix while working from home as well as when they’re at the office!”
For those not close to one of the stores but still within the M25, Island Poké is still doing its DIY kits.