Our new poke bowl station works well for several reasons. First, customers love the freshness, the ability to customize and the appearance that they’re making a healthy choice. Second, the poke bowl is a buzzing trend and has all the flavors of sushi with a fraction of the labor. I was inspired to roll out the station as an alternative to the labor-intensive maki sushi station we had been running. We offer four proteins: tuna, surimi, shrimp togarashi and gochujang tofu. All are served over a base of sushi rice or brown rice, and customers can add fresh chopped vegetables, seaweed salad, mixed greens, avocado, crunchy toppings and sauces—all made to order. We still run maki on occasion, but only when we can find the additional labor to execute it.
Jeff Varcoe
Pennsylvania State University