By Franka Potter
Sushi anyone? When Faris Salem moved to FishHawk in 2003, he had his heart set on new beginnings, new employment avenues and new opportunities to bring to the Tampa Bay area. Salem owned and operated his own bread delivery business, so entrepreneurship was an adventure that he was not afraid to dive into again.
After traveling to Atlanta, Georgia in 2018, he was hoping to find a place to have some great sushi and stumbled upon a restaurant called Poke Burri.
“The food was amazing. It was created in ways I had never seen or eaten before, such as a sushi donut, sushi pizza and sushi corn dogs, to name some of the signature dishes,” said Salem.
Salem jumped right into asking questions about this new restaurant and new style of sushi making. He felt that Poke Burri would be a great addition to the culinary market in his home state of Florida.
“I love sushi, and fresh fish and the homemade sauces made all the difference,” Salem added.
He organized a meeting with the flagship founders and embarked on a partnership with the Poke Burri franchise. On February 3, Salem opened the first Poke Burri Tampa restaurant located in downtown Tampa.
In just under five years, the new franchise has seven locations across three states and is scheduled to open an additional five new restaurants within five more states. The Poke Burri franchise has also received several culinary awards and has since been featured in Forbes magazine, Tampa Bay Magazine, ABC Action News, 21 food blogs and, on Saturday, April 4, will be on-set at ABC Action News to discuss this brainchild further.
Poke Burri Tampa is located at 4034 W. Kennedy Blvd. in Tampa, seats up to 42 customers and is open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. You can also visit it online at Pokeburri.com and on Instagram @pokeburritampa or by calling 405-4019.
