FireFin Poke Is Abruptly Shuttering All 5 Locations

By Anthony Todd in Food on Oct 30, 2017 5:59PM

Poke at FireFin. Photo via Facebook.

Maybe the poke bubble has finally burst? This morning, FireFin Poke announced that, effective immediately, they were shutting down all of their Chicago locations—including a Lakeview location that just opened last week.

A short release from the founders of the chain announced the closing.

“We gave it everything we had and, in the end, the concept simply was not working financially. We want to thank our loyal fans and guests for giving us the privilege to share our Poke, Hawaiian Love and Aloha to each of you.” say partners Rodelio Aglibot and Anshul Mangal.

FireFin First opened in mid-2016, and began a fairly rapid expansion. They went from one store to five in a little more than a year. Lots of restaurants have been closing lately, but this may be the only time I've ever seen a restaurant closing for financial reasons just days after it opened.

I'd be willing to bet this is the first of many poke shop closures coming down the pike. Stay tuned.