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And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. Jason, how about I let you offer the audience some info about your background and you can likewise tell them a little bit about Chop Store.

Thanks Christina. My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. I've been doing this for about nine years now. We bought the brand name in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. Prior to this, I have actually invested the majority of my profession in hospitality in some shape or form. After a quick stint of trying to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino property and operated in business financing.

I was the very first worker there after private equity bought business. Helped grow that from 20 to 150 locations, took it public in 2014, and after that left about a year and a half after going public to do this at Chop Shop. My hope is that we can replicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a really great start.

We're at the counter, we bring the food to the table. The key to the program is we have a drink part as well with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes.

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A little more complex than some of the walk-the-line principles that are out there, however we think we've got something pretty special. We're going to add another store this year and at least four shops next year. We will be 31 or so shops by the end of next year.

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I've been in this function for about 6 years. Fourth, as numerous of you understand, is a leading service provider of software solutions to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our goal is to help our consumers be successful in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and generally supplying them with tools they require to provide their vision.

It's uncommon to have companies that are cherished and growing rapidly, that can repeat that success year after year. Jason, one of the factors I was so thrilled to have you join our session is the success at Zos was incredible. I have actually only satisfied a handful of brand names where there was such a strong customer affinity for the brand name.

When you talk to consumers about Chop Store, they love the place. And to be able to take what is a relatively complicated idea in terms of delivering a great experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a couple of shops to now north of 30 shops next yearit's remarkable.

We're going to speak about how to scale a dining establishment company. Every restaurateur I ever talk to has imagine taking one shop, two shops, 5 stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, throughout the state, into numerous states, and eventually nationwide, even global reach. But it's hard, especially in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Inventory costs remain high. It's not a simple time to drive success and development at the very same time. We're happy to have you here today, Jason, since we're going to dig into that topic. The questions are going to be actually around: how do you grow a business? How do you scale it and make it successful? How do you reproduce early success? And from there, after we speak about your experience and the lessons you've discovered, we 'd love to then state: well, appearance, how could innovation help? How can you utilize technology as a multiplier to duplicate early success to significant success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale terrific groups? And finally, AI.

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The very first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this twice now in the restaurant market. What are a few of the lessons you've learned? What has your experience remained in terms of what it takes to truly drive success in broadening restaurants? Inform me a little about your path, what you experienced along the method, and maybe a few of the harder lessons you found out.

We talked a bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I've got a post teed approximately follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing a company. To me, one of the key things, and I feel really lucky, is that both brand names I have actually been included with are distinct.

And there's nothing precisely like Chop Store in regards to what we're making with a big, diverse menu. A lot of brands today are extremely singularly focused in terms of what they're using from a food item. I feel like we began at an advantage with both brand names by having something distinct that filled a niche nobody else was doing.

Due to the fact that it's just harder to stand out when there are 10, 20, 50 principles within a 2- or three-mile radius attempting to do the specific very same thing. A lot of it begins with the brand name. Does your brand have something unique that nobody else is doing? That's rare.

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The second thingI originated from a financing background, so a lot of my learnings are more finance and data-driven versus a great deal of early startup restaurateurs who are innovative types. They like the food, they developed the menu, they constructed the brand name. I most likely could not do that from scratch. However if you provided me something that has all those elements in place, I can take it from there and put the playbook in location.

They don't know their breakeven sales. They don't comprehend how margin enhances as sales boost. They don't understand cash-on-cash returns. I have actually seen numerous companies where the numbers just do not work. And yet individuals say: let's open 10 more. And I'll say: why? It does not make cash. Stop. You need to discover a concept that is distinct.

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If you do not have those 2 things, you should not be constructing shops. Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand distinction, and monetary practicality.

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Second, you require a compelling brand name or unique concept that resonates with customers. And third, the mathematics has to work. If you do not understand your unit economics, your repaired and variable costs, you may be expanding blind and losing cash. Exactly. And another essential lesson has to do with getting in new markets.

When we broadened to Dallas, I anticipated new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. Too numerous operators assume new markets will open at full volume day one.