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Thank you. And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. So Jason, how about I let you offer the audience some details about your background and you can also inform them a bit about Chop Store. And after that I'll let you take it from there, Clinton.

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. We purchased the brand name in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. After a short stint of trying to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment property and worked in corporate finance.

I was the first worker there after personal equity purchased the 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 Store. My hope is that we can reproduce the success we had at Zos, and we're off to an actually excellent start.

We're at the counter, we bring the food to the table. It is primarily protein bowlsabout 40 percent of the mix. We likewise do salads, sandwiches. The key to the program is we have a beverage element too with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes. We do all stables, we do breakfast all the time.

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A little more complex than some of the walk-the-line concepts that are out there, however we think we have actually got something quite unique. We're going to include another store this year and at least four stores 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 many of you understand, is a leading service provider of software services to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our goal is to assist our customers be successful in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, managing inventory, and generally supplying them with tools they need to provide their vision.

It's unusual to have companies that are precious and growing quickly, that can duplicate that success every year. Jason, one of the factors I was so excited to have you join our session is the success at Zos was amazing. I've only fulfilled a handful of brands where there was such a strong client affinity for the brand.

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

We're going to discuss how to scale a restaurant organization. Every restaurateur I ever speak to has imagine taking one shop, 2 stores, five shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, across the state, into several states, and ultimately national, even global reach. But it's difficult, particularly in today's environment.

It's not a simple time to drive success and development at the same time. How do you scale it and make it successful? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale terrific teams?

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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 has your experience been in terms of what it takes to truly drive success in broadening restaurants?

We talked a bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I've got a post teed up to follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing an organization. To me, among the key things, and I feel really fortunate, is that both brands I have actually been included with are special.

And there's nothing exactly like Chop Shop in terms of what we're finishing with a big, diverse menu. Many brands today are very singularly focused in regards to what they're offering from a food item. I seem like we started at an advantage with both brand names by having something special that filled a niche no one else was doing.

Due to the fact that it's just more difficult to stand apart when there are 10, 20, 50 concepts within a 2- or three-mile radius trying to do the precise very same thing. A lot of it begins with the brand name. Does your brand name have something distinct that nobody else is doing? That's uncommon.

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The second thingI originated from a financing background, so a great deal of my knowings are more finance and data-driven versus a lot of early start-up restaurateurs who are innovative types. They love the food, they built the menu, they constructed the brand. I probably could not do that from scratch. If you offered me something that has all those components in place, I can take it from there and put the playbook in location.

They don't understand their breakeven sales. They don't understand how margin improves as sales increase. I have actually seen so numerous business where the numbers just don't work.

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If you don't have those two things, you shouldn't be developing shops. Yeah, perhaps both? Because as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted three things: execution, brand differentiation, and financial viability. You have actually got to begin with execution. If you don't have an operating model that works, expanding it simply increases problems.

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Second, you require a compelling brand or special idea that resonates with consumers. And another essential lesson is about entering brand-new markets.

When we broadened to Dallas, I anticipated brand-new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the first year. Too many operators presume brand-new markets will open at complete volume day one.