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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 provide the audience some info about your background and you can also inform them a little bit about Chop Store.

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

I was the first staff member there after private equity purchased the organization. Assisted 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 replicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a really excellent start.

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

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A little more complex than some of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, however we think we've got something pretty unique. We're going to include another store this year and at least 4 shops next year. So we will be 31 or two shops by the end of next year.

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Hey, everybody. It's excellent to be with you again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at Fourth. I have actually remained in this function for about 6 years. 4th, as numerous of you understand, is a leading supplier of software services to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our objective is to assist our customers succeed in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, managing inventory, and essentially offering them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's uncommon to have companies that are cherished and growing quickly, that can duplicate that success every year. Jason, among the factors I was so fired up to have you join our session is the success at Zos was incredible. I've just fulfilled a handful of brand names where there was such a strong client affinity for the brand name.

When you talk to customers about Chop Store, they love the location. And to be able to take what is a fairly complicated concept in terms of providing a great experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a couple of stores to now north of 30 stores next yearit's amazing.

We're going to discuss how to scale a dining establishment business. Every restaurateur I ever talk to has dreams of taking one shop, two shops, 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 hard, especially in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Inventory costs remain high. It's not an easy time to drive success and growth at the very same time. However we're thankful to have you here today, Jason, due to the fact that we're going to go into that topic. The concerns are going to be actually around: how do you grow a business? How do you scale it and make it effective? How do you duplicate early success? And from there, after we speak about your experience and the lessons you've discovered, we 'd love to then say: well, look, how could innovation assist? How can you use innovation as a multiplier to reproduce early success to significant success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale terrific groups? And lastly, AI.

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The very first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this twice now in the dining establishment market. What are a few of the lessons you've found out? What has your experience been in terms of what it requires to truly drive success in broadening restaurants? Tell me a little about your course, what you experienced along the method, and perhaps a few of the more difficult lessons you found out.

We talked a bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I've got a post teed as much as follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing a service. To me, one of the essential things, and I feel extremely fortunate, is that both brand names I've been included with are distinct.

And there's absolutely nothing exactly like Chop Store in regards to what we're doing with a large, diverse menu. A lot of brands today are very singularly focused in regards to what they're providing from a foodstuff. I feel like we started at a benefit with both brands by having something special that filled a niche no one else was doing.

Because it's simply harder to stand apart when there are 10, 20, 50 ideas within a two- or three-mile radius trying to do the specific very same thing. A lot of it starts with the brand name. Does your brand name have something special that no one else is doing? That's rare.

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

They do not know their breakeven sales. They do not comprehend how margin improves as sales increase. They do not comprehend cash-on-cash returns. I have actually seen so numerous companies where the numbers simply don't work. And yet people say: let's open 10 more. And I'll state: why? It does not generate income. Stop. You need to find a principle that is special.

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If you don't have those 2 things, you shouldn't be building shops. Yeah, perhaps both, right? Because as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand differentiation, and financial viability. You've got to start with execution. If you do not have an operating design that works, expanding it simply increases problems.

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Second, you need a compelling brand or distinct concept that resonates with customers. And another crucial lesson is about entering new markets.

When we broadened to Dallas, I expected brand-new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the first year. Too numerous operators assume brand-new markets will open at complete volume the first day. That almost never happens. And when the stores open slow, but you have actually signed leases and developed a monetary design based upon higher volumes, you get overextended.