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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 information about your background and you can also tell them a little bit about Chop Shop.

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

I was the very first worker there after personal equity purchased business. Helped grow that from 20 to 150 places, 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 reproduce 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 secret to the program is we have a beverage 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 concepts that are out there, however we believe we have actually got something pretty special. We're going to include another shop this year and at least 4 stores next year. We will be 31 or so shops by the end of next year.

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I have actually been in this function for about 6 years. Fourth, as numerous of you know, is a leading company of software services to the dining establishment and hospitality industry. Our goal is to help our customers be effective in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, managing inventory, and generally supplying them with tools they need to provide their vision.

It's uncommon to have business that are cherished and growing quickly, that can duplicate that success every year. Jason, one of the reasons I was so fired up to have you join our session is the success at Zos was fantastic. I have actually just satisfied a handful of brands where there was such a strong client affinity for the brand.

When you talk to consumers about Chop Shop, they like the location. And to be able to take what is a fairly complex principle in terms of providing a great experience for the client, and be able to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 stores next yearit's incredible.

We're going to discuss how to scale a restaurant service. Every restaurateur I ever talk to has imagine taking one shop, two shops, 5 shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, throughout the state, into several states, and eventually nationwide, even global reach. It's not easy, particularly in today's environment.

Labor is tough. Stock costs stay high. It's not a simple time to drive profitability and growth at the same time. However we're glad to have you here today, Jason, since we're going to dig into that topic. The concerns are going to be really around: how do you grow a company? 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 found out, we 'd enjoy to then say: well, appearance, how could technology help? How can you use innovation as a multiplier to duplicate early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale excellent groups? And lastly, AI.

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The very first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this twice now in the dining establishment industry. What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to truly drive success in expanding restaurants?

We talked a little bit before we began 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 company. To me, one of the essential things, and I feel extremely lucky, is that both brand names I have actually been involved with are unique.

And there's nothing exactly like Chop Store in terms of what we're finishing with a large, diverse menu. Most brand names today are really singularly focused in terms of what they're providing from a food item. I feel like we began at a benefit with both brands by having something special that filled a niche no one else was doing.

Since it's just harder to stand apart when there are 10, 20, 50 ideas within a 2- or three-mile radius attempting to do the precise very same thing. So a great deal of it starts with the brand name. Does your brand name have something distinct that no one else is doing? That's uncommon.

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The 2nd thingI came from a finance background, so a lot of my learnings are more financing and data-driven versus a lot of early start-up restaurateurs who are innovative types. They like the food, they constructed the menu, they developed the brand.

They don't understand their breakeven sales. They don't comprehend how margin improves as sales boost. I've seen so numerous business where the numbers just do not work.

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If you don't have those two things, you should not be building shops. Yeah, perhaps both? Because as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name distinction, and monetary practicality. You have actually got to begin with execution. If you do not have an operating design that works, expanding it simply multiplies problems.

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Second, you require a compelling brand name or special concept that resonates with clients. And 3rd, the math has to work. If you don't understand your unit economics, your fixed and variable costs, you might be expanding blind and losing money. Exactly. And another essential lesson is about entering brand-new markets.

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