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

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Store. We purchased the brand in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. After a short stint of trying to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino property and worked in corporate finance.

I was the very first worker there after personal equity bought the service. Helped grow that from 20 to 150 areas, 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 mainly protein bowlsabout 40 percent of the mix. We likewise do salads, sandwiches. The secret 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 day.

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A little more complex than some of the walk-the-line principles that are out there, but we believe we have actually got something pretty unique. We're going to include 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 six years. Fourth, as numerous of you know, is a leading company of software application solutions to the restaurant and hospitality industry. Our goal is to assist our customers be successful in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and basically offering them with tools they require to provide their vision.

It's rare to have business that are cherished and growing rapidly, that can repeat that success every year. Jason, one of the factors I was so fired up to have you join our session is the success at Zos was amazing. I have actually just satisfied a handful of brand names where there was such a strong customer affinity for the brand.

And now you're doing the exact same thing at Chop Shop. When you talk with consumers about Chop Store, they enjoy the location. They discuss its differentiation. And to be able to take what is a relatively complicated idea in regards to providing an excellent experience for the client, and have the ability to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 shops next yearit's incredible.

We're going to discuss how to scale a restaurant business. Every restaurateur I ever speak with has dreams of taking one shop, two shops, 5 shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, across the state, into multiple states, and eventually national, even global reach. It's not easy, particularly in today's environment.

Labor is tough. Stock expenses remain high. It's not an easy time to drive success and growth at the exact same time. But we're grateful to have you here today, Jason, because we're going to go into that subject. The concerns are going to be actually around: how do you grow an organization? How do you scale it and make it effective? How do you duplicate early success? And from there, after we discuss your experience and the lessons you've found out, we 'd enjoy to then say: well, look, how could technology assist? How can you use technology as a multiplier to duplicate early success to significant success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale great teams? And last but not least, AI.

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The very first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this twice now in the restaurant industry. What are a few of the lessons you've found out? What has your experience remained in terms of what it requires to really drive success in broadening restaurants? Inform me a little about your course, what you experienced along the method, and perhaps a few of the harder lessons you learned.

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

And there's nothing exactly like Chop Shop in terms of what we're finishing with a big, varied menu. Many brand names today are really singularly focused in terms of what they're using from a food product. I seem like we began at a benefit with both brands by having something unique that filled a niche no one else was doing.

A lot of it starts with the brand name. Does your brand have something distinct that no one else is doing?

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

They don't 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 numerous business where the numbers just do not work. And yet people state: let's open 10 more. And I'll say: why? It does not earn money. Stop. You need to discover an idea that is distinct.

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If you do not have those two things, you shouldn't be building stores. Yeah, maybe both, right? Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name differentiation, and monetary practicality. You've got to start with execution. If you don't have an operating model that works, broadening it just increases issues.

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Second, you need an engaging brand name or unique idea that resonates with clients. And another essential lesson is about getting in new markets.

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