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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 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 9 years now. We purchased the brand in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. Prior to this, I have actually spent most of my profession in hospitality in some shape or kind. After a quick stint of attempting to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment residential or commercial property and operated in corporate finance.

I was the first employee there after private equity bought business. Assisted 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 Store. My hope is that we can duplicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a truly great 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 component also with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes. We do all stables, we do breakfast throughout the day.

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A little more complicated than some of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, but we think we've got something pretty special. We're going to include another shop this year and a minimum of four stores 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 4th. I have actually remained in this function for about six years. 4th, as a number of you know, is a leading supplier of software options to the dining establishment and hospitality industry. Our goal is to assist our consumers succeed in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and generally supplying them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's unusual to have business that are cherished and growing quickly, that can repeat that success every year. Jason, among the factors I was so ecstatic to have you join our session is the success at Zos was fantastic. I have actually only fulfilled a handful of brand names where there was such a strong consumer affinity for the brand.

And now you're doing the very same thing at Chop Shop. When you speak with clients about Chop Shop, they enjoy the place. They speak about its distinction. And to be able to take what is a relatively complex idea in terms of providing an excellent experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 shops next yearit's fantastic.

We're going to discuss how to scale a restaurant service. Every restaurateur I ever speak to has dreams of taking one store, two shops, 5 shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, across the state, into numerous states, and eventually national, even international reach. But it's hard, especially in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Inventory expenses remain high. It's not an easy time to drive profitability and growth at the same time. We're happy to have you here today, Jason, due to the fact that we're going to dig into that topic. The concerns are going to be truly around: how do you grow a company? How do you scale it and make it effective? How do you replicate early success? And from there, after we speak about your experience and the lessons you've discovered, we 'd love to then say: well, appearance, how could innovation assist? How can you utilize innovation as a multiplier to replicate early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale great teams? And last but not least, AI.

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The first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this two times now in the restaurant market. What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to really drive success in expanding restaurants?

We talked a little bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I have actually got a post teed up to follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing a business. To me, one of the essential things, and I feel really fortunate, is that both brand names I've been included with are special.

And there's absolutely nothing precisely like Chop Store in terms of what we're finishing with a large, varied menu. The majority of brand names today are extremely singularly focused in regards to what they're offering from a foodstuff. I seem like we started at an advantage with both brand names by having something unique that filled a specific niche no one else was doing.

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

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The second thingI came from a financing background, so a lot of my knowings are more financing and data-driven versus a lot of early startup restaurateurs who are creative types. They enjoy the food, they developed the menu, they developed the brand name.

They do not understand their breakeven sales. They do not comprehend how margin enhances as sales increase. I have actually seen so many business where the numbers simply don't work.

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If you don't have those two things, you should not be developing stores. Yeah, perhaps both, right? Because as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name distinction, and monetary practicality. You have actually got to start with execution. If you don't have an operating design that works, broadening it just multiplies problems.

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Second, you need a compelling brand or unique principle that resonates with clients. And another essential lesson is about entering brand-new markets.

But when we broadened to Dallas, I anticipated brand-new shops to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. A lot of operators assume brand-new markets will open at full volume the first day. That practically never ever takes place. And when the shops open sluggish, but you've signed leases and constructed a monetary model based on higher volumes, you get overextended.