National Success in Brand Expansion

Thank you. And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. So Jason, how about I let you give the audience some info about your background and you can also inform them a little bit about Chop Store. And then I'll let you take it from there, Clinton.

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Store. We bought 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 financing.

I was the very first staff member there after private equity bought business. 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 a truly excellent start.

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

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A little more complicated than some of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, however we think we've got something pretty special. We're going to add another shop this year and a minimum of 4 stores next year. So we will be 31 or so shops by the end of next year.

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Hey, everyone. It's great to be with you once again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at 4th. I've remained in this function for about 6 years. Fourth, as a number of you know, is a leading service provider of software services to the restaurant and hospitality industry. Our goal is to help our customers succeed in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and essentially providing them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's unusual to have business that are cherished and growing quickly, that can duplicate that success year after year. Jason, among the reasons I was so thrilled to have you join our session is the success at Zos was incredible. I've only met a handful of brand names where there was such a strong consumer affinity for the brand.

When you talk to customers about Chop Store, they love the place. And to be able to take what is a relatively complicated idea in terms of providing 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 fantastic.

We're going to speak about how to scale a restaurant business. Every restaurateur I ever talk to has imagine taking one store, 2 stores, 5 stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, across the state, into several states, and eventually nationwide, even international reach. It's not easy, specifically in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Inventory expenses remain high. It's not an easy time to drive profitability and development at the exact same time. However we're delighted 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 service? How do you scale it and make it successful? How do you duplicate early success? And from there, after we talk about your experience and the lessons you've found out, we 'd love to then state: well, appearance, how could innovation assist? How can you utilize technology as a multiplier to replicate early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale excellent teams? And lastly, AI.

Steps to Expand a Restaurant Concept

The first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this twice now in the dining establishment market. What are some of the lessons you've found out? What has your experience been in regards to what it takes to really drive success in expanding dining establishments? Tell me a little about your course, what you experienced along the way, and perhaps some of the harder lessons you found out.

We talked a 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, one of the essential things, and I feel really fortunate, is that both brands I have actually been included with are distinct.

And there's nothing exactly like Chop Shop in terms of what we're doing with a big, varied menu. The majority of brand names today are extremely singularly focused in terms of what they're offering from a food. I feel like we started at an advantage 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 unique that no one else is doing?

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

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

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If you don't have those two things, you shouldn't be developing stores. Yeah, perhaps both? Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name distinction, and financial viability. You have actually got to start with execution. If you do not have an operating design that works, expanding it simply multiplies issues.

Steps to Expand a Restaurant Concept

Second, you require a compelling brand or distinct idea that resonates with consumers. 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 very first year. Too many operators assume brand-new markets will open at full volume day one.