Key Strategies for Growing Restaurant Footprints

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

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. We bought the brand 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 gambling establishment property and worked in corporate financing.

I was the first staff member there after private equity bought business. Assisted grow that from 20 to 150 places, took it public in 2014, and then 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 an actually great start.

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

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

A little more complicated than a few of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, however we believe we have actually got something pretty special. We're going to add another shop this year and at least 4 shops next year. So we will be 31 or two stores by the end of next year.

Key Market Milestones for 2026 Growth

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 been in this function for about 6 years. Fourth, as a number of you understand, is a leading service provider of software application solutions to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our goal is to assist our customers be successful in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, managing stock, and basically offering them with tools they need to deliver their vision.

It's uncommon to have business that are beloved and growing rapidly, that can duplicate that success year after year. Jason, among the reasons I was so excited to have you join our session is the success at Zos was amazing. I've only satisfied a handful of brands where there was such a strong consumer affinity for the brand.

And now you're doing the exact same thing at Chop Store. When you talk with clients about Chop Store, they like the place. They speak about its distinction. And to be able to take what is a fairly complex idea in terms of delivering a terrific experience for the client, and be able to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 shops next yearit's amazing.

We're going to speak about how to scale a dining establishment business. Every restaurateur I ever speak with has imagine taking one store, 2 shops, 5 stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, across the state, into multiple states, and eventually nationwide, even worldwide reach. But it's difficult, particularly in today's environment.

Labor is hard. Inventory costs stay high. It's not an easy time to drive success and development at the very same time. But we're grateful to have you here today, Jason, because we're going to go into that subject. The questions are going to be really around: how do you grow a service? 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 discovered, we 'd love to then state: well, look, how could innovation assist? How can you utilize innovation as a multiplier to reproduce early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale great teams? And finally, AI.

High-ROI Business Ventures Coming in 2026

The very first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this two times now in the restaurant industry. What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to actually drive success in expanding dining establishments?

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

And there's nothing precisely like Chop Store in regards to what we're finishing with a large, diverse menu. Many brand names today are really singularly focused in regards to what they're providing from a food. I feel like we started at a benefit with both brands by having something distinct that filled a specific niche no one else was doing.

A lot of it begins with the brand. Does your brand have something special that no one else is doing?

Is Fast Casual the Best Investment?

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

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

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

If you don't have those two things, you shouldn't be constructing shops. Because as I hear your description, you've highlighted three things: execution, brand name differentiation, and monetary viability.

High-ROI Hospitality Ventures Arising in 2026

Second, you need an engaging brand name or distinct concept that resonates with clients. And 3rd, the mathematics has to work. If you don't comprehend your system economics, your repaired and variable expenses, you may be expanding blind and losing money. Precisely. And another key lesson is about entering brand-new markets.

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