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

Thanks Christina. My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. I have actually been doing this for about nine years now. We bought the brand name in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. Prior to this, I've invested many of my career in hospitality in some shape or type. After a brief stint of trying to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino home and worked in corporate financing.

I was the very first worker there after private equity bought the business. Helped 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 Shop. 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 also do salads, sandwiches. The key to the program is we have a beverage component as well with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes. We do all stables, we do breakfast all the time.

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A little more complex than a few of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, but we believe we have actually got something quite unique. We're going to add another store this year and a minimum of 4 shops next year. We will be 31 or so shops by the end of next year.

How to Expand a Dining Concept

Hey, everybody. It's fantastic to be with you once again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at Fourth. I've been in this function for about six years. Fourth, as a number of you understand, is a leading company of software options to the restaurant and hospitality industry. Our goal is to help our clients succeed in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and essentially offering them with tools they need to deliver their vision.

It's uncommon to have companies that are beloved and growing rapidly, that can repeat that success every year. Jason, among the reasons I was so thrilled to have you join our session is the success at Zos was fantastic. I have actually only met a handful of brands where there was such a strong consumer affinity for the brand.

And now you're doing the same thing at Chop Shop. When you talk to customers about Chop Store, they enjoy the place. They speak about its distinction. And to be able to take what is a relatively complicated concept in regards to providing a terrific experience for the customer, and have the ability to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 stores next yearit's incredible.

We're going to speak about how to scale a restaurant business. Every restaurateur I ever speak with has imagine taking one store, two stores, five shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, throughout the state, into numerous states, and eventually nationwide, even international reach. But it's challenging, specifically in today's environment.

Labor is tough. Stock costs remain high. It's not an easy time to drive success and growth at the exact same time. We're glad to have you here today, Jason, because we're going to dig into that topic. The concerns are going to be really around: how do you grow a service? How do you scale it and make it successful? How do you replicate early success? And from there, after we speak about your experience and the lessons you've learned, we 'd enjoy to then state: well, appearance, how could technology help? How can you use innovation as a multiplier to replicate early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale fantastic groups? And last but not least, AI.

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The first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this twice 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 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 service. To me, among the essential things, and I feel very fortunate, is that both brand names I've been included with are special.

And there's nothing exactly like Chop Shop in regards to what we're making with a big, diverse menu. Most brand names today are really singularly focused in regards to what they're offering from a foodstuff. I seem like we began at an advantage with both brands by having something special that filled a specific niche no one else was doing.

Because it's just harder to stand apart when there are 10, 20, 50 ideas within a 2- or three-mile radius trying to do the specific same thing. A lot of it starts with the brand name. Does your brand name have something unique that no one else is doing? That's uncommon.

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The second thingI came from a finance background, so a lot of my learnings are more finance and data-driven versus a great deal of early startup restaurateurs who are innovative types. They like the food, they constructed the menu, they constructed the brand name. I most likely could not do that from scratch. But if you offered 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 enhances as sales boost. I have actually seen so lots of business where the numbers just don't work.

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If you do not have those two things, you shouldn't be developing stores. Yeah, maybe both, right? Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted three things: execution, brand differentiation, and financial viability. You've got to begin with execution. If you don't have an operating model that works, expanding it just increases issues.

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Second, you require an engaging brand name or unique concept that resonates with consumers. And third, the mathematics has to work. If you do not comprehend your system economics, your repaired and variable costs, you might be broadening blind and losing money. Exactly. And another key lesson has to do with getting in brand-new markets.

When we expanded to Dallas, I anticipated 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.