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And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the discussion 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 Shop.

Thanks Christina. My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Store. I've 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 the majority of my career in hospitality in some shape or form. 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 financing.

I was the very first staff member there after personal equity bought the organization. Assisted 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 good start.

We're at the counter, we bring the food to the table. It is mainly protein bowlsabout 40 percent of the mix. We also do salads, sandwiches. The secret to the program is we have a beverage component too 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 some of the walk-the-line principles that are out there, however we believe we have actually got something quite unique. We're going to include another store this year and at least 4 shops next year. So we will be 31 or so stores by the end of next year.

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Hey, everybody. It's great 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. 4th, as much of you know, is a leading service provider of software application solutions to the dining establishment and hospitality market. Our goal is to help our customers achieve success in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and essentially supplying them with tools they need to provide their vision.

It's unusual to have companies that are beloved and growing rapidly, that can repeat 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 incredible. I've only met a handful of brand names where there was such a strong customer affinity for the brand name.

And now you're doing the same thing at Chop Store. When you speak with customers 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 regards to providing a great experience for the client, and be able to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 stores next yearit's fantastic.

We're going to talk about how to scale a restaurant business. Every restaurateur I ever talk to has imagine taking one store, 2 stores, five shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, across the state, into multiple states, and eventually nationwide, even worldwide reach. It's not simple, particularly in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Inventory costs remain high. It's not an easy time to drive success and growth at the very same time. However we're thankful to have you here today, Jason, because we're going to dig into that subject. The concerns are going to be really around: how do you grow a company? 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 discovered, we 'd enjoy to then say: well, appearance, how could technology assist? How can you use innovation as a multiplier to reproduce early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale fantastic groups? And lastly, AI.

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The first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this twice now in the restaurant industry. What are some of the lessons you've learned? What has your experience been in regards to what it requires to truly drive success in broadening dining establishments? Inform me a little about your course, what you experienced along the way, and perhaps a few of the more difficult lessons you learned.

We talked a little bit before we began 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 company. To me, among the essential things, and I feel very fortunate, is that both brands I have actually been included with are distinct.

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

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

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The 2nd thingI originated from a financing background, so a lot of my knowings are more financing and data-driven versus a lot of early start-up restaurateurs who are innovative types. They like the food, they constructed the menu, they developed the brand. I probably could not do that from scratch. But if you gave me something that has all those parts in location, I can take it from there and put the playbook in place.

They do not understand their breakeven sales. They don't understand how margin improves as sales increase. They don't comprehend cash-on-cash returns. I've seen a lot of business where the numbers simply do not work. And yet individuals say: let's open 10 more. And I'll state: why? It does not generate income. Stop. You need to discover a principle that is special.

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If you do not have those two things, you shouldn't be building shops. Because as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name differentiation, and financial viability.

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Second, you require a compelling brand or unique principle that resonates with consumers. And 3rd, the math has to work. If you do not understand your unit economics, your repaired and variable costs, you might be expanding blind and losing money. Precisely. And another key lesson has to do with getting in brand-new markets.

But when we expanded to Dallas, I anticipated brand-new shops to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. Too many operators presume brand-new markets will open at full volume day one. That nearly never occurs. And when the stores open sluggish, but you've signed leases and constructed a monetary model based on greater volumes, you get overextended.