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Thank you. And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. Jason, how about I let you give the audience some information about your background and you can also tell them a little bit about Chop Shop. And after that I'll let you take it from there, Clinton.

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. We purchased the brand name in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. After a short stint of attempting to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino residential or commercial property and worked in corporate financing.

I was the first worker there after private 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 replicate 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. The secret to the program is we have a drink component as well with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes.

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

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Hey, everyone. It's excellent to be with you again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at Fourth. I've remained in this function for about 6 years. Fourth, as many of you know, is a leading supplier of software services to the dining establishment and hospitality industry. Our goal is to assist our customers succeed in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and essentially providing them with tools they require to provide their vision.

It's unusual to have companies that are beloved and growing quickly, that can duplicate that success year after year. Jason, one of the reasons I was so excited to have you join our session is the success at Zos was fantastic. I've just satisfied a handful of brands where there was such a strong consumer affinity for the brand.

When you talk to customers about Chop Store, they like the place. And to be able to take what is a fairly complicated principle in terms of delivering a fantastic experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a couple of stores to now north of 30 stores next yearit's incredible.

We're going to talk about how to scale a dining establishment service. Every restaurateur I ever talk with has dreams of taking one store, 2 stores, 5 stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, throughout the state, into numerous states, and ultimately nationwide, even global reach. It's not easy, specifically in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Inventory expenses stay high. It's not a simple time to drive profitability and growth at the very same time. We're delighted to have you here today, Jason, since we're going to dig into that subject. The questions are going to be truly around: how do you grow a business? How do you scale it and make it successful? 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, appearance, how could innovation help? How can you use innovation as a multiplier to duplicate early success to significant success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale great teams? And lastly, AI.

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

We talked a bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I have actually got a post teed approximately follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing a company. To me, among the crucial things, and I feel really lucky, is that both brands I've been included with are special.

And there's nothing precisely like Chop Shop in terms of what we're making with a big, diverse menu. The majority of brands today are really singularly focused in regards to what they're offering from a food item. I seem like we began at a benefit with both brands by having something special that filled a niche nobody else was doing.

A lot of it starts with the brand. Does your brand have something special 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 start-up restaurateurs who are imaginative types. They love the food, they built the menu, they constructed the brand name. I most likely could not do that from scratch. However if you gave me something that has all those parts in location, I can take it from there and put the playbook in location.

They do not know 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 shouldn't be developing shops. Yeah, maybe both, right? Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you've highlighted three things: execution, brand distinction, and monetary viability. You've got to begin with execution. If you don't have an operating model that works, expanding it simply multiplies issues.

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

However when we broadened to Dallas, I expected brand-new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the first year. Too numerous operators assume brand-new markets will open at full volume the first day. That nearly never ever happens. And when the stores open slow, but you've signed leases and constructed a financial design based on greater volumes, you get overextended.