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And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. Jason, how about I let you give the audience some info 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 Store. I have actually been doing this for about 9 years now. We purchased the brand in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. Prior to this, I have actually invested most of my profession in hospitality in some shape or kind. After a quick stint of trying to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino property and operated in business finance.

I was the first employee there after personal equity purchased the service. Helped grow that from 20 to 150 places, 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. The secret to the program is we have a beverage component as well with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes.

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A little more complex than a few of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, however we believe we have actually got something pretty unique. We're going to include another shop this year and a minimum of four shops next year. So we will be 31 or two shops by the end of next year.

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I have actually been in this function for about six years. 4th, as numerous of you understand, is a leading service provider of software options to the dining establishment and hospitality market. Our objective is to help our clients be effective in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and essentially supplying them with tools they need to provide their vision.

It's uncommon to have business that are cherished and growing rapidly, that can duplicate that success every year. Jason, among the factors I was so excited to have you join our session is the success at Zos was amazing. I have actually just fulfilled a handful of brands where there was such a strong consumer affinity for the brand name.

When you talk to clients about Chop Shop, they enjoy the place. And to be able to take what is a reasonably complex concept in terms of providing a great experience for the consumer, and be able to grow that from a couple of stores to now north of 30 shops next yearit's fantastic.

We're going to talk about how to scale a restaurant company. Every restaurateur I ever speak with has imagine taking one store, two shops, 5 shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, across the state, into multiple states, and eventually national, even worldwide reach. It's not easy, particularly in today's environment.

It's not an easy time to drive profitability and development at the same time. How do you scale it and make it successful? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale great teams?

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The first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this twice now in the dining establishment market. What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to actually drive success in broadening dining establishments?

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

And there's nothing exactly like Chop Shop in regards to what we're finishing with a big, varied menu. A lot of brands today are really singularly focused in regards to what they're offering from a food. I seem like we started at an advantage with both brand names by having something special that filled a specific 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 learnings are more financing 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 constructed the brand. I probably couldn't do that from scratch. But if you gave me something that has all those elements in location, I can take it from there and put the playbook in place.

They don't know their breakeven sales. They do not comprehend how margin enhances as sales increase. I've seen so lots of companies where the numbers just don't work.

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If you do not have those 2 things, you shouldn't be building stores. Since as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand differentiation, and monetary practicality.

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Second, you need a compelling brand or special idea that resonates with consumers. And another crucial lesson is about getting in new markets.

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