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Thank you. 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 details about your background and you can also inform 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 Store. We bought the brand in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. After a quick stint of trying to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment home and worked in business financing.

I was the first employee there after private equity bought the business. 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 Shop. My hope is that we can duplicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a truly excellent start.

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

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A little more complex than some of the walk-the-line principles that are out there, but we think we've got something pretty unique. We're going to add another store this year and a minimum of four stores next year. So we will be 31 approximately shops by the end of next year.

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I've been in this function for about 6 years. Fourth, as numerous of you understand, is a leading service provider of software application options to the dining establishment and hospitality industry. Our goal is to help our customers be effective in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and essentially supplying them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's rare to have companies that are precious and growing rapidly, that can repeat 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 incredible. I have actually just met a handful of brand names where there was such a strong customer affinity for the brand.

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

We're going to discuss how to scale a restaurant organization. Every restaurateur I ever talk to has imagine taking one shop, 2 shops, 5 stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, across the state, into several states, and eventually national, even global reach. It's not simple, specifically in today's environment.

Labor is hard. Stock costs stay high. It's not a simple time to drive success and growth at the very same time. We're grateful to have you here today, Jason, due to the fact that we're going to dig into that subject. The concerns are going to be truly around: how do you grow a company? How do you scale it and make it effective? How do you replicate early success? And from there, after we discuss your experience and the lessons you've found out, we 'd love to then say: well, look, how could technology help? How can you utilize technology as a multiplier to duplicate early success to significant success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale fantastic teams? And finally, AI.

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The very first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this twice now in the dining establishment industry. What are a few of the lessons you've learned? What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to really drive success in expanding dining establishments? Inform me a little about your course, what you experienced along the method, and maybe some of the more difficult lessons you learned.

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, one of the key things, and I feel extremely fortunate, is that both brand names I've been included with are distinct.

And there's absolutely nothing exactly like Chop Shop in regards to what we're making with a large, diverse menu. Most brand names today are really singularly focused in regards to what they're using from a food. I feel like we started at a benefit with both brands by having something unique 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 unique that no one else is doing?

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The 2nd thingI originated from a finance background, so a great deal of my learnings are more finance and data-driven versus a great deal of early start-up restaurateurs who are innovative types. They enjoy the food, they developed the menu, they developed the brand name. I most likely couldn't do that from scratch. But if you provided me something that has all those parts in location, I can take it from there and put the playbook in place.

They do not know their breakeven sales. They don't comprehend how margin enhances as sales boost. They don't understand cash-on-cash returns. I've seen a lot of companies where the numbers simply do not work. And yet people state: let's open 10 more. And I'll say: why? It does not generate income. Stop. You require to find an idea that is unique.

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If you don't have those 2 things, you shouldn't be developing shops. Since as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name distinction, and financial practicality.

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Second, you need an engaging brand or distinct principle that resonates with consumers. And another essential lesson is about getting in new markets.

When we expanded to Dallas, I anticipated new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the first year. Too lots of operators presume new markets will open at full volume the first day. That nearly never ever occurs. And when the stores open sluggish, but you've signed leases and developed a financial model based upon higher volumes, you get overextended.