Analyzing Franchise Models Against Market Trends

And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. Jason, how about I let you provide the audience some info about your background and you can also inform them a little bit about Chop Store.

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 short 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 personal equity purchased the company. Assisted grow that from 20 to 150 areas, 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 reproduce the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a really great start.

We're at the counter, we bring the food to the table. The key 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 concepts that are out there, but we think we have actually got something quite special. We're going to add another store this year and at least 4 stores next year. We will be 31 or so stores by the end of next year.

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I've been in this role for about six years. 4th, as many of you understand, is a leading service provider of software application solutions to the restaurant and hospitality industry. Our goal is to help our consumers be successful in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and basically offering them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's unusual to have business that are precious and growing quickly, that can repeat 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 met a handful of brand names where there was such a strong consumer affinity for the brand.

When you talk to clients about Chop Shop, they like the place. And to be able to take what is a fairly complex idea in terms of delivering 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 incredible.

We're going to speak about how to scale a dining establishment organization. Every restaurateur I ever talk to has imagine taking one store, two shops, five shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, across the state, into several states, and eventually national, even global reach. However it's challenging, particularly in today's environment.

Labor is hard. Inventory expenses stay high. It's not a simple time to drive profitability and development at the same time. However we're grateful to have you here today, Jason, since 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 effective? How do you duplicate early success? And from there, after we talk about your experience and the lessons you've discovered, we 'd love to then state: well, appearance, how could innovation assist? How can you utilize technology as a multiplier to duplicate early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale excellent groups? And last but not least, AI.

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The first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this twice now in the dining establishment industry. What are some of the lessons you've learned? What has your experience remained in regards to what it takes to really drive success in expanding dining establishments? Tell me a little about your course, what you experienced along the method, and possibly a few of the harder lessons you discovered.

We talked a little bit before we began about LinkedIn, and I have actually got a post teed as much as follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing an organization. To me, one of the essential things, and I feel really lucky, is that both brand names I've been involved with are distinct.

And there's absolutely nothing precisely like Chop Store in regards to what we're doing with a large, diverse menu. A lot of brands today are very singularly focused in regards to what they're offering from a foodstuff. I seem like we started at an advantage with both brands by having something distinct that filled a niche nobody else was doing.

Because it's just more difficult to stick out when there are 10, 20, 50 principles within a two- or three-mile radius trying to do the precise very same thing. So a great deal of it begins with the brand. Does your brand have something special that nobody else is doing? That's uncommon.

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The second thingI originated from a financing background, so a great deal of my knowings are more financing and data-driven versus a great deal of early startup restaurateurs who are imaginative types. They like the food, they constructed the menu, they developed the brand name. I probably could not do that from scratch. If you gave 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 don't comprehend how margin enhances as sales boost. They don't understand cash-on-cash returns. I've seen a lot of business where the numbers just don't work. And yet people state: let's open 10 more. And I'll state: why? It doesn't make money. Stop. You need to discover an idea that is distinct.

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If you do not have those two things, you shouldn't be developing stores. Since as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name distinction, and monetary viability.

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

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