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Thank you. And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, 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 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 Shop. We bought the brand name in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. After a quick stint of attempting to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment home and worked in corporate finance.

I was the first employee there after private equity purchased the company. Assisted grow that from 20 to 150 locations, 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 truly good start.

We're at the counter, we bring the food to the table. It is mostly protein bowlsabout 40 percent of the mix. We likewise do salads, sandwiches. The secret to the program is we have a beverage part also with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes. We do all stables, we do breakfast throughout the day.

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A little more complex than a few of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, but we think we have actually got something pretty unique. We're going to add another shop this year and a minimum of 4 shops next year. So we will be 31 approximately shops by the end of next year.

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I have actually been in this function for about six years. Fourth, as numerous of you know, is a leading supplier of software solutions to the restaurant and hospitality industry. Our goal is to assist our consumers be effective in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, managing inventory, and essentially offering them with tools they need to deliver their vision.

It's uncommon to have business that are cherished and growing rapidly, that can repeat that success year after year. Jason, one of the factors I was so fired up to have you join our session is the success at Zos was amazing. I've just fulfilled a handful of brands where there was such a strong client affinity for the brand.

When you talk to customers about Chop Shop, they love the location. And to be able to take what is a fairly complex principle in terms of providing a great experience for the consumer, and be able to grow that from a few stores to now north of 30 shops next yearit's amazing.

We're going to speak about how to scale a restaurant business. Every restaurateur I ever talk with has dreams of taking one shop, 2 stores, five shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, across the state, into several states, and eventually nationwide, even international reach. However it's not simple, specifically in today's environment.

Labor is hard. Inventory expenses stay high. It's not a simple time to drive success and growth at the same time. But we're pleased to have you here today, Jason, due to the fact that we're going to go into that subject. The concerns are going to be truly around: how do you grow a service? 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 like to then state: well, look, how could technology assist? How can you utilize innovation as a multiplier to replicate early success to significant success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale great groups? And lastly, AI.

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The first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this two times now in the restaurant market. What are a few of the lessons you've found out? What has your experience remained in regards to what it takes to truly drive success in expanding dining establishments? Inform me a little about your course, what you experienced along the way, and perhaps some of the more difficult lessons you learned.

We talked a little 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 an organization. To me, among the essential things, and I feel extremely lucky, is that both brand names I have actually been included with are special.

And there's absolutely nothing precisely like Chop Store in regards to what we're finishing with a big, diverse menu. A lot of brand names today are extremely singularly focused in terms of what they're providing from a food product. I seem like we started at an advantage with both brands by having something distinct that filled a niche no one else was doing.

Due to the fact that it's simply harder to stand out when there are 10, 20, 50 concepts within a two- or three-mile radius attempting to do the exact same thing. A lot of it begins with the brand name. Does your brand have something unique that nobody else is doing? That's rare.

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The second thingI came from a financing background, so a great deal of my learnings are more finance and data-driven versus a lot of early startup restaurateurs who are innovative types. They enjoy the food, they built the menu, they constructed the brand name. I probably could not do that from scratch. But if you offered me something that has all those elements in location, I can take it from there and put the playbook in location.

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 have actually seen a lot of business where the numbers simply do not work. And yet people say: let's open 10 more. And I'll say: why? It doesn't earn money. Stop. You require to find an idea that is unique.

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

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Second, you require a compelling brand or distinct concept that resonates with clients. And third, the math has to work. If you do not comprehend your unit economics, your fixed and variable costs, you may be expanding blind and losing money. Exactly. And another key lesson has to do with entering brand-new markets.

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