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And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, 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 likewise tell them a little bit about Chop Shop.

Thanks Christina. My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. I've been doing this for about 9 years now. We bought the brand name in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. Prior to this, I have actually spent the majority of my profession in hospitality in some shape or form. After a short stint of attempting to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino residential or commercial property and operated in corporate financing.

I was the very first worker there after private equity purchased the business. Helped 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 excellent start.

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

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A little more complicated than some of the walk-the-line concepts that are out there, however we think we've got something pretty unique. We're going to add another store this year and a minimum of 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 6 years. Fourth, as many of you know, is a leading provider of software services to the dining establishment and hospitality industry. Our goal is to assist our clients be effective in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and generally supplying them with tools they need to deliver their vision.

It's unusual to have companies that are cherished and growing quickly, that can repeat that success every year. Jason, among the factors I was so ecstatic to have you join our session is the success at Zos was remarkable. I have actually only satisfied a handful of brands where there was such a strong client affinity for the brand name.

And now you're doing the same thing at Chop Store. When you speak with customers about Chop Store, they enjoy the place. They discuss its differentiation. And to be able to take what is a fairly complex principle in regards to delivering a great experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a few shops 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 across the city, throughout the state, into multiple states, and ultimately national, even global reach. It's not easy, especially in today's environment.

It's not an easy time to drive success and growth at the exact same time. How do you scale it and make it successful? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale excellent groups?

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The very first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this twice now in the restaurant industry. What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to really drive success in broadening restaurants?

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 business. To me, one of the crucial things, and I feel very fortunate, is that both brand names I have actually been involved with are distinct.

And there's absolutely nothing precisely like Chop Shop in terms of what we're doing with a large, diverse menu. A lot of brand names today are really singularly focused in regards to what they're providing from a food. I seem like we began at an advantage with both brands by having something special that filled a niche nobody else was doing.

Because it's just more difficult to stick out when there are 10, 20, 50 ideas within a two- or three-mile radius trying to do the precise same thing. A lot of it starts with the brand. Does your brand name have something distinct that no one else is doing? That's rare.

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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 lot of early start-up restaurateurs who are innovative types. They like the food, they constructed the menu, they built the brand name. I most likely couldn't do that from scratch. However if you provided me something that has all those components in location, I can take it from there and put the playbook in location.

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

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If you don't have those 2 things, you shouldn't be building stores. Yeah, maybe both, right? Since as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name distinction, and financial viability. You've got to start with execution. If you do not have an operating design that works, expanding it simply increases issues.

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Second, you need an engaging brand or unique idea that resonates with customers. And another crucial lesson is about entering new markets.

However when we expanded to Dallas, I expected brand-new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the first year. Too numerous operators presume brand-new markets will open at complete volume the first day. That almost never takes place. And when the shops open sluggish, however you've signed leases and developed a monetary design based upon greater volumes, you get overextended.