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Thank you. And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. Jason, how about I let you offer the audience some info about your background and you can likewise tell them a little bit about Chop Store. And after that I'll let you take it from there, Clinton.

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. We purchased the brand in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. After a brief stint of attempting to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino home and worked in corporate finance.

I was the first staff member there after private equity purchased business. Helped grow that from 20 to 150 areas, 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 great 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 drink element also with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes. We do all stables, we do breakfast all the time.

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A little more complicated than a few of the walk-the-line principles that are out there, however we believe we have actually got something pretty special. We're going to include another shop this year and at least four shops next year. We will be 31 or so shops by the end of next year.

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Hey, everyone. It's excellent to be with you again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at 4th. I have actually remained in this function for about 6 years. 4th, as a number of you understand, is a leading service provider of software services to the restaurant and hospitality industry. Our goal is to assist our customers achieve success in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, managing inventory, and basically supplying them with tools they need to provide their vision.

It's rare to have companies that are precious and growing quickly, that can duplicate that success every year. Jason, among the factors I was so fired up to have you join our session is the success at Zos was incredible. I have actually just fulfilled a handful of brands where there was such a strong consumer affinity for the brand.

And now you're doing the same thing at Chop Shop. When you talk with clients about Chop Shop, they enjoy the place. They speak about its differentiation. And to be able to take what is a fairly complex principle in regards to delivering an excellent experience for the consumer, and have the ability to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 shops next yearit's incredible.

We're going to discuss how to scale a restaurant organization. Every restaurateur I ever speak to has imagine taking one store, two stores, 5 stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, across the state, into multiple states, and ultimately nationwide, even worldwide reach. It's not easy, especially in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Stock costs stay high. It's not a simple time to drive success and growth at the same time. But we're delighted to have you here today, Jason, due to the fact that we're going to go into that subject. The questions are going to be truly around: how do you grow an organization? How do you scale it and make it effective? How do you reproduce early success? And from there, after we talk about your experience and the lessons you've discovered, we 'd love to then say: well, look, how could technology assist? How can you use technology as a multiplier to replicate early success to significant success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale excellent groups? And lastly, AI.

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The very first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this twice now in the restaurant industry. What are some of the lessons you've discovered? What has your experience remained in terms of what it takes to truly 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 more difficult lessons you found out.

We talked a little bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I have actually got a post teed up to follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing a business. To me, one of the key things, and I feel extremely lucky, is that both brand names I've been involved with are distinct.

And there's nothing exactly like Chop Store in regards to what we're finishing with a large, varied menu. Many brands today are extremely singularly focused in terms of what they're offering from a food item. I seem like we started at an advantage with both brands by having something distinct that filled a specific niche nobody else was doing.

Since it's just harder to stand out when there are 10, 20, 50 ideas within a two- or three-mile radius attempting to do the specific same thing. So a great deal of it starts with the brand name. Does your brand name have something unique that no one else is doing? That's rare.

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The second thingI came from a financing background, so a lot of my knowings are more finance and data-driven versus a lot of early start-up restaurateurs who are innovative types. They enjoy the food, they constructed the menu, they built the brand.

They don't know their breakeven sales. They don't understand how margin enhances as sales boost. I've seen so numerous business where the numbers simply do not work.

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If you don't have those 2 things, you shouldn't be developing shops. Yeah, maybe both, right? Since as I hear your description, you've highlighted three things: execution, brand distinction, and monetary viability. You've got to start with execution. If you don't have an operating design that works, broadening it just multiplies problems.

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Second, you need an engaging brand name or distinct principle that resonates with customers. And another essential lesson is about entering brand-new markets.

However when we expanded to Dallas, I expected 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. That almost never happens. And when the stores open slow, however you've signed leases and constructed a financial model based upon higher volumes, you get overextended.