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Thank you. And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. So Jason, how about I let you provide the audience some info about your background and you can also tell them a little bit about Chop Shop. And then 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 brief stint of trying to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino property and worked in business finance.

I was the first employee there after personal equity bought the organization. Assisted 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 Store. My hope is that we can reproduce the success we had at Zos, and we're off to an actually excellent 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 a few of the walk-the-line principles that are out there, but we think we've got something quite special. We're going to include another shop this year and at least 4 stores 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. 4th, as numerous of you know, is a leading supplier of software services to the dining establishment and hospitality industry. Our goal is to assist our consumers be successful in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, managing stock, and basically offering them with tools they require to provide their vision.

It's uncommon to have companies that are beloved and growing quickly, that can duplicate that success every year. Jason, one of the reasons I was so excited to have you join our session is the success at Zos was amazing. I have actually just fulfilled a handful of brands where there was such a strong customer affinity for the brand.

And now you're doing the same thing at Chop Shop. When you speak with customers about Chop Shop, they enjoy the location. They discuss its differentiation. And to be able to take what is a reasonably complex idea in terms of providing a great experience for the consumer, and be able to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 shops next yearit's incredible.

We're going to talk about how to scale a dining establishment company. Every restaurateur I ever talk with has dreams of taking one store, 2 shops, five shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, throughout the state, into several states, and eventually national, even worldwide reach. But it's hard, specifically in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Stock expenses stay high. It's not an easy time to drive profitability and development at the exact same time. We're glad to have you here today, Jason, due to the fact that we're going to dig into that topic. The questions are going to be actually around: how do you grow a service? How do you scale it and make it effective? How do you duplicate early success? And from there, after we discuss your experience and the lessons you've discovered, we 'd enjoy to then say: well, appearance, how could innovation help? How can you utilize innovation as a multiplier to reproduce early success to significant success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale excellent teams? And lastly, AI.

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The very first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this twice now in the dining establishment industry. What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to truly drive success in expanding restaurants?

We talked a little bit before we began about LinkedIn, and I've 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 essential things, and I feel extremely fortunate, is that both brand names I have actually been involved with are distinct.

And there's nothing precisely like Chop Shop in regards to what we're making with a large, diverse menu. The majority of brands today are very singularly focused in terms of what they're offering from a foodstuff. I feel like we began at an advantage with both brand names by having something special that filled a specific niche nobody else was doing.

A lot of it starts with the brand. Does your brand name have something special that no one else is doing?

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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 creative types. They love the food, they built the menu, they built the brand.

They don't understand their breakeven sales. They do not comprehend how margin improves as sales boost. I've seen so lots of companies where the numbers just don't work.

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If you do not have those 2 things, you should not be building stores. Yeah, possibly both? Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you've highlighted three things: execution, brand differentiation, and monetary viability. You have actually got to start with execution. If you don't have an operating design that works, expanding it simply increases issues.

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Second, you require an engaging brand name or special principle that resonates with clients. And 3rd, the math needs to work. If you do not comprehend your unit economics, your fixed and variable expenses, you might be expanding blind and losing money. Precisely. And another crucial lesson is about getting in brand-new markets.

When we broadened to Dallas, I expected new shops to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. Too numerous operators assume new markets will open at full volume day one. That almost never takes place. And when the stores open sluggish, but you have actually signed leases and constructed a monetary design based on higher volumes, you get overextended.