Key Market Milestones Shaping 2026 Growth

Thank you. And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. 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 Store. 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 in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. After a brief stint of trying to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment residential or commercial property and worked in corporate finance.

I was the very first employee there after personal equity purchased business. Assisted grow that from 20 to 150 places, 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 duplicate 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 drink element as well with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes.

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A little more complicated than some of the walk-the-line concepts that are out there, but we believe we have actually got something pretty unique. We're going to include another store this year and at least four shops next year. So we will be 31 approximately shops by the end of next year.

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Hey, everybody. It's fantastic to be with you again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at 4th. I've been in this function for about 6 years. 4th, as many of you understand, is a leading company of software solutions to the restaurant and hospitality industry. Our objective is to assist our consumers succeed in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and generally providing them with tools they need to provide their vision.

It's rare to have business that are beloved and growing rapidly, that can repeat that success every year. Jason, one of the factors I was so thrilled to have you join our session is the success at Zos was fantastic. 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 talk to customers about Chop Store, they enjoy the location. They speak about its distinction. And to be able to take what is a reasonably complex idea in regards to providing a fantastic experience for the consumer, and have the ability to grow that from a few stores to now north of 30 stores next yearit's remarkable.

We're going to speak about how to scale a dining establishment business. Every restaurateur I ever speak to has dreams of taking one store, two stores, 5 shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, across the state, into numerous states, and ultimately national, even worldwide reach. It's not easy, especially in today's environment.

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

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The very first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this twice now in the dining establishment industry. What are some of the lessons you've discovered? What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to truly drive success in broadening restaurants? Inform me a little about your course, what you experienced along the way, and maybe some of the more difficult lessons you learned.

We talked a 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, among the key things, and I feel extremely fortunate, is that both brand names I've been involved with are distinct.

And there's absolutely nothing exactly like Chop Shop in regards to what we're finishing with a large, diverse menu. Many brand names today are extremely singularly focused in regards to what they're providing from a food. I seem like we began at an advantage with both brand names by having something unique that filled a specific niche no one else was doing.

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

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The 2nd thingI came from a finance 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 like the food, they built the menu, they developed the brand. I probably couldn't do that from scratch. If you gave me something that has all those parts in location, 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 improves as sales increase. They don't understand cash-on-cash returns. I have actually seen many business where the numbers just do not work. And yet individuals say: let's open 10 more. And I'll say: why? It does not make money. Stop. You need to find an idea that is distinct.

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

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Second, you require a compelling brand name or distinct idea that resonates with clients. And another key lesson is about going into brand-new markets.

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