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Thank you. And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. Jason, how about I let you offer the audience some info about your background and you can also tell 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 have actually grown it to 26. After a brief stint of trying to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino property and worked in corporate financing.

I was the very first employee there after private equity purchased business. Helped 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 a really good start.

We're at the counter, we bring the food to the table. It is mainly protein bowlsabout 40 percent of the mix. We likewise do salads, sandwiches. The secret to the program is we have a drink 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 complex than some of the walk-the-line concepts that are out there, however we think we've got something quite unique. We're going to include 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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Hey, everybody. It's fantastic to be with you again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at 4th. I've remained in this role for about six years. 4th, as numerous of you understand, is a leading supplier of software application options to the dining establishment and hospitality market. Our goal is to help our customers be successful in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and essentially providing them with tools they need to deliver their vision.

It's uncommon to have companies that are cherished and growing rapidly, 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 amazing. I've just met a handful of brand names where there was such a strong client affinity for the brand name.

When you talk to customers about Chop Store, they enjoy the place. And to be able to take what is a fairly complicated concept in terms of delivering an excellent experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a couple of stores to now north of 30 shops next yearit's incredible.

We're going to talk about how to scale a restaurant company. Every restaurateur I ever talk with has dreams of taking one store, two shops, 5 stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, across the state, into several states, and ultimately nationwide, even international reach. But it's hard, especially in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Stock costs stay high. It's not an easy time to drive profitability and development at the very same time. We're delighted to have you here today, Jason, since we're going to dig into that subject. The concerns are going to be actually around: how do you grow an organization? How do you scale it and make it successful? How do you replicate early success? And from there, after we speak about your experience and the lessons you've found out, we 'd love to then state: well, look, how could innovation help? How can you use innovation as a multiplier to replicate early success to significant success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale terrific groups? And last but not least, AI.

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The very first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this twice now in the restaurant market. What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to really drive success in expanding restaurants?

We talked a little bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I've got a post teed as much as follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing a service. To me, among the essential things, and I feel really lucky, is that both brand names I have actually been involved with are unique.

And there's absolutely nothing exactly like Chop Store in terms of what we're finishing with a big, diverse menu. The majority of brand names today are very singularly focused in regards to what they're using from a foodstuff. I seem like we began at an advantage with both brand names by having something special that filled a niche no one else was doing.

Since it's just more difficult to stand apart when there are 10, 20, 50 principles within a 2- or three-mile radius trying to do the precise same thing. So a great deal of it starts with the brand name. Does your brand name have something distinct that nobody else is doing? That's unusual.

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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 startup restaurateurs who are creative types. They enjoy 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 elements in place, I can take it from there and put the playbook in location.

They do not know their breakeven sales. They do not understand how margin improves as sales boost. I have actually seen so numerous business where the numbers simply do not work.

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If you do not have those 2 things, you should not be building stores. Yeah, perhaps both? Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you've highlighted three things: execution, brand distinction, and financial practicality. You've got to start with execution. If you do not have an operating design that works, expanding it just increases issues.

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Second, you need an engaging brand or unique idea that resonates with consumers. And 3rd, the mathematics has to work. If you don't comprehend your unit economics, your repaired and variable costs, you may be broadening blind and losing money. Exactly. And another essential lesson is about entering new markets.

However when we broadened to Dallas, I expected new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. Too many operators presume new markets will open at full volume day one. That practically never takes place. And when the shops open sluggish, however you have actually signed leases and developed a monetary design based on greater volumes, you get overextended.