Fast Casual Market Share Growth for 2026

Thank you. And we also 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.

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

I was the first worker there after personal equity bought business. Helped grow that from 20 to 150 locations, took it public in 2014, and after that 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 truly excellent start.

We're at the counter, we bring the food to the table. The key to the program is we have a beverage part as well with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

A little more complex than a few of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, but we think we've got something quite unique. We're going to include another store this year and at least 4 shops next year. So we will be 31 or so stores by the end of next year.

Major Growth Milestones for 2026

Hey, everyone. It's fantastic to be with you once again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at Fourth. I have actually remained in this role for about six years. Fourth, as a number of you understand, is a leading supplier of software solutions to the dining establishment and hospitality industry. Our objective is to assist our consumers succeed in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and basically supplying them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's rare to have companies that are beloved and growing quickly, that can repeat that success every year. Jason, among the reasons I was so ecstatic to have you join our session is the success at Zos was incredible. I've only satisfied a handful of brand names where there was such a strong client affinity for the brand name.

When you talk to clients about Chop Store, they like the place. And to be able to take what is a fairly complex principle in terms of delivering a fantastic experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a couple of stores to now north of 30 stores next yearit's amazing.

We're going to discuss how to scale a dining establishment service. Every restaurateur I ever speak with has dreams of taking one shop, two stores, 5 shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, across the state, into several states, and eventually national, even global reach. But it's not easy, especially in today's environment.

It's not a simple time to drive success and growth at the exact same time. How do you scale it and make it effective? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale great groups?

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

We talked a little bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I have actually got a post teed as much as follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing an organization. To me, one of the essential things, and I feel very lucky, is that both brand names I have actually been included with are unique.

And there's nothing precisely like Chop Shop in regards to what we're making with a big, varied menu. The majority of brands today are extremely singularly focused in terms of what they're using from a foodstuff. I seem like we started at an advantage with both brand names by having something special that filled a specific niche no one else was doing.

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

Regional Success in Corporate Scaling

The 2nd 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 imaginative types. They like the food, they developed the menu, they constructed the brand name.

They do not understand their breakeven sales. They do not understand how margin improves as sales boost. They do not comprehend cash-on-cash returns. I've seen a lot of companies where the numbers just don't work. And yet individuals say: let's open 10 more. And I'll state: why? It does not generate income. Stop. You need to discover a principle that is unique.

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If you do not have those two things, you should not be constructing stores. Yeah, maybe both, right? Because as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name distinction, and monetary practicality. You have actually got to start with execution. If you do not have an operating model that works, expanding it simply multiplies problems.

Key Tips to Growing Hospitality Brands

Second, you need an engaging brand or distinct idea that resonates with customers. And third, the math has to work. If you do not understand your unit economics, your repaired and variable costs, you might be expanding blind and losing money. Exactly. And another essential lesson is about going into 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 presume new markets will open at complete volume day one.