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Thank you. And we also 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 inform 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 Store. We bought the brand name in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. After a short stint of trying to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino property and worked in corporate finance.

I was the very first employee 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 replicate 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 beverage component 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 ideas that are out there, however we think we have actually got something pretty unique. We're going to include another store this year and a minimum of four shops next year. We will be 31 or so 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 Fourth. I have actually remained in this role for about 6 years. Fourth, as numerous of you know, is a leading provider of software options to the dining establishment and hospitality market. Our objective is to assist our clients be successful in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and generally supplying them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's rare to have companies that are beloved and growing rapidly, that can duplicate that success every year. Jason, one of the reasons I was so fired up to have you join our session is the success at Zos was fantastic. I've only met a handful of brand names 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 to clients about Chop Shop, they like the place. They speak about its distinction. And to be able to take what is a relatively complicated concept in terms of providing a terrific experience for the customer, and have the ability to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 stores next yearit's amazing.

We're going to speak about how to scale a restaurant service. Every restaurateur I ever talk to has dreams of taking one shop, two stores, five stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, throughout the state, into numerous states, and eventually nationwide, even worldwide reach. However it's challenging, particularly in today's environment.

Labor is tough. Stock costs stay high. It's not a simple time to drive success and growth at the very same time. We're pleased 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 a service? How do you scale it and make it successful? How do you duplicate early success? And from there, after we speak about your experience and the lessons you've found out, we 'd like to then say: well, appearance, how could technology help? How can you utilize technology as a multiplier to duplicate early success to significant success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale excellent teams? And lastly, AI.

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The first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this two times now in the dining establishment market. What are a few of the lessons you've discovered? What has your experience remained in regards to what it takes to really drive success in broadening restaurants? Tell me a little about your course, what you experienced along the method, and maybe some of the more difficult lessons you learned.

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 crucial things, and I feel extremely fortunate, is that both brands I've been involved with are distinct.

And there's nothing precisely like Chop Store in regards to what we're finishing with a big, varied menu. Most brands today are very singularly focused in regards to what they're using from a food item. I seem like we started at a benefit with both brands by having something distinct that filled a niche no one else was doing.

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

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The 2nd thingI came from a finance background, so a great deal of my knowings are more financing and data-driven versus a lot of early start-up restaurateurs who are creative types. They enjoy the food, they built the menu, they built the brand name. I most likely could not do that from scratch. If you gave me something that has all those components in location, I can take it from there and put the playbook in location.

They do not know their breakeven sales. They don't understand how margin improves as sales increase. They do not understand cash-on-cash returns. I've seen many business where the numbers just don't work. And yet individuals state: let's open 10 more. And I'll state: why? It doesn't make money. Stop. You require to discover an idea that is special.

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If you don't have those two things, you should not be developing stores. Because as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand differentiation, and financial viability.

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Second, you require an engaging brand name or unique idea that resonates with customers. And another key lesson is about getting in brand-new markets.

But when we broadened to Dallas, I anticipated brand-new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the first year. A lot of operators presume brand-new markets will open at full volume day one. That practically never takes place. And when the shops open slow, but you have actually signed leases and built a monetary model based upon higher volumes, you get overextended.