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Thank you. And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. Jason, how about I let you provide the audience some information 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 nine years now. We bought the brand in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. Prior to this, I have actually spent most 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 casino residential or commercial property and worked in corporate financing.

I was the very first staff member there after private equity purchased the business. Assisted grow that from 20 to 150 areas, 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 excellent start.

We're at the counter, we bring the food to the table. It is mostly protein bowlsabout 40 percent of the mix. We also do salads, sandwiches. The key to the program is we have a drink component as well with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes. We do all stables, we do breakfast all day.

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A little more complicated 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 add another shop this year and at least four shops next year. So we will be 31 or two shops by the end of next year.

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Hey, everyone. It's great to be with you again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at 4th. I have actually remained in this role for about 6 years. 4th, as much of you understand, is a leading service provider of software options to the dining establishment and hospitality market. Our goal is to assist our consumers achieve success in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and generally providing them with tools they require to provide their vision.

It's rare to have companies that are precious and growing quickly, that can duplicate that success year after year. Jason, one of the reasons I was so thrilled to have you join our session is the success at Zos was remarkable. I have actually only satisfied a handful of brand names where there was such a strong customer affinity for the brand name.

And now you're doing the same thing at Chop Store. When you speak with clients about Chop Store, they love the place. They discuss its distinction. And to be able to take what is a fairly complicated idea in terms of providing a great experience for the consumer, and have the ability to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 stores next yearit's incredible.

We're going to speak about how to scale a dining establishment business. 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, across the state, into numerous states, and eventually nationwide, even worldwide reach. But it's challenging, specifically in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Inventory costs stay high. It's not a simple time to drive success and development at the exact same time. We're pleased to have you here today, Jason, due to the fact that we're going to dig into that subject. The concerns are going to be really around: how do you grow an organization? 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 learned, we 'd enjoy to then state: well, appearance, how could innovation help? How can you use technology as a multiplier to reproduce early success to significant success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale terrific groups? And finally, AI.

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The very first question 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 actually drive success in expanding dining establishments?

We talked a bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I've got a post teed up to follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing an organization. To me, among the crucial things, and I feel extremely fortunate, is that both brands I have actually been involved with are special.

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

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

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The 2nd thingI came from a financing background, so a lot of my knowings are more financing and data-driven versus a lot of early startup restaurateurs who are imaginative types. They love the food, they constructed the menu, they developed the brand name. I probably couldn't do that from scratch. If you offered me something that has all those elements in place, I can take it from there and put the playbook in location.

They do not understand their breakeven sales. They do not comprehend how margin enhances as sales boost. I have actually seen so many companies where the numbers simply do not work.

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If you don't have those 2 things, you shouldn't be building stores. Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted three things: execution, brand distinction, and financial practicality.

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Second, you require a compelling brand name or special idea that resonates with consumers. And third, the mathematics has 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 entering new markets.

When we broadened to Dallas, I expected new shops to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. Too lots of operators presume new markets will open at full volume day one.