Major Expansion Milestones for 2026

And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. Jason, how about I let you provide the audience some details about your background and you can likewise inform them a little bit about Chop Shop.

Thanks Christina. My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Store. I've been doing this for about 9 years now. We bought the brand in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. Prior to this, I've spent many of my profession in hospitality in some shape or type. After a quick stint of attempting to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino home and operated in corporate financing.

I was the very first staff member there after personal equity bought business. Assisted grow that from 20 to 150 areas, took it public in 2014, and then left about a year and a half after going public to do this at Chop Store. My hope is that we can replicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a truly great start.

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

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A little more complicated than some of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, however we think we've got something pretty unique. We're going to add another store this year and at least 4 stores next year. So we will be 31 approximately stores by the end of next year.

The Benefits of Fast Casual Expansion in 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've remained in this role for about six years. Fourth, as many of you understand, is a leading provider of software application solutions to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our goal is to assist our clients be effective in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and basically providing them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's uncommon to have companies that are cherished and growing quickly, that can repeat that success year after year. Jason, among the factors I was so fired up to have you join our session is the success at Zos was incredible. I have actually only met 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 customers about Chop Shop, they like the location. They speak about its differentiation. And to be able to take what is a relatively complicated principle in terms of providing an excellent experience for the client, and be able to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 stores next yearit's incredible.

We're going to discuss how to scale a restaurant organization. Every restaurateur I ever speak 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 numerous states, and ultimately nationwide, even global reach. However it's challenging, particularly in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Inventory costs stay high. It's not an easy time to drive profitability and growth at the 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 business? How do you scale it and make it successful? How do you duplicate early success? And from there, after we discuss your experience and the lessons you've learned, we 'd enjoy to then state: well, appearance, how could technology assist? How can you utilize technology as a multiplier to replicate early success to significant success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale excellent teams? And lastly, AI.

Strategic Expansion Targets in 2026

The first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this two times now in the dining establishment industry. What are a few of the lessons you've found out? What has your experience been in terms of what it requires to truly drive success in expanding dining establishments? Inform me a little about your course, what you experienced along the way, and perhaps some of the harder lessons you discovered.

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 a business. To me, among the key things, and I feel really fortunate, is that both brand names I've been involved with are special.

And there's nothing precisely like Chop Shop in terms of what we're doing with a big, varied menu. Most brands today are extremely singularly focused in regards to what they're providing from a food product. I feel like we started at an advantage with both brands by having something special that filled a niche nobody else was doing.

Due to the fact that it's just more difficult to stand out when there are 10, 20, 50 ideas within a 2- or three-mile radius attempting to do the specific very same thing. So a great deal of it starts with the brand name. Does your brand have something distinct that no one else is doing? That's unusual.

Steps to Scale Your Dining Concept

The 2nd thingI came from a financing background, so a lot of my learnings are more finance and data-driven versus a lot of early start-up restaurateurs who are imaginative types. They like the food, they constructed the menu, they built the brand name.

They do not understand their breakeven sales. They do not comprehend how margin improves as sales increase. I've seen so numerous companies where the numbers just don't work.

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If you don't have those 2 things, you should not be constructing shops. Because as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted three things: execution, brand distinction, and financial viability.

Steps to Expand a Restaurant Brand

Second, you require an engaging brand or special idea that resonates with clients. And third, the math needs to work. If you don't comprehend your system economics, your fixed and variable expenses, you might be expanding blind and losing money. Precisely. And another crucial lesson is about getting in new markets.

When we broadened to Dallas, I expected brand-new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. Too lots of operators assume new markets will open at full volume day one. That almost never ever occurs. And when the stores open slow, but you've signed leases and constructed a monetary design based upon higher volumes, you get overextended.