Regional Milestones in Brand Expansion

And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. Jason, how about I let you offer the audience some details about your background and you can also inform them a little bit about Chop Shop.

Thanks Christina. My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. I've been doing this for about 9 years now. We purchased the brand name in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. Prior to this, I have actually spent the majority of my career in hospitality in some shape or kind. After a short stint of trying to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment home and worked in business financing.

I was the very first employee there after personal equity purchased the company. Helped 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 duplicate 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. The key to the program is we have a drink part as well with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes.

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

Steps to Expand Your Restaurant Brand

Hey, everybody. It's terrific to be with you again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at 4th. I have actually been in this role for about six years. Fourth, as much of you understand, is a leading supplier of software solutions to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our objective is to help our customers achieve success in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, managing stock, and essentially providing them with tools they need to provide their vision.

It's unusual to have companies that are precious and growing quickly, that can duplicate that success year after year. Jason, among the factors I was so thrilled to have you join our session is the success at Zos was fantastic. I have actually just met a handful of brands where there was such a strong consumer affinity for the brand.

When you talk to consumers about Chop Store, they love the location. And to be able to take what is a relatively complex principle in terms of providing a terrific experience for the client, and be able to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 shops next yearit's fantastic.

We're going to talk about how to scale a dining establishment company. Every restaurateur I ever speak with has dreams of taking one shop, 2 stores, five shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, across the state, into several states, and eventually national, even worldwide reach. However it's challenging, particularly in today's environment.

Labor is tough. Stock costs remain high. It's not an easy time to drive success and development at the exact 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 a business? How do you scale it and make it successful? How do you duplicate early success? And from there, after we talk about your experience and the lessons you've discovered, we 'd like to then state: well, appearance, how could innovation help? How can you utilize technology as a multiplier to reproduce early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale great teams? And last but not least, 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 some of the lessons you've learned? What has your experience been in terms of what it requires to really drive success in expanding dining establishments? Tell me a little about your course, what you experienced along the way, and possibly some of the harder lessons you discovered.

We talked a bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I have actually got a post teed approximately 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 really fortunate, is that both brand names I've been included with are distinct.

And there's absolutely nothing exactly like Chop Shop in terms of what we're making with a large, varied menu. A lot of brand names today are really singularly focused in regards to what they're offering from a foodstuff. I feel like we began at an advantage with both brand names by having something unique that filled a specific 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 originated from a financing background, so a lot of my knowings are more financing and data-driven versus a lot of early start-up restaurateurs who are creative types. They like the food, they built the menu, they developed the brand. I probably could not do that from scratch. If you provided me something that has all those components in location, I can take it from there and put the playbook in place.

They don't know their breakeven sales. They don't comprehend how margin improves as sales increase. I have actually seen so many companies where the numbers simply don't work.

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If you do not have those 2 things, you should not be constructing shops. Because as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted three things: execution, brand name differentiation, and monetary practicality.

Major Growth Milestones in 2026

Second, you need a compelling brand name or special principle that resonates with customers. And another key lesson is about getting in new markets.

When we broadened to Dallas, I anticipated new shops to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. Too many operators presume brand-new markets will open at complete volume day one.