Significant Market Milestones Shaping 2026 Growth

Thank you. And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. So Jason, how about I let you provide the audience some details about your background and you can also tell them a bit about Chop Shop. 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've been doing this for about nine years now. We purchased the brand in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. Prior to this, I've spent most of my career in hospitality in some shape or type. After a quick stint of attempting to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino home and worked in business financing.

I was the first employee there after personal equity bought business. Assisted grow that from 20 to 150 places, 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 good start.

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

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A little more complex than a few of the walk-the-line principles that are out there, but we think we've got something quite unique. We're going to include another shop this year and at least four stores next year. We will be 31 or so stores 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 six years. 4th, as numerous of you understand, is a leading service provider of software application services to the restaurant and hospitality industry. Our goal is to assist our clients be effective in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and generally providing them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's unusual to have companies that are cherished and growing rapidly, that can duplicate 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 fulfilled a handful of brands where there was such a strong client affinity for the brand name.

And now you're doing the very same thing at Chop Store. When you talk to clients about Chop Shop, they enjoy the place. They discuss its distinction. And to be able to take what is a fairly complicated concept in terms of delivering a fantastic experience for the consumer, and have the ability to grow that from a couple of stores to now north of 30 stores next yearit's fantastic.

We're going to talk about how to scale a restaurant service. Every restaurateur I ever speak to has imagine taking one store, two shops, five shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, across the state, into multiple states, and eventually national, even international reach. It's not simple, specifically in today's environment.

It's not an easy time to drive profitability and development at the exact same time. How do you scale it and make it successful? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale fantastic teams?

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The very first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this twice now in the dining establishment market. What are some of the lessons you've found out? What has your experience been in regards to what it takes to really drive success in expanding dining establishments? Tell me a little about your course, what you experienced along the way, and maybe some of the harder lessons you learned.

We talked a little bit before we began about LinkedIn, and I've got a post teed as much as follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing an organization. To me, among the crucial things, and I feel really fortunate, is that both brand names I have actually been included with are unique.

And there's absolutely nothing exactly like Chop Store in regards to what we're finishing with a big, diverse menu. A lot of brands today are very singularly focused in terms of what they're offering from a food. I seem like we began at a benefit with both brand names by having something distinct that filled a niche no one else was doing.

Due to the fact that it's simply more difficult to stick out when there are 10, 20, 50 concepts within a two- or three-mile radius trying to do the specific same thing. So a lot of it begins with the brand name. Does your brand name have something special that no one else is doing? That's rare.

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The 2nd thingI came from a financing background, so a great deal of my learnings are more finance and data-driven versus a great deal of early startup restaurateurs who are innovative types. They enjoy the food, they built the menu, they constructed the brand. I most likely 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 place.

They don't know their breakeven sales. They don't understand how margin enhances as sales increase. I've seen so lots of companies where the numbers just do not work.

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If you do not have those 2 things, you should not be developing shops. Yeah, possibly both, right? Since as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted three things: execution, brand differentiation, and monetary practicality. You have actually got to start with execution. If you do not have an operating design that works, broadening it simply multiplies issues.

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Second, you require an engaging brand or special principle that resonates with consumers. And third, the math needs to work. If you don't understand your unit economics, your repaired and variable expenses, you might be broadening blind and losing cash. Precisely. And another crucial lesson is about entering new markets.

When we broadened to Dallas, I expected new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. Too many operators presume new markets will open at full volume day one. That almost never occurs. And when the shops open sluggish, however you've signed leases and developed a financial model based upon higher volumes, you get overextended.