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Thank you. And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. Jason, how about I let you give the audience some details about your background and you can also 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 Store. I have actually been doing this for about nine years now. We purchased the brand name in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. Prior to this, I've invested the majority of my profession in hospitality in some shape or kind. After a brief stint of attempting to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment residential or commercial 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 then 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 truly good 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 beverage element also 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 some of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, however we believe we've got something pretty special. 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, everyone. It's fantastic to be with you again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at 4th. I've been in this role for about six years. 4th, as numerous of you know, is a leading company of software solutions to the dining establishment and hospitality industry. Our objective is to assist our clients achieve success in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, managing inventory, and basically providing them with tools they require to provide their vision.

It's rare to have business that are beloved and growing quickly, that can repeat that success every year. Jason, among the factors I was so excited to have you join our session is the success at Zos was incredible. I've only satisfied a handful of brand names 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 complicated concept in terms of providing a fantastic experience for the consumer, and be able to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 shops next yearit's remarkable.

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

Labor is difficult. Inventory expenses remain high. It's not an easy time to drive success and development at the very same time. However we're delighted to have you here today, Jason, due to the fact that we're going to dig into that topic. The questions are going to be actually around: how do you grow a company? How do you scale it and make it effective? 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 say: well, appearance, how could technology assist? How can you use technology as a multiplier to duplicate early success to significant success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale fantastic teams? And finally, AI.

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The very first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this twice now in the restaurant market. What are some of the lessons you've discovered? What has your experience been in regards to what it requires to truly drive success in broadening dining establishments? Inform me a little about your path, what you experienced along the method, and maybe a few of the more difficult lessons you found out.

We talked a little bit before we began 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 essential things, and I feel extremely fortunate, is that both brand names I have actually been involved with are special.

And there's absolutely nothing precisely like Chop Shop in terms of what we're making with a big, diverse menu. Many brands today are extremely singularly focused in regards to what they're using from a food item. I seem like we began at an advantage with both brand names by having something unique that filled a specific niche nobody else was doing.

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

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The second thingI came 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 innovative types. They enjoy the food, they constructed the menu, they built the brand.

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 don't work.

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If you do not have those two things, you should not be developing shops. Yeah, perhaps both? Because as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted 3 things: execution, brand distinction, and monetary viability. You have actually got to begin with execution. If you don't have an operating design that works, broadening it simply multiplies problems.

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Second, you require a compelling brand or unique idea that resonates with consumers. And another crucial lesson is about going into new markets.

However when we broadened to Dallas, I expected brand-new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. A lot of operators assume brand-new markets will open at complete volume day one. That practically never happens. And when the stores open sluggish, but you have actually signed leases and developed a financial design based on greater volumes, you get overextended.