Key Market Shifts for 2026 Growth

Thank you. And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. So Jason, how about I let you offer the audience some information about your background and you can also inform them a little bit about Chop Store. And then I'll let you take it from there, Clinton.

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Store. We bought the brand in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. After a quick stint of attempting to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino property and worked in business finance.

I was the very first employee there after personal equity purchased the business. Assisted grow that from 20 to 150 locations, 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 duplicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to an actually good start.

We're at the counter, we bring the food to the table. It is primarily 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 the time.

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A little more complex than a few of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, however we believe we have actually got something pretty unique. We're going to add another shop this year and at least 4 shops next year. We will be 31 or so shops by the end of next year.

Key Strategies for Expanding Hospitality Footprints

Hey, everyone. It's terrific to be with you once again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at 4th. I've remained in this role for about 6 years. Fourth, as a lot of you know, is a leading company of software application solutions to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our goal is to help our customers succeed in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and generally offering them with tools they need to provide their vision.

It's uncommon to have business that are precious and growing quickly, that can repeat that success year after year. Jason, one of the reasons I was so excited to have you join our session is the success at Zos was amazing. I have actually just fulfilled a handful of brands where there was such a strong consumer affinity for the brand name.

And now you're doing the same thing at Chop Shop. When you talk with clients about Chop Store, they like the location. They discuss its differentiation. And to be able to take what is a reasonably complex principle in regards to providing a great experience for the client, and have the ability to grow that from a couple of shops to now north of 30 stores next yearit's fantastic.

We're going to discuss how to scale a restaurant service. Every restaurateur I ever speak with has imagine taking one store, 2 shops, 5 shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, throughout the state, into numerous states, and eventually national, even worldwide reach. It's not simple, especially in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Inventory costs remain high. It's not a simple time to drive profitability and growth at the very same time. We're delighted to have you here today, Jason, because we're going to dig into that topic. The questions are going to be really around: how do you grow a service? How do you scale it and make it successful? How do you reproduce early success? And from there, after we talk about your experience and the lessons you've found out, we 'd enjoy to then say: well, look, how could innovation assist? How can you utilize technology as a multiplier to duplicate early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale terrific teams? And finally, AI.

Quick Service Industry Growth for 2026

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

We talked a little bit before we began about LinkedIn, and I have actually 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 very fortunate, is that both brand names I have actually been included with are distinct.

And there's nothing exactly like Chop Store in regards to what we're finishing with a large, diverse menu. Most brand names today are extremely singularly focused in terms of what they're using from a food item. I seem like we began at an advantage with both brands by having something special that filled a specific niche no one else was doing.

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

Regional Success in Brand Scaling

The 2nd thingI came from a finance background, so a lot of my learnings are more finance and data-driven versus a great deal of early startup restaurateurs who are innovative types. They love the food, they built the menu, they constructed the brand. I most likely couldn't do that from scratch. But if you gave me something that has all those components in place, I can take it from there and put the playbook in place.

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

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If you do not have those two things, you shouldn't be constructing shops. Because as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand distinction, and monetary viability.

Why Is Fast Casual the Wise Investment?

Second, you need an engaging brand name or unique idea that resonates with clients. And third, the mathematics has to work. If you do not understand your unit economics, your fixed and variable costs, you might be expanding blind and losing cash. Exactly. And another key lesson is about going into new markets.

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