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And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. Jason, how about I let you offer the audience some info 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 have actually been doing this for about nine years now. We bought the brand name in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. Prior to this, I've invested the majority of my career in hospitality in some shape or kind. After a short stint of trying to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment home and worked in business finance.

I was the very first staff member there after personal equity purchased the company. Assisted grow that from 20 to 150 areas, 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 replicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a truly excellent start.

We're at the counter, we bring the food to the table. The key to the program is we have a drink component as well with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes.

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A little more complicated than a few of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, however we think we've got something quite special. We're going to include another store this year and at least 4 stores next year. So we will be 31 or two shops by the end of next year.

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I've been in this function for about six years. Fourth, as numerous of you understand, is a leading supplier of software solutions to the dining establishment and hospitality industry. Our objective is to assist our consumers be successful in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and generally supplying them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's unusual to have companies that are precious and growing rapidly, that can repeat that success every year. Jason, among the reasons I was so ecstatic to have you join our session is the success at Zos was fantastic. I have actually just satisfied a handful of brand names where there was such a strong consumer affinity for the brand name.

When you talk to consumers about Chop Shop, they love the place. And to be able to take what is a reasonably complex idea in terms of providing a fantastic experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 stores next yearit's fantastic.

We're going to discuss how to scale a dining establishment organization. Every restaurateur I ever speak with has dreams of taking one store, two shops, five shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, across the state, into numerous states, and eventually national, even global reach. It's not simple, particularly in today's environment.

It's not an easy time to drive success and growth 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 first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this two times now in the restaurant industry. What are some of the lessons you've learned? 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 path, what you experienced along the way, and possibly some of the more difficult lessons you discovered.

We talked a 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 service. To me, one of the key things, and I feel really lucky, is that both brands I have actually been included with are distinct.

And there's absolutely nothing exactly like Chop Store in terms of what we're making with a big, varied menu. The majority of brands today are extremely singularly focused in terms of what they're providing from a food. I seem like we started at an advantage with both brands by having something unique that filled a specific niche no one else was doing.

Due to the fact that it's just more difficult to stick out when there are 10, 20, 50 principles within a 2- or three-mile radius trying to do the specific same thing. So a great deal of it starts 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 originated from a financing background, so a great deal of my learnings are more finance 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. I probably could not do that from scratch. But if you provided me something that has all those parts in location, I can take it from there and put the playbook in location.

They don't know their breakeven sales. They do not understand how margin improves as sales boost. I have actually seen so many business where the numbers just do not work.

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If you don't have those two things, you shouldn't be constructing shops. Yeah, possibly both, right? Because as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name distinction, and financial viability. You have actually got to start with execution. If you do not have an operating model that works, expanding it just increases issues.

Significant Regional Milestones for 2026 Growth

Second, you need a compelling brand or unique concept that resonates with consumers. And third, the math needs to work. If you don't comprehend your system economics, your repaired and variable expenses, you may be broadening blind and losing cash. Exactly. And another key lesson has to do with entering new markets.

However when we broadened to Dallas, I expected new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. Too numerous operators assume new markets will open at full volume the first day. That practically never ever happens. And when the shops open slow, but you have actually signed leases and constructed a monetary design based on greater volumes, you get overextended.