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Thank you. And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. Jason, how about I let you give the audience some details about your background and you can likewise inform them a little bit about Chop Shop. And then 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 9 years now. We bought the brand in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. Prior to this, I've invested most of my profession 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 casino property and worked in corporate financing.

I was the very first employee there after private equity purchased business. Helped 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 Shop. My hope is that we can reproduce the success we had at Zos, and we're off to an actually excellent 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 secret to the program is we have a beverage element as well 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, but we believe we've got something quite special. We're going to add another store this year and at least four shops next year. So we will be 31 approximately stores by the end of next year.

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I have actually been in this function for about 6 years. 4th, as numerous of you know, is a leading company of software options to the dining establishment and hospitality market. Our objective is to help our clients be effective in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and generally providing them with tools they require to provide their vision.

It's rare to have companies that are beloved and growing rapidly, that can duplicate that success every year. Jason, one of the reasons I was so thrilled to have you join our session is the success at Zos was fantastic. I've just satisfied a handful of brands where there was such a strong client affinity for the brand name.

And now you're doing the same thing at Chop Shop. When you speak with consumers about Chop Store, they like the place. They speak about its differentiation. And to be able to take what is a reasonably complex concept in terms of providing an excellent experience for the client, and be able to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 stores next yearit's incredible.

We're going to talk about how to scale a restaurant organization. Every restaurateur I ever speak with has imagine taking one shop, two stores, five stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, throughout the state, into numerous states, and eventually nationwide, even worldwide reach. It's not simple, particularly in today's environment.

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

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

We talked a 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, one of the crucial things, and I feel very fortunate, is that both brands I've been involved with are unique.

And there's nothing precisely like Chop Shop in regards to what we're finishing with a big, varied menu. A lot of brands today are really singularly focused in terms of what they're using from a food item. I feel like we began at an advantage with both brands by having something distinct that filled a niche nobody else was doing.

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

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The 2nd thingI originated from a finance background, so a great deal of my knowings are more finance and data-driven versus a great deal of early startup restaurateurs who are innovative types. They like the food, they constructed the menu, they built the brand name. I probably could not do that from scratch. If you provided me something that has all those elements in location, I can take it from there and put the playbook in location.

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

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If you don't have those 2 things, you shouldn't be developing stores. Yeah, maybe both, right? Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted three things: execution, brand name distinction, and financial practicality. You've got to begin with execution. If you don't have an operating design that works, expanding it simply multiplies problems.

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Second, you require a compelling brand or distinct principle that resonates with consumers. And another essential lesson is about entering brand-new markets.

When we broadened to Dallas, I anticipated new shops to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the first year. Too many operators assume brand-new markets will open at full volume the first day. That nearly never 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.