High-ROI Hospitality Investments Coming in 2026

And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. Jason, how about I let you provide the audience some details about your background and you can likewise inform them a little bit about Chop Shop.

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Store. We bought the brand in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. After a short stint of trying to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino property and worked in business finance.

I was the very first staff member 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 Store. My hope is that we can reproduce the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a really great 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 drink part too with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes. We do all stables, we do breakfast all the time.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

A little more complex than a few of the walk-the-line principles that are out there, but we believe we've got something quite special. We're going to include another shop this year and a minimum of four shops next year. We will be 31 or so stores by the end of next year.

High-ROI Hospitality Ventures Arising in 2026

I have actually been in this role for about 6 years. Fourth, as many of you understand, is a leading company of software services to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our objective is to help our clients be effective in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, managing inventory, and essentially providing them with tools they need to deliver their vision.

It's unusual to have companies that are precious and growing quickly, that can repeat that success every year. Jason, among the factors I was so ecstatic to have you join our session is the success at Zos was incredible. I've only met a handful of brands where there was such a strong customer affinity for the brand.

And now you're doing the same thing at Chop Shop. When you talk to clients about Chop Store, they like the place. They speak about its differentiation. And to be able to take what is a relatively complicated concept in terms of delivering an excellent experience for the consumer, and be able to grow that from a couple of stores to now north of 30 shops next yearit's fantastic.

We're going to discuss how to scale a dining establishment service. Every restaurateur I ever talk to has dreams of taking one store, two stores, 5 stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, throughout the state, into numerous states, and ultimately nationwide, even international reach. It's not easy, especially in today's environment.

Labor is tough. Inventory expenses remain high. It's not a simple time to drive success and development at the exact same time. However we're happy to have you here today, Jason, because we're going to go into that subject. The concerns are going to be actually around: how do you grow an organization? How do you scale it and make it effective? How do you reproduce early success? And from there, after we discuss your experience and the lessons you've found out, we 'd enjoy to then state: well, look, how could technology help? How can you use technology as a multiplier to reproduce early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale fantastic groups? And finally, AI.

Top Investment Prospects to Watch

The first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this two times now in the dining establishment market. What are a few of the lessons you've found out? What has your experience remained in regards to what it takes to really drive success in broadening restaurants? Inform me a little about your course, what you experienced along the way, and maybe a few of the more difficult lessons you found out.

We talked a little bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I have actually got a post teed as much as follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing a business. To me, among the crucial things, and I feel very fortunate, is that both brands I've been involved with are distinct.

And there's absolutely nothing precisely like Chop Store in regards to what we're doing with a large, varied menu. Many brands today are very singularly focused in terms of what they're using from a foodstuff. I seem like we began at an advantage with both brand names by having something special that filled a niche no one else was doing.

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

Hospitality Industry Trends Redefining 2026

The second thingI came from a finance background, so a lot of my knowings are more finance and data-driven versus a lot of early start-up restaurateurs who are creative types. They like the food, they built the menu, they constructed the brand.

They don't understand their breakeven sales. They don't understand how margin enhances as sales boost. I've seen so many companies where the numbers simply do not work.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

If you do not have those two things, you should not be developing shops. Yeah, perhaps both? Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand differentiation, and monetary viability. You've got to start with execution. If you don't have an operating design that works, broadening it just increases problems.

Corporate Updates: Regional Developments in 2026

Second, you need an engaging brand name or distinct principle that resonates with customers. And third, the math has to work. If you don't understand your unit economics, your repaired and variable costs, you might be expanding blind and losing money. Precisely. And another crucial lesson is about getting in new markets.

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