Top Benefits of Fast Casual Franchising in 2026

And we also 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 information about your background and you can also inform them a little bit about Chop Store.

Thanks Christina. My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. I've been doing this for about 9 years now. We purchased the brand in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. Prior to this, I have actually invested the majority of my career in hospitality in some shape or type. After a short stint of attempting to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino residential or commercial property and operated in corporate financing.

I was the first staff member there after personal equity bought business. Helped grow that from 20 to 150 places, 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 reproduce 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 mostly protein bowlsabout 40 percent of the mix. We also do salads, sandwiches. The key to the program is we have a drink element 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 complicated than a few of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, however we believe we've got something quite unique. We're going to add another store this year and at least 4 shops next year. We will be 31 or so shops by the end of next year.

Hospitality Industry Shifts Redefining 2026

Hey, everybody. It's great to be with you again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at Fourth. I have actually been in this function for about six years. Fourth, as a number of you understand, is a leading supplier of software application services to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our goal is to assist our clients be successful in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, managing inventory, and generally offering them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's rare to have companies that are precious and growing quickly, that can duplicate that success every year. Jason, one of the factors I was so excited to have you join our session is the success at Zos was remarkable. I have actually only met a handful of brands where there was such a strong client affinity for the brand.

When you talk to customers about Chop Store, they like the location. And to be able to take what is a relatively complex concept in terms of providing a fantastic experience for the client, and be able to grow that from a couple of stores to now north of 30 stores next yearit's fantastic.

We're going to discuss how to scale a restaurant organization. Every restaurateur I ever talk to has imagine taking one store, 2 shops, five stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, throughout the state, into numerous states, and eventually nationwide, even global reach. But it's challenging, particularly in today's environment.

It's not an easy time to drive profitability and development at the same time. How do you scale it and make it effective? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale excellent teams?

Regional Milestones in Brand Scaling

The first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this twice now in the dining establishment industry. What are a few of the lessons you've discovered? What has your experience been in terms of what it requires to actually drive success in expanding restaurants? Inform me a little about your course, what you experienced along the method, and possibly some of the more difficult lessons you discovered.

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

And there's absolutely nothing exactly like Chop Store in terms of what we're doing with a large, diverse menu. The majority of brand names today are really singularly focused in terms of what they're providing from a food item. I feel like we began at a benefit with both brands by having something distinct that filled a niche nobody else was doing.

Due to the fact that it's simply harder to stand apart when there are 10, 20, 50 principles within a two- or three-mile radius trying to do the exact same thing. A lot of it starts with the brand name. Does your brand name have something unique that nobody else is doing? That's unusual.

Expansion Updates: Regional Developments for 2026

The second thingI originated from a finance background, so a great deal of my learnings are more finance and data-driven versus a lot of early startup restaurateurs who are creative types. They love the food, they built the menu, they developed the brand name. I probably couldn't do that from scratch. But if you offered me something that has all those elements in place, I can take it from there and put the playbook in location.

They do not understand their breakeven sales. They don't comprehend how margin improves as sales increase. They do not comprehend cash-on-cash returns. I've seen so lots of business where the numbers just don't work. And yet individuals say: let's open 10 more. And I'll say: why? It doesn't make cash. Stop. You require to find a principle that is unique.

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If you do not have those two things, you should not be building stores. Because as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted three things: execution, brand distinction, and financial viability.

Why Is Scaling a Best Move?

Second, you require an engaging brand or distinct concept that resonates with consumers. And another essential lesson is about going into new markets.

However when we expanded to Dallas, I anticipated brand-new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. Too lots of operators presume new markets will open at complete volume the first day. That practically never occurs. And when the stores open sluggish, however you have actually signed leases and built a monetary design based upon higher volumes, you get overextended.