Why Is Fast Casual a Best Move?

Thank you. And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. So Jason, how about I let you offer the audience some info about your background and you can also tell them a bit about Chop Store. And then I'll let you take it from there, Clinton.

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. We purchased the brand in 2016three unitsand I've 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 home and worked in corporate finance.

I was the very first staff member there after personal equity bought the 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 a really good start.

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

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A little more complex than a few of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, but we believe we have actually got something pretty special. We're going to include another store this year and at least four stores next year. So we will be 31 or so shops by the end of next year.

National Milestones in Brand Scaling

Hey, everybody. It's excellent to be with you once again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at 4th. I have actually remained in this role for about 6 years. 4th, as much of you know, is a leading provider of software solutions to the dining establishment and hospitality market. Our goal is to help our customers achieve success in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and basically supplying them with tools they need to provide their vision.

It's uncommon to have business that are precious and growing rapidly, that can repeat 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've just met a handful of brand names where there was such a strong customer affinity for the brand name.

And now you're doing the exact same thing at Chop Shop. When you speak to clients about Chop Store, they enjoy the location. They speak about its distinction. And to be able to take what is a relatively complex principle in regards to providing a fantastic experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a couple of stores to now north of 30 stores next yearit's remarkable.

We're going to discuss how to scale a dining establishment organization. Every restaurateur I ever talk to has dreams of taking one store, 2 stores, 5 stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, across the state, into several states, and ultimately national, even worldwide reach. It's not simple, specifically in today's environment.

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

Is Scaling the Best Investment?

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 found out? What has your experience remained in regards to what it requires to actually drive success in broadening restaurants? Tell me a little about your course, what you experienced along the way, and maybe a few of the harder 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 company. To me, among the essential things, and I feel extremely lucky, is that both brand names I've been involved with are distinct.

And there's absolutely nothing precisely like Chop Store in regards to what we're making with a large, varied menu. Most brands today are really singularly focused in regards to what they're offering from a foodstuff. I seem like we started at a benefit with both brand names by having something distinct that filled a niche no one else was doing.

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

Hospitality Sector Shifts Redefining 2026

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

They do not understand their breakeven sales. They don't understand how margin improves as sales increase. I have actually seen so numerous business where the numbers simply don't work.

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If you do not have those 2 things, you should not be constructing shops. Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name distinction, and monetary viability.

Regional Success in Corporate Expansion

Second, you need a compelling brand name or unique idea that resonates with clients. And third, the math has to work. If you don't comprehend your unit economics, your repaired and variable costs, you might be broadening blind and losing cash. Precisely. And another key lesson is about getting in brand-new markets.

However when we broadened to Dallas, I anticipated brand-new shops to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. A lot of operators assume new markets will open at full volume day one. That almost never takes place. And when the shops open sluggish, however you've signed leases and built a monetary model based on greater volumes, you get overextended.