Analyzing Franchise ROI Against Growth Trends

And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the conversation 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.

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. We purchased the brand name in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. 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 worked in corporate finance.

I was the very first employee there after personal equity bought business. Helped grow that from 20 to 150 places, 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 duplicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a really excellent start.

We're at the counter, we bring the food to the table. It is mostly protein bowlsabout 40 percent of the mix. We likewise 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 throughout the day.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

A little more complicated than a few of the walk-the-line principles that are out there, but we believe we've got something pretty 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.

Analyzing Investment ROI Against Market Data

Hey, everyone. It's fantastic 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 six years. Fourth, as a lot of you know, is a leading company of software application services to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our goal is to assist our clients achieve success in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and generally offering them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's uncommon to have companies that are beloved and growing quickly, that can duplicate that success year after year. Jason, among the factors I was so thrilled to have you join our session is the success at Zos was amazing. I've only met a handful of brand names where there was such a strong customer affinity for the brand.

And now you're doing the exact same thing at Chop Shop. When you talk with clients about Chop Shop, they love the location. They discuss its distinction. And to be able to take what is a relatively complex concept in regards to delivering 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 amazing.

We're going to talk about how to scale a restaurant organization. Every restaurateur I ever talk with has imagine taking one store, 2 stores, five stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, across the state, into several states, and ultimately nationwide, even worldwide reach. However it's difficult, specifically in today's environment.

It's not a simple time to drive profitability and growth at the very same time. How do you scale it and make it effective? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale terrific teams?

National Success in Brand Scaling

The very first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this two times now in the dining establishment market. What are some of the lessons you've discovered? What has your experience been in regards to what it requires to actually drive success in expanding restaurants? Inform me a little about your course, what you experienced along the way, and maybe some of the harder lessons you discovered.

We talked a little bit before we started 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 company. To me, one of the key things, and I feel really fortunate, is that both brands I have actually been included with are distinct.

And there's nothing precisely like Chop Shop in terms of what we're making with a large, varied menu. The majority of brand names today are extremely singularly focused in regards to what they're providing from a food. I seem like we started at a benefit with both brand names by having something special that filled a specific niche no one else was doing.

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

How to Scale Your Restaurant Concept

The 2nd thingI came 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 enjoy the food, they constructed the menu, they developed the brand name. I probably could not do that from scratch. If you gave me something that has all those components in location, I can take it from there and put the playbook in location.

They don't know their breakeven sales. They don't comprehend how margin improves as sales increase. They don't comprehend cash-on-cash returns. I have actually seen numerous business where the numbers simply don't work. And yet people state: let's open 10 more. And I'll say: why? It doesn't make money. Stop. You require to discover an idea that is special.

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If you do not have those two things, you should not be building stores. Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name distinction, and monetary viability.

Expansion News: New Developments for 2026

Second, you need a compelling brand or distinct principle that resonates with consumers. And 3rd, the mathematics has to work. If you do not comprehend your system economics, your fixed and variable expenses, you may be broadening blind and losing money. Exactly. And another essential lesson has to do with going into new markets.

When we expanded to Dallas, I expected brand-new shops to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the first year. Too lots of operators assume brand-new markets will open at complete volume day one.