Comparing Franchise ROI Against Growth Data

And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. Jason, how about I let you provide the audience some details 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 bought the brand name in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. After a quick stint of trying to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment residential or commercial property and worked in business finance.

I was the very first staff member there after private equity purchased 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 Store. 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 secret to the program is we have a beverage part also 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 some of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, however we think we have actually got something pretty unique. We're going to include another shop this year and a minimum of four stores next year. So we will be 31 approximately shops by the end of next year.

National Milestones in Brand Expansion

I have actually been in this role for about 6 years. Fourth, as numerous of you understand, is a leading supplier of software application services to the dining establishment and hospitality industry. Our goal is to help our customers be effective in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, managing stock, and essentially providing them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's rare to have business that are precious and growing rapidly, 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 have actually only fulfilled a handful of brand names where there was such a strong customer affinity for the brand name.

When you talk to customers about Chop Shop, they love the location. And to be able to take what is a relatively complex concept in terms of providing a terrific experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 shops next yearit's amazing.

We're going to talk about how to scale a dining establishment organization. Every restaurateur I ever talk to has dreams of taking one store, 2 shops, five stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, across the state, into multiple states, and ultimately nationwide, even worldwide reach. But it's difficult, especially in today's environment.

Labor is hard. Inventory expenses stay high. It's not an easy time to drive success and growth at the same time. However we're thankful to have you here today, Jason, because we're going to dig into that topic. The questions are going to be actually around: how do you grow a company? How do you scale it and make it effective? How do you reproduce early success? And from there, after we talk about your experience and the lessons you've learned, we 'd enjoy to then state: well, look, how could technology help? How can you use innovation as a multiplier to duplicate early success to significant success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale great teams? And lastly, AI.

Corporate Expansion Targets for 2026

The first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this twice now in the dining establishment market. What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to truly drive success in expanding dining establishments?

We talked a little bit before we began 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 service. To me, one of the essential things, and I feel extremely fortunate, is that both brands I've been involved with are distinct.

And there's nothing precisely like Chop Shop in regards to what we're making with a big, diverse menu. The majority of brand names today are extremely 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 special that filled a specific niche nobody else was doing.

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

Regional Milestones in Brand Expansion

The second thingI came from a financing background, so a great deal of my learnings are more financing and data-driven versus a lot of early start-up restaurateurs who are innovative types. They like the food, they built the menu, they built the brand. I probably couldn't do that from scratch. If you offered me something that has all those parts 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 have actually seen so numerous business where the numbers simply do not work.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

If you do not have those 2 things, you shouldn't be building stores. Yeah, possibly both? Because as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted three things: execution, brand name distinction, and monetary viability. You have actually got to start with execution. If you don't have an operating design that works, broadening it simply multiplies issues.

Steps to Expand a Restaurant Concept

Second, you need an engaging brand or unique concept that resonates with clients. And 3rd, the math needs to work. If you do not understand your system economics, your fixed and variable expenses, you might be broadening blind and losing cash. Precisely. And another crucial lesson has to do with going into brand-new markets.

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