Corporate News: New Developments in 2026

Thank you. And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. Jason, how about I let you give the audience some details about your background and you can also tell them a little bit about Chop Store. And after that I'll let you take it from there, Clinton.

Thanks Christina. My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Store. I've been doing this for about 9 years now. We bought the brand in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. Prior to this, I've invested most of my career in hospitality in some shape or kind. After a brief stint of trying to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment residential or commercial property and worked in corporate finance.

I was the first employee there after personal equity purchased business. Assisted grow that from 20 to 150 locations, 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 good start.

We're at the counter, we bring the food to the table. It is mainly protein bowlsabout 40 percent of the mix. We likewise do salads, sandwiches. The secret to the program is we have a beverage 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 complicated than a few of the walk-the-line principles that are out there, however we believe we've got something quite special. We're going to include another store this year and a minimum of 4 shops next year. We will be 31 or so stores by the end of next year.

Quick Service Market Share Trends for 2026

I have actually been in this role for about six years. Fourth, as numerous of you know, is a leading supplier of software solutions to the dining establishment and hospitality industry. Our goal is to assist our customers be successful in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, managing stock, and basically supplying them with tools they require to provide their vision.

It's uncommon to have business that are precious and growing rapidly, that can repeat that success year after year. Jason, one of the factors I was so thrilled to have you join our session is the success at Zos was remarkable. I have actually just satisfied a handful of brand names where there was such a strong customer affinity for the brand name.

When you talk to consumers about Chop Shop, they like the place. And to be able to take what is a reasonably complex concept in terms of delivering an excellent experience for the client, and be able to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 stores next yearit's fantastic.

We're going to discuss how to scale a restaurant service. Every restaurateur I ever talk with has imagine taking one store, two stores, five stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, across the state, into multiple states, and eventually nationwide, even global reach. However it's challenging, specifically in today's environment.

Labor is hard. Inventory costs remain high. It's not an easy time to drive profitability and development at the very same time. We're grateful to have you here today, Jason, due to the fact that we're going to dig into that subject. The questions are going to be truly 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 talk about your experience and the lessons you've learned, we 'd enjoy to then say: well, look, how could innovation help? How can you use technology as a multiplier to reproduce early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale great groups? And last but not least, AI.

Is Scaling a Wise Investment?

The very first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this two times now in the restaurant industry. 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, among the crucial things, and I feel really fortunate, is that both brand names I've been involved with are unique.

And there's absolutely nothing precisely like Chop Store in terms of what we're doing with a large, varied menu. Many brand names today are really singularly focused in terms of what they're offering from a food. I feel like we began at an advantage with both brands by having something unique that filled a specific niche no one else was doing.

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

Quick Service Industry Growth

The 2nd thingI came from a finance background, so a lot of my knowings are more finance and data-driven versus a lot of early startup restaurateurs who are innovative types. They love the food, they developed the menu, they constructed the brand.

They do not know their breakeven sales. They do not comprehend 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 don't have those two things, you shouldn't be constructing stores. Yeah, possibly both, right? Since as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name differentiation, and monetary viability. You have actually got to start with execution. If you do not have an operating model that works, broadening it simply multiplies problems.

Significant Regional Milestones for 2026 Expansion

Second, you need a compelling brand or unique principle that resonates with customers. And third, the mathematics needs to work. If you do not understand your unit economics, your repaired and variable costs, you may be broadening blind and losing money. Exactly. And another key lesson is about entering new markets.

When we broadened to Dallas, I expected new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. A lot of operators presume brand-new markets will open at full volume day one. That practically never happens. And when the stores open sluggish, but you've signed leases and constructed a financial design based on greater volumes, you get overextended.