Steps to Expand a Dining Brand

And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. Jason, how about I let you offer the audience some details about your background and you can likewise tell them a little bit about Chop Store.

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

I was the first worker there after personal equity bought the organization. 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 Store. My hope is that we can duplicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a truly great start.

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

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

A little more complex than some of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, however we believe we have actually got something quite special. We're going to add another shop this year and a minimum of four shops next year. So we will be 31 approximately shops by the end of next year.

Corporate Growth Milestones in 2026

Hey, everybody. It's great to be with you again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at Fourth. I've been in this function for about six years. 4th, as a lot of you know, is a leading company of software services to the dining establishment and hospitality market. Our goal is to help our consumers succeed in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, managing inventory, and essentially supplying them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's rare to have companies that are precious and growing rapidly, that can duplicate that success year after year. Jason, one of the reasons I was so fired up to have you join our session is the success at Zos was remarkable. I have actually just fulfilled a handful of brands where there was such a strong consumer affinity for the brand name.

When you talk to clients about Chop Store, they love the location. And to be able to take what is a relatively complicated idea in terms of providing a terrific experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a few stores to now north of 30 stores next yearit's remarkable.

We're going to speak about how to scale a dining establishment business. Every restaurateur I ever speak with has dreams of taking one shop, 2 stores, 5 stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, throughout the state, into numerous states, and eventually nationwide, even worldwide reach. However it's hard, specifically in today's environment.

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

Major Expansion Milestones in 2026

The very first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this two times now in the restaurant market. What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to actually drive success in broadening restaurants?

We talked a bit before we began about LinkedIn, and I have actually got a post teed up to 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 lucky, is that both brands I've been included with are special.

And there's nothing exactly like Chop Store in regards to what we're doing with a big, diverse menu. Many brand names today are really singularly focused in regards to what they're offering from a food item. I seem like we began at an advantage with both brand names by having something special that filled a specific niche nobody else was doing.

Since it's simply more difficult to stand out when there are 10, 20, 50 concepts within a two- or three-mile radius trying to do the precise same thing. So a great deal of it begins with the brand. Does your brand have something distinct that nobody else is doing? That's rare.

Key Market Milestones for 2026 Growth

The 2nd thingI originated from a financing background, so a great deal of my learnings are more finance and data-driven versus a lot of early start-up restaurateurs who are imaginative types. They like the food, they constructed the menu, they constructed the brand name. I most likely could not do that from scratch. 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 know their breakeven sales. They do not comprehend how margin enhances as sales boost. They don't understand cash-on-cash returns. I have actually seen so numerous companies where the numbers simply don't work. And yet individuals say: let's open 10 more. And I'll state: why? It does not generate income. Stop. You need to discover a principle that is special.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

If you don't have those 2 things, you should not be developing stores. Yeah, perhaps both? Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you've highlighted three things: execution, brand name distinction, and financial practicality. You have actually got to start with execution. If you do not have an operating model that works, broadening it simply increases problems.

Key Market Shifts for 2026 Growth

Second, you need a compelling brand or special principle that resonates with customers. And third, the math needs to work. If you do not understand your system economics, your repaired and variable expenses, you might be expanding blind and losing cash. Exactly. And another key lesson is about getting in brand-new markets.

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