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Thank you. And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. So Jason, how about I let you give the audience some information about your background and you can likewise tell them a bit about Chop Shop. 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 have actually been doing this for about 9 years now. We bought the brand 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 quick stint of attempting to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment property and worked in corporate financing.

I was the first employee there after private equity purchased 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. The secret to the program is we have a beverage element as well with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes.

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A little more complicated than a few of the walk-the-line principles that are out there, however we think we have actually got something quite unique. We're going to add another store this year and at least 4 shops next year. We will be 31 or so stores by the end of next year.

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Hey, everybody. It's fantastic to be with you again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at Fourth. I have actually remained in this role for about 6 years. Fourth, as much of you know, is a leading service provider of software application options to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our goal is to help our consumers achieve success in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and basically supplying them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's unusual to have companies that are precious and growing quickly, that can duplicate that success year after year. Jason, one of the factors I was so fired up to have you join our session is the success at Zos was remarkable. I've only satisfied a handful of brands where there was such a strong client affinity for the brand.

When you talk to consumers about Chop Shop, they like the location. And to be able to take what is a relatively complex idea in terms of delivering a great experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a couple of shops to now north of 30 stores next yearit's amazing.

We're going to talk about how to scale a dining establishment business. Every restaurateur I ever talk with has imagine taking one store, 2 shops, 5 stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, throughout the state, into numerous states, and ultimately national, even global reach. It's not simple, specifically in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Stock costs stay high. It's not an easy time to drive profitability and growth at the same time. We're pleased to have you here today, Jason, since we're going to dig into that topic. The questions are going to be actually around: how do you grow a business? How do you scale it and make it effective? How do you reproduce early success? And from there, after we discuss your experience and the lessons you've found out, we 'd enjoy to then state: well, look, how could innovation assist? How can you utilize technology as a multiplier to reproduce early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale fantastic groups? And lastly, AI.

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The very first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this two times now in the restaurant industry. What are some of the lessons you've found out? What has your experience been in terms of what it requires to actually drive success in expanding restaurants? Inform me a little about your path, what you experienced along the method, and possibly some of the harder lessons you learned.

We talked a little bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I've got a post teed as much as follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing an organization. To me, one of the key things, and I feel extremely fortunate, is that both brands I've been included with are distinct.

And there's absolutely nothing exactly like Chop Store in regards to what we're making with a large, varied menu. Most brands today are really singularly focused in terms of what they're offering from a food. I seem like we began at an advantage with both brands by having something distinct that filled a specific niche nobody else was doing.

Because it's simply harder to stand out when there are 10, 20, 50 ideas within a two- or three-mile radius trying to do the specific very same thing. So a great deal of it starts with the brand name. Does your brand name have something distinct that no one else is doing? That's uncommon.

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

They do not know their breakeven sales. They don't understand how margin enhances as sales increase. They don't understand cash-on-cash returns. I have actually seen many companies where the numbers just don't work. And yet people state: let's open 10 more. And I'll say: why? It does not make money. Stop. You need to find a principle that is unique.

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If you do not have those two things, you should not be developing stores. Since as I hear your description, you've highlighted three things: execution, brand differentiation, and financial practicality.

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Second, you need an engaging brand or special concept that resonates with consumers. And 3rd, the mathematics has to work. If you don't comprehend your system economics, your fixed and variable costs, you may be broadening blind and losing money. Precisely. And another essential lesson is about going into new markets.

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