High-ROI Hospitality Ventures Arising in 2026

And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. Jason, how about I let you give the audience some details about your background and you can likewise tell them a little bit about Chop Store.

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Store. We bought the brand in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. After a brief stint of attempting to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino property and worked in corporate financing.

I was the very first worker there after personal equity purchased the business. Helped grow that from 20 to 150 areas, 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 replicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a truly excellent start.

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

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A little more complex 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 add another shop this year and at least 4 shops next year. We will be 31 or so shops by the end of next year.

Steps to Scale Your Restaurant Concept

Hey, everyone. It's excellent to be with you once again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at Fourth. I've remained in this role for about six years. 4th, as much of you understand, is a leading company of software application solutions to the restaurant and hospitality industry. Our goal is to help our customers achieve success in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, managing inventory, and basically offering them with tools they need to provide their vision.

It's uncommon to have companies that are cherished and growing rapidly, that can duplicate that success year after year. Jason, one of the factors I was so excited to have you join our session is the success at Zos was amazing. I have actually only fulfilled a handful of brands where there was such a strong customer affinity for the brand.

And now you're doing the same thing at Chop Store. When you talk to clients about Chop Store, they enjoy the place. They discuss its distinction. And to be able to take what is a fairly complicated concept in regards to providing an excellent experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a couple of shops to now north of 30 stores next yearit's fantastic.

We're going to talk about how to scale a dining establishment company. Every restaurateur I ever talk with has dreams of taking one shop, two stores, 5 stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, throughout the state, into multiple states, and eventually national, even global reach. It's not easy, particularly in today's environment.

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

High-ROI Business Ventures Coming in 2026

The very first question 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 actually drive success in expanding dining establishments?

We talked a little bit before we began about LinkedIn, and I've got a post teed up to 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 really fortunate, is that both brand names I have actually been involved with are distinct.

And there's nothing precisely like Chop Store in regards to what we're making with a large, diverse menu. The majority of brands today are very singularly focused in regards to what they're providing from a food. I seem like we began at an advantage with both brands by having something unique that filled a niche no one else was doing.

Due to the fact that it's just more difficult to stand out when there are 10, 20, 50 ideas within a 2- or three-mile radius attempting to do the specific very same thing. A lot of it starts with the brand. Does your brand have something distinct that no one else is doing? That's unusual.

National Success in Brand Expansion

The 2nd thingI originated from a financing background, so a lot of my knowings are more finance and data-driven versus a great deal of early startup restaurateurs who are creative types. They like the food, they developed the menu, they built the brand name. I probably couldn't do that from scratch. If you provided me something that has all those elements in place, I can take it from there and put the playbook in place.

They don't understand their breakeven sales. They don't comprehend how margin improves as sales increase. I've seen so many companies where the numbers simply do not work.

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If you don't have those 2 things, you shouldn't be constructing shops. Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted three things: execution, brand name distinction, and monetary viability.

Major Growth Milestones for 2026

Second, you require an engaging brand or unique idea that resonates with clients. And another essential lesson is about entering new markets.

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