Top Investment Prospects to Watch

Thank you. And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. Jason, how about I let you offer the audience some info about your background and you can likewise tell them a little bit about Chop Store. And then I'll let you take it from there, Clinton.

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Store. We purchased the brand name in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. After a quick stint of trying to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino property and worked in corporate finance.

I was the first employee there after personal equity bought the organization. Assisted grow that from 20 to 150 areas, 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 reproduce 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 mainly protein bowlsabout 40 percent of the mix. We likewise do salads, sandwiches. The key to the program is we have a beverage element also with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes. We do all stables, we do breakfast all the time.

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A little more complex than a few of the walk-the-line concepts that are out there, but we believe we have actually got something pretty unique. We're going to include another shop this year and a minimum of 4 stores next year. We will be 31 or so shops by the end of next year.

Regional Success in Corporate Scaling

Hey, everybody. It's fantastic to be with you once again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at 4th. I have actually remained in this role for about 6 years. 4th, as many of you understand, is a leading supplier of software services to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our objective is to help our clients succeed in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and essentially supplying them with tools they need to deliver their vision.

It's uncommon to have business that are beloved and growing rapidly, that can repeat that success year after year. Jason, among the factors I was so thrilled to have you join our session is the success at Zos was incredible. I have actually just met 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 complicated principle in terms of delivering 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 amazing.

We're going to discuss how to scale a restaurant service. Every restaurateur I ever speak to has dreams of taking one shop, 2 shops, five stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, throughout the state, into several states, and ultimately national, even global reach. It's not easy, particularly in today's environment.

It's not an easy time to drive profitability and development at the same time. How do you scale it and make it successful? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale great groups?

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The first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this two times now in the dining establishment industry. What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to really drive success in broadening dining establishments?

We talked a 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 a business. To me, among the essential things, and I feel really lucky, is that both brands I have actually been included with are unique.

And there's nothing exactly like Chop Store in terms of what we're doing with a large, diverse menu. Many brand names today are really singularly focused in terms of what they're using from a foodstuff. I feel like we started at a benefit with both brand names by having something unique that filled a niche nobody else was doing.

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

Corporate Updates: Regional Developments in 2026

The 2nd thingI came from a finance background, so a great deal of my knowings are more finance and data-driven versus a lot of early start-up restaurateurs who are innovative types. They love the food, they built the menu, they built the brand. I most likely could not 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 location.

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

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If you do not have those two things, you shouldn't be constructing stores. Since as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted three things: execution, brand name distinction, and monetary viability.

Is Scaling a Wise Move?

Second, you require a compelling brand or unique idea that resonates with consumers. And 3rd, the mathematics needs to work. If you do not understand your system economics, your fixed and variable expenses, you might be broadening blind and losing money. Precisely. And another essential lesson has to do with going into new markets.

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