Best Investment Opportunities 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 offer the audience some info about your background and you can also inform them a little bit about Chop Store.

Thanks Christina. My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. I've been doing this for about nine years now. We bought the brand name in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. Prior to this, I've spent many of my profession in hospitality in some shape or form. After a short stint of attempting to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino home and operated in business financing.

I was the first staff member there after personal equity purchased business. Assisted grow that from 20 to 150 places, 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 replicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a really great start.

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

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

A little more complex than a few of the walk-the-line concepts that are out there, however we believe we've got something quite special. We're going to include another shop this year and at least four shops next year. We will be 31 or so stores by the end of next year.

How to Scale a Dining Concept

Hey, everyone. It's excellent to be with you again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at Fourth. I have actually been in this role for about six years. 4th, as much of you understand, is a leading service provider of software options to the dining establishment and hospitality industry. Our objective is to assist our consumers succeed in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, managing stock, and basically offering them with tools they need to deliver their vision.

It's uncommon to have business that are beloved and growing rapidly, that can duplicate that success year after year. Jason, among the reasons I was so thrilled to have you join our session is the success at Zos was incredible. I have actually only met a handful of brand names where there was such a strong client affinity for the brand name.

When you talk to consumers about Chop Store, they love the place. And to be able to take what is a relatively complicated principle in terms of delivering an excellent experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 stores next yearit's remarkable.

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, 2 stores, 5 shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, across the state, into multiple states, and eventually national, even global reach. But it's not easy, specifically in today's environment.

It's not an easy time to drive success and development at the very same time. How do you scale it and make it effective? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale fantastic teams?

Why Is Scaling the Best Investment?

The first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this two times now in the restaurant industry. What are some of the lessons you've discovered? What has your experience remained in terms of what it takes to actually drive success in broadening restaurants? Inform me a little about your path, what you experienced along the way, and maybe a few of the more difficult lessons you learned.

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 company. To me, one of the key things, and I feel really fortunate, is that both brands I've been involved with are special.

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

Since it's simply harder to stick out when there are 10, 20, 50 principles within a two- or three-mile radius attempting to do the precise very same thing. A lot of it begins with the brand name. Does your brand name have something unique that nobody else is doing? That's rare.

Regional Success in Brand Scaling

The second thingI came from a financing background, so a lot of my knowings are more financing and data-driven versus a lot of early start-up restaurateurs who are creative types. They love the food, they developed the menu, they built the brand. I most likely could not do that from scratch. If you gave me something that has all those parts in location, I can take it from there and put the playbook in location.

They don't know their breakeven sales. They don't comprehend how margin improves as sales increase. They do not comprehend cash-on-cash returns. I've seen a lot of companies where the numbers just don't work. And yet individuals say: let's open 10 more. And I'll state: why? It doesn't make money. Stop. You need to discover a concept that is special.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

If you don't have those 2 things, you shouldn't be building stores. Yeah, maybe both, right? Because as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name distinction, and monetary viability. You have actually got to begin with execution. If you do not have an operating model that works, broadening it just increases issues.

Major Growth Milestones in 2026

Second, you need an engaging brand or special principle that resonates with customers. And another key lesson is about going into new markets.

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