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Thank you. And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. So Jason, how about I let you offer the audience some details about your background and you can likewise inform them a bit about Chop Store. 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've been doing this for about nine years now. We purchased the brand in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. Prior to this, I have actually spent the majority of my profession in hospitality in some shape or kind. After a quick stint of trying to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment residential or commercial property and worked in corporate finance.

I was the very first staff member there after private equity purchased the service. 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 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. It is mostly protein bowlsabout 40 percent of the mix. We also do salads, sandwiches. The key to the program is we have a drink element also with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes. We do all stables, we do breakfast all day.

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

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I have actually been in this role for about six years. Fourth, as many of you know, is a leading service provider of software application options to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our objective is to help our consumers be successful in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and generally supplying them with tools they need to deliver their vision.

It's unusual to have companies that are beloved and growing rapidly, that can repeat that success year after year. Jason, one of the reasons I was so excited to have you join our session is the success at Zos was incredible. I have actually only satisfied a handful of brands where there was such a strong customer affinity for the brand.

And now you're doing the exact same thing at Chop Store. When you speak to consumers about Chop Store, they love the location. They speak about its distinction. And to be able to take what is a fairly complicated principle in terms of delivering a terrific experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a couple of shops to now north of 30 shops next yearit's fantastic.

We're going to discuss how to scale a dining establishment service. Every restaurateur I ever speak with has dreams of taking one store, two shops, five stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, throughout the state, into numerous states, and ultimately nationwide, even worldwide reach. It's not easy, particularly in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Stock costs remain high. It's not a simple time to drive profitability and development at the same time. We're delighted to have you here today, Jason, since we're going to dig into that topic. The concerns are going to be actually around: how do you grow a business? How do you scale it and make it successful? How do you reproduce early success? And from there, after we discuss your experience and the lessons you've learned, we 'd love to then say: well, appearance, how could technology help? How can you utilize technology as a multiplier to duplicate early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale great groups? And finally, AI.

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The first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this two times now in the restaurant industry. What are a few of the lessons you've found out? What has your experience remained in regards to what it requires to actually drive success in broadening restaurants? Inform me a little about your course, what you experienced along the method, and maybe some of the more difficult lessons you learned.

We talked a bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I've got a post teed approximately 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 lucky, is that both brands I've been involved with are special.

And there's absolutely nothing precisely like Chop Shop in terms of what we're doing with a big, varied menu. Many brand names today are really singularly focused in regards to what they're offering from a food. I seem like we started at an advantage with both brand names by having something distinct that filled a specific niche no one else was doing.

Due to the fact that it's just more difficult to stick out when there are 10, 20, 50 principles 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 have something unique that nobody else is doing? That's unusual.

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The second thingI came from a financing background, so a lot of my knowings are more financing and data-driven versus a great deal of early start-up restaurateurs who are innovative types. They love the food, they constructed the menu, they constructed the brand. I probably 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 location.

They don't understand their breakeven sales. They do not comprehend how margin improves as sales boost. I have actually seen so lots of companies where the numbers just do not work.

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If you don't have those two things, you shouldn't be constructing stores. Because as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand differentiation, and monetary practicality.

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Second, you require a compelling brand or distinct idea that resonates with consumers. And third, the mathematics needs to work. If you don't understand your unit economics, your repaired and variable expenses, you may be expanding blind and losing cash. Exactly. And another essential lesson has to do with getting in brand-new markets.

However when we broadened to Dallas, I anticipated new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. Too many operators assume brand-new markets will open at complete volume day one. That practically never ever happens. And when the stores open slow, but you have actually signed leases and developed a financial model based upon higher volumes, you get overextended.