Steps to Scale Your Restaurant Brand

Thank you. And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. Jason, how about I let you give the audience some info about your background and you can likewise inform them a little bit about Chop Shop. And after that 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 have actually grown it to 26. After a short 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 finance.

I was the first employee there after personal equity purchased the 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 Shop. My hope is that we can reproduce the success we had at Zos, and we're off to an actually good start.

We're at the counter, we bring the food to the table. It is mostly protein bowlsabout 40 percent of the mix. We likewise do salads, sandwiches. The key to the program is we have a beverage part also with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes. We do all stables, we do breakfast throughout the day.

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 have actually got something quite special. We're going to include another store this year and a minimum of 4 shops next year. So we will be 31 approximately stores by the end of next year.

High-ROI Business Ventures Coming in 2026

Hey, everybody. It's terrific 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. Fourth, as a number of you understand, is a leading company of software application options to the dining establishment and hospitality industry. Our objective is to assist our clients achieve success in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, managing inventory, and essentially supplying them with tools they need to deliver their vision.

It's unusual to have companies that are cherished and growing quickly, 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 amazing. I have actually only met a handful of brand names 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 with clients about Chop Store, they enjoy the place. They discuss its differentiation. And to be able to take what is a reasonably complex concept in regards to providing a great experience for the client, and be able to grow that from a couple of shops to now north of 30 shops next yearit's amazing.

We're going to speak about how to scale a dining establishment company. Every restaurateur I ever speak to has dreams of taking one store, two stores, five stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, across the state, into several states, and eventually national, even worldwide reach. It's not easy, especially in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Inventory costs stay high. It's not an easy time to drive success and development at the very same time. We're pleased to have you here today, Jason, because we're going to dig into that subject. The questions are going to be truly around: how do you grow a company? How do you scale it and make it successful? How do you duplicate early success? And from there, after we talk about your experience and the lessons you've discovered, we 'd like to then say: well, appearance, how could technology help? How can you utilize innovation as a multiplier to reproduce early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale terrific teams? And finally, AI.

Is Fast Casual the Wise Move?

The first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this two times now in the dining establishment market. What are some of the lessons you've learned? What has your experience been in terms of what it requires to truly drive success in broadening dining establishments? Inform me a little about your course, what you experienced along the method, and perhaps a few of the harder lessons you found out.

We talked a little bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I have actually 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 essential things, and I feel really lucky, is that both brands I've been involved with are distinct.

And there's absolutely nothing precisely like Chop Shop in terms of what we're making with a large, varied menu. Most brands today are extremely singularly focused in terms of what they're using from a food item. I feel like we began at an advantage with both brand names by having something unique that filled a niche nobody else was doing.

Since it's simply more difficult to stick out when there are 10, 20, 50 principles within a 2- or three-mile radius attempting to do the specific same thing. So a great deal of it begins with the brand name. Does your brand have something unique that nobody else is doing? That's rare.

Top Advantages of Fast Casual Franchising in 2026

The 2nd thingI originated from a financing background, so a lot of my learnings are more financing and data-driven versus a lot of early startup restaurateurs who are innovative types. They love the food, they constructed the menu, they developed the brand. I most likely could not do that from scratch. If you offered me something that has all those components in location, I can take it from there and put the playbook in place.

They don't understand their breakeven sales. They don't understand how margin improves as sales boost. They do not understand cash-on-cash returns. I've seen numerous companies where the numbers just don't work. And yet people say: let's open 10 more. And I'll say: why? It does not generate income. Stop. You require to discover a concept that is distinct.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

If you do not have those 2 things, you shouldn't be constructing shops. Since as I hear your description, you've highlighted three things: execution, brand name distinction, and monetary practicality.

National Milestones in Brand Expansion

Second, you require a compelling brand or special concept that resonates with customers. And another essential lesson is about getting in brand-new markets.

When we broadened to Dallas, I expected brand-new shops to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. A lot of operators presume new markets will open at full volume day one. That almost never takes place. And when the shops open slow, however you've signed leases and constructed a financial design based upon greater volumes, you get overextended.