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

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. We purchased the brand in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. After a short stint of attempting to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino home and worked in corporate finance.

I was the very first staff member there after private equity bought business. Assisted grow that from 20 to 150 locations, 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 replicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a truly great start.

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

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A little more complicated than some of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, but we think we have actually got something pretty special. We're going to include another shop this year and at least 4 shops next year. So we will be 31 approximately stores by the end of next year.

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Hey, everybody. It's fantastic to be with you again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at Fourth. I have actually remained in this role for about six years. Fourth, as numerous of you know, is a leading provider of software application services to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our objective is to assist our clients be successful in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, managing inventory, and generally supplying them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's unusual to have business that are cherished and growing rapidly, that can repeat that success every year. Jason, among the factors I was so fired up to have you join our session is the success at Zos was remarkable. I have actually just met a handful of brand names 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 customers about Chop Store, they enjoy the location. They discuss its distinction. And to be able to take what is a fairly complicated idea in regards to delivering a fantastic experience for the customer, and have the ability to grow that from a few shops to now north of 30 shops next yearit's amazing.

We're going to speak about how to scale a dining establishment service. Every restaurateur I ever speak to has dreams of taking one store, 2 shops, 5 stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, across the state, into multiple states, and ultimately national, even worldwide reach. It's not easy, especially in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Inventory costs remain high. It's not an easy time to drive success and growth at the exact same time. But we're glad to have you here today, Jason, because we're going to go into that subject. The concerns are going to be truly 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 found out, we 'd like to then say: well, look, how could technology assist? How can you utilize technology as a multiplier to reproduce early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale great groups? And finally, AI.

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The first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this twice 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 little bit before we began 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 business. To me, among the essential things, and I feel extremely lucky, is that both brand names I've been involved with are unique.

And there's absolutely nothing exactly like Chop Store in terms of what we're doing with a large, varied menu. The majority of brands today are very singularly focused in terms of what they're using from a food. I feel like we began at a benefit with both brand names by having something distinct that filled a specific niche no one else was doing.

A lot of it starts with the brand. Does your brand name have something unique that no one else is doing?

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The second thingI came from a financing background, so a lot of my knowings are more finance and data-driven versus a lot of early startup restaurateurs who are creative types. They enjoy the food, they developed the menu, they developed the brand.

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

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If you do not have those 2 things, you should not be building stores. Yeah, maybe both? Because as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name distinction, and financial practicality. You have actually got to begin with execution. If you do not have an operating design that works, broadening it simply multiplies issues.

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Second, you need an engaging brand name or unique concept that resonates with consumers. And another key lesson is about going into brand-new markets.

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