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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 info about your background and you can also tell them a little 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 Shop. I've been doing this for about nine years now. We purchased the brand name in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. Prior to this, I have actually invested many of my career in hospitality in some shape or form. After a quick stint of attempting to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino home and worked in business financing.

I was the first worker there after personal equity purchased the company. Helped 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 duplicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a really good 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 secret to the program is we have a beverage element also with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes. We do all stables, we do breakfast throughout the day.

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A little more complicated than some of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, but we believe we've got something pretty special. We're going to add another store 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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I have actually been in this role for about 6 years. Fourth, as many of you know, is a leading company of software application services to the dining establishment and hospitality industry. Our goal is to assist our customers be effective in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and generally offering them with tools they require to provide their vision.

It's unusual to have business that are cherished and growing quickly, that can duplicate that success year after year. Jason, one of the factors I was so fired up to have you join our session is the success at Zos was fantastic. I've just fulfilled a handful of brands where there was such a strong consumer affinity for the brand.

When you talk to consumers about Chop Shop, they like the location. And to be able to take what is a reasonably complex concept in terms of delivering an excellent experience for the consumer, and be able to grow that from a couple of shops to now north of 30 stores next yearit's remarkable.

We're going to speak about how to scale a restaurant company. Every restaurateur I ever speak with has dreams of taking one shop, 2 stores, 5 stores, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, throughout the state, into multiple states, and eventually nationwide, even worldwide reach. It's not simple, particularly in today's environment.

Labor is hard. Stock costs stay high. It's not a simple time to drive profitability and development at the same time. We're grateful to have you here today, Jason, because we're going to dig into that topic. The concerns are going to be actually around: how do you grow an organization? How do you scale it and make it successful? How do you duplicate early success? And from there, after we discuss your experience and the lessons you've found out, we 'd enjoy to then state: well, appearance, how could technology assist? How can you utilize innovation as a multiplier to reproduce early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale excellent teams? And lastly, AI.

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The very first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this two times now in the restaurant market. What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to truly drive success in expanding dining establishments?

We talked a bit before we began about LinkedIn, and I have actually got a post teed up to follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing a service. To me, among the essential things, and I feel really lucky, is that both brand names I've been included with are special.

And there's absolutely nothing precisely like Chop Shop in terms of what we're making with a large, varied menu. Most brand names today are very singularly focused in terms of what they're providing from a food item. I feel like we started at a benefit with both brand names by having something special that filled a niche no one else was doing.

Since it's just harder to stand apart when there are 10, 20, 50 ideas within a two- or three-mile radius trying to do the specific very same thing. A lot of it starts with the brand name. Does your brand have something distinct that no one else is doing? That's uncommon.

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The second thingI came from a finance background, so a great deal of my learnings are more financing and data-driven versus a great deal of early start-up restaurateurs who are imaginative types. They like the food, they developed the menu, they developed the brand. I most likely couldn't do that from scratch. If you offered me something that has all those parts in place, I can take it from there and put the playbook in location.

They do not know their breakeven sales. They do not comprehend how margin improves as sales increase. I've seen so lots of companies where the numbers just don't work.

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If you do not have those 2 things, you shouldn't be building shops. Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted three things: execution, brand name differentiation, and financial practicality.

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

When we expanded to Dallas, I expected new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the first year. A lot of operators presume brand-new markets will open at complete volume the first day. That almost never ever occurs. And when the shops open slow, but you've signed leases and developed a financial design based on higher volumes, you get overextended.