Strategic Expansion Milestones for 2026

And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. Jason, how about I let you give the audience some details about your background and you can also inform them a little bit about Chop Shop.

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 trying to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino residential or commercial property and worked in corporate finance.

I was the first worker there after private 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 excellent 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 all day.

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

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I've been in this role for about six years. 4th, as numerous of you know, is a leading supplier of software solutions to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our goal is to help our consumers be effective in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and generally providing them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

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

When you talk to consumers about Chop Store, they like the place. And to be able to take what is a fairly complex idea in terms of delivering a great experience for the client, and be able to grow that from a couple of stores to now north of 30 stores next yearit's fantastic.

We're going to speak about how to scale a dining establishment company. Every restaurateur I ever speak to has imagine taking one store, 2 shops, 5 shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, across the state, into multiple states, and eventually nationwide, even international reach. But it's hard, especially in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Stock costs remain high. It's not a simple time to drive profitability and growth at the exact same time. We're glad to have you here today, Jason, because we're going to dig into that subject. The questions are going to be really around: how do you grow a service? How do you scale it and make it effective? How do you replicate early success? And from there, after we speak about your experience and the lessons you've found out, we 'd like to then say: well, look, how could technology help? How can you utilize innovation as a multiplier to reproduce early success to significant success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale fantastic groups? And lastly, AI.

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The very first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this two times now in the dining establishment industry. What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to actually drive success in broadening dining establishments?

We talked a bit before we started 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 business. To me, among the crucial things, and I feel really lucky, is that both brands I have actually been included with are special.

And there's nothing precisely like Chop Shop in terms of what we're making with a big, diverse menu. Most brand names today are really singularly focused in regards to what they're offering from a food product. I feel like we started at a benefit with both brand names by having something special that filled a specific niche no one else was doing.

Since it's just harder to stand out when there are 10, 20, 50 principles within a two- or three-mile radius trying to do the precise same thing. So a great deal of it begins with the brand. Does your brand have something unique that nobody else is doing? That's unusual.

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The second thingI originated from a financing 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 innovative types. They like the food, they developed the menu, they built the brand name. I most likely couldn't do that from scratch. If you offered me something that has all those elements in place, I can take it from there and put the playbook in place.

They do not understand their breakeven sales. They do not understand how margin enhances as sales increase. I have actually seen so many business where the numbers simply do not work.

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If you do not have those two things, you should not be constructing stores. Yeah, possibly both? Since as I hear your description, you've highlighted three things: execution, brand distinction, and financial viability. You've got to start with execution. If you do not have an operating model that works, expanding it just increases problems.

Corporate Updates: New Milestones in 2026

Second, you require a compelling brand or distinct concept that resonates with consumers. And another key lesson is about getting in new markets.

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