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Thank you. And we also have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. So Jason, how about I let you give the audience some information about your background and you can also inform them a little bit about Chop Store. And after that I'll let you take it from there, Clinton.

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Store. We bought the brand name in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. After a short stint of trying to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment property and worked in corporate financing.

I was the very first staff member there after personal equity purchased the company. Helped 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 replicate 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 also do salads, sandwiches. The key to the program is we have a beverage component as well 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 concepts that are out there, however we think we have actually got something pretty unique. We're going to include another store this year and a minimum of four 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 function for about six years. Fourth, as numerous of you understand, is a leading supplier of software application services to the dining establishment and hospitality market. Our objective is to assist our consumers be effective in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling stock, and essentially supplying them with tools they need to provide their vision.

It's rare to have business that are precious and growing rapidly, that can repeat that success year after year. Jason, among the factors I was so fired up to have you join our session is the success at Zos was fantastic. I have actually only met a handful of brand names where there was such a strong client 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 relatively complicated 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 incredible.

We're going to talk about how to scale a dining establishment business. Every restaurateur I ever speak to has imagine taking one store, two stores, five shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, across the state, into numerous states, and ultimately national, even global reach. It's not simple, specifically in today's environment.

Labor is hard. Stock costs stay high. It's not an easy time to drive profitability and growth at the same time. We're glad to have you here today, Jason, because we're going to dig into that topic. The questions 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 learned, we 'd enjoy to then say: well, look, how could technology assist? How can you use innovation as a multiplier to reproduce early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale excellent groups? And lastly, AI.

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

We talked a little bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I've got a post teed up to follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing a business. To me, one of the crucial things, and I feel extremely fortunate, is that both brand names I've been involved with are unique.

And there's nothing exactly like Chop Store in regards to what we're finishing with a big, diverse menu. Most brand names today are extremely singularly focused in regards to what they're providing from a food. I seem like we started at an advantage with both brand names by having something distinct that filled a specific niche nobody else was doing.

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

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The second thingI originated from a finance background, so a lot of my learnings are more financing and data-driven versus a lot of early start-up restaurateurs who are innovative types. They like the food, they built the menu, they developed the brand. I most likely could not do that from scratch. If you provided me something that has all those elements in location, I can take it from there and put the playbook in location.

They don't know their breakeven sales. They do not understand how margin enhances as sales increase. I have actually seen so numerous companies where the numbers just don't work.

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If you do not have those 2 things, you shouldn't be developing stores. Because as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name distinction, and financial practicality.

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Second, you require a compelling brand name or distinct principle that resonates with customers. And another essential lesson is about going into brand-new markets.

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