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Thank you. And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. So Jason, how about I let you provide the audience some details about your background and you can likewise inform 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 9 years now. We purchased the brand name in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. Prior to this, I have actually invested most of my career in hospitality in some shape or form. 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 personal equity bought business. Helped grow that from 20 to 150 areas, took it public in 2014, and after that left about a year and a half after going public to do this at Chop Shop. My hope is that we can duplicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to a truly excellent start.

We're at the counter, we bring the food to the table. It is mostly protein bowlsabout 40 percent of the mix. We also do salads, sandwiches. The key to the program is we have a drink component too with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes. We do all stables, we do breakfast all 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 have actually got something pretty special. We're going to add another store this year and a minimum of 4 stores next year. So we will be 31 or two stores by the end of next year.

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Hey, everyone. It's great to be with you once again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at 4th. I have actually been in this role for about 6 years. 4th, as numerous of you know, is a leading provider of software application options to the restaurant and hospitality industry. Our objective is to help our consumers achieve success in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, managing inventory, and essentially providing them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's unusual to have business that are precious and growing rapidly, that can duplicate that success every year. Jason, one of the factors I was so fired up to have you join our session is the success at Zos was remarkable. I have actually just fulfilled a handful of brands where there was such a strong customer affinity for the brand name.

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

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

Labor is difficult. Inventory costs stay high. It's not a simple time to drive success and growth at the same time. We're thankful to have you here today, Jason, because we're going to dig into that topic. The questions are going to be really around: how do you grow a company? How do you scale it and make it successful? How do you reproduce early success? And from there, after we talk about your experience and the lessons you've discovered, we 'd like to then state: well, look, how could innovation assist? How can you use technology as a multiplier to replicate early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond technology, how do you scale terrific groups? And lastly, AI.

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The first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this two times now in the dining establishment industry. What are some of the lessons you've found out? What has your experience remained in regards to what it takes to truly drive success in expanding restaurants? Tell me a little about your path, what you experienced along the method, and maybe a few of the harder lessons you learned.

We talked a little bit before we began about LinkedIn, and I have actually got a post teed approximately follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing an organization. To me, among the essential things, and I feel extremely fortunate, is that both brands I've been involved with are distinct.

And there's nothing precisely like Chop Store in terms of what we're making with a big, diverse menu. Most brands today are really singularly focused in terms of what they're providing from a food item. 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 begins with the brand. Does your brand name have something distinct that no one else is doing?

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The 2nd thingI came 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 imaginative types. They like the food, they developed the menu, they constructed the brand. I most likely could not do that from scratch. However if you provided me something that has all those parts 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 improves as sales boost. I have actually seen so numerous business where the numbers just don't work.

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If you don't have those 2 things, you shouldn't be developing stores. Due to the fact that 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 special concept that resonates with customers. And another crucial lesson is about getting in 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 full volume day one.