How to Scale Your Restaurant Concept

Thank you. And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of 4th, who will be moderating the discussion with Jason. Jason, how about I let you offer the audience some details about your background and you can also tell them a little bit about Chop Store. And then I'll let you take it from there, Clinton.

Thanks Christina. My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Store. I have actually been doing this for about nine years now. We purchased the brand in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. Prior to this, I have actually spent the majority of my profession in hospitality in some shape or form. After a quick stint of trying 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 very first worker there after personal 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 Store. My hope is that we can duplicate the success we had at Zos, and we're off to an actually good start.

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

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A little more complicated than some of the walk-the-line concepts that are out there, but we think we have actually got something pretty special. We're going to include another store this year and a minimum of 4 shops next year. We will be 31 or so stores by the end of next year.

Top Benefits of Restaurant Expansion in 2026

Hey, everybody. It's terrific to be with you once again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at Fourth. I've been in this function for about six years. Fourth, as a number of you know, is a leading provider of software services to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our objective is to help our clients succeed in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and generally offering them with tools they need to provide their vision.

It's rare to have companies that are precious and growing quickly, that can duplicate that success every year. Jason, one of the factors I was so excited to have you join our session is the success at Zos was fantastic. I have actually only fulfilled a handful of brand names where there was such a strong client affinity for the brand name.

And now you're doing the very same thing at Chop Store. When you speak with consumers about Chop Store, they enjoy the location. They discuss its differentiation. And to be able to take what is a fairly complicated concept in terms of delivering a terrific experience for the consumer, and have the ability to grow that from a few stores to now north of 30 shops next yearit's incredible.

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

Labor is difficult. Inventory expenses stay high. It's not an easy time to drive success and growth at the exact same time. But we're grateful to have you here today, Jason, since we're going to dig into that subject. The questions are going to be really around: how do you grow an organization? How do you scale it and make it effective? How do you replicate early success? And from there, after we talk about your experience and the lessons you've learned, we 'd enjoy to then state: well, appearance, how could technology assist? How can you use technology as a multiplier to reproduce early success to significant success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale great teams? And last but not least, AI.

Restaurant Industry Trends Shaping 2026

The first question I have for you, Jasonlook, you have actually done this twice now in the restaurant industry. What are some of the lessons you've learned? What has your experience been in regards to what it takes to truly drive success in broadening dining establishments? Tell me a little about your course, what you experienced along the method, and perhaps some of the harder lessons you found out.

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 crucial things, and I feel very fortunate, is that both brands I have actually been involved with are unique.

And there's absolutely nothing exactly like Chop Shop in terms of what we're making with a large, varied menu. Most brands today are really singularly focused in regards to what they're providing from a food product. I seem like we began at an advantage with both brand names by having something unique 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?

Why Is Fast Casual a Best Move?

The 2nd thingI originated from a financing background, so a lot of my learnings are more financing and data-driven versus a great deal of early startup restaurateurs who are innovative types. They like the food, they built the menu, they constructed the brand name. I most likely could not do that from scratch. But if you provided me something that has all those elements in location, I can take it from there and put the playbook in place.

They do not understand their breakeven sales. They don't comprehend how margin enhances as sales increase. They don't comprehend cash-on-cash returns. I've seen a lot of companies where the numbers just do not work. And yet individuals state: let's open 10 more. And I'll state: why? It doesn't generate income. Stop. You need to discover an idea that is unique.

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If you don't have those 2 things, you should not be building shops. Since as I hear your description, you have actually highlighted three things: execution, brand name differentiation, and monetary viability.

The Advantages of Restaurant Expansion in 2026

Second, you require a compelling brand name or unique principle that resonates with consumers. And 3rd, the math has to work. If you do not comprehend your unit economics, your repaired and variable expenses, you might be broadening blind and losing money. Exactly. And another key lesson has to do with going into brand-new markets.

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