National Milestones in Brand Scaling

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 info about your background and you can also inform them a little bit about Chop Shop.

Thanks Christina. My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. I've been doing this for about nine years now. We bought the brand in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. Prior to this, I've spent many of my career in hospitality in some shape or type. After a short stint of trying to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment residential or commercial property and worked in corporate finance.

I was the first staff member there after personal equity purchased the organization. Assisted 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 Shop. My hope is that we can duplicate 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 mostly protein bowlsabout 40 percent of the mix. We also do salads, sandwiches. The key to the program is we have a drink element also with fresh-squeezed juices and protein shakes. We do all stables, we do breakfast all the time.

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A little more complicated than some of the walk-the-line principles that are out there, but we believe we have actually got something quite special. We're going to include another shop this year and at least 4 shops next year. We will be 31 or so shops by the end of next year.

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Hey, everybody. It's great to be with you once again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at 4th. I have actually remained in this role for about 6 years. Fourth, as a lot of you know, is a leading provider of software application solutions to the dining establishment and hospitality industry. Our goal is to help our consumers achieve success in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, managing stock, and basically providing them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's unusual to have business that are beloved and growing rapidly, that can repeat that success every year. Jason, among the factors I was so thrilled to have you join our session is the success at Zos was remarkable. I've only met a handful of brands where there was such a strong customer affinity for the brand name.

And now you're doing the exact same thing at Chop Shop. When you speak with consumers about Chop Shop, they like the location. They discuss its distinction. And to be able to take what is a fairly complicated concept in terms of delivering a terrific experience for the customer, and be able to grow that from a few stores to now north of 30 shops next yearit's fantastic.

We're going to talk about how to scale a dining establishment company. Every restaurateur I ever speak to has imagine taking one shop, two shops, 5 shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding throughout the city, throughout the state, into several states, and eventually national, even international reach. But it's not easy, specifically in today's environment.

It's not a simple time to drive success and development at the same time. How do you scale it and make it effective? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale fantastic teams?

National Milestones in Brand Expansion

The 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 truly drive success in broadening dining establishments?

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 key things, and I feel very fortunate, is that both brands I have actually been included with are distinct.

And there's absolutely nothing precisely like Chop Shop in regards to what we're making with a large, diverse menu. A lot of brands today are really singularly focused in terms of what they're using from a food. I seem like we started at a benefit with both brand names by having something special that filled a niche no one 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 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 innovative types. They like the food, they developed the menu, they developed the brand.

They don't understand their breakeven sales. They don't understand how margin enhances as sales boost. They do not understand cash-on-cash returns. I've seen so numerous business where the numbers just don't work. And yet individuals say: let's open 10 more. And I'll say: why? It doesn't generate income. Stop. You need to discover a concept that is unique.

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If you don't have those two things, you shouldn't be developing stores. Yeah, possibly both? Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you've highlighted three things: execution, brand name distinction, and monetary practicality. You have actually got to begin with execution. If you do not have an operating design that works, broadening it simply multiplies issues.

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Second, you require a compelling brand or unique principle that resonates with clients. And another key lesson is about going into brand-new markets.

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