Essential Tips for Growing Restaurant Brands

Thank you. And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. So 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. And after that I'll let you take it from there, Clinton.

My name is Jason Morgan, CEO of Original Chop Shop. We bought the brand in 2016three unitsand I've grown it to 26. After a quick stint of trying to be an accounting professional for about a year and a half, I transitioned into gambling establishment home and worked in corporate financing.

I was the very first worker there after private equity purchased the organization. Assisted grow that from 20 to 150 locations, 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 really good start.

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

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

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

Steps to Scale Your Restaurant Brand

Hey, everybody. It's fantastic to be with you again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at Fourth. I have actually remained in this function for about 6 years. Fourth, as a lot of you understand, is a leading provider of software application options to the dining establishment and hospitality market. Our goal is to help our customers achieve success in driving success and being efficientmanaging labor, handling inventory, and essentially providing them with tools they require to provide their vision.

It's unusual to have business 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 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 very same thing at Chop Store. When you speak with clients about Chop Shop, they love the place. They discuss its differentiation. And to be able to take what is a fairly complicated principle in regards to providing a terrific experience for the client, and be able to grow that from a few stores to now north of 30 shops next yearit's amazing.

We're going to speak about how to scale a restaurant company. Every restaurateur I ever talk with has imagine taking one shop, two shops, five shops, and turning it into something much biggerexpanding across the city, across the state, into several states, and eventually nationwide, even worldwide reach. However it's difficult, especially in today's environment.

Labor is difficult. Inventory costs stay high. It's not an easy time to drive success and development at the very same time. We're happy to have you here today, Jason, because we're going to dig into that subject. The concerns are going to be actually 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 enjoy to then say: well, appearance, how could innovation assist? How can you utilize innovation as a multiplier to reproduce early success to far-reaching success? Second, beyond innovation, how do you scale fantastic teams? And finally, AI.

Hospitality Sector Trends Shaping 2026

The first concern I have for you, Jasonlook, you've done this twice now in the restaurant market. What has your experience been in terms of what it takes to actually drive success in broadening restaurants?

We talked a little bit before we started about LinkedIn, and I've got a post teed as much as follow this next week about what the playbook is likepoint by pointfor growing a business. To me, one of the key things, and I feel really fortunate, is that both brands I have actually been included with are distinct.

And there's absolutely nothing exactly like Chop Shop in regards to what we're finishing with a big, varied menu. A lot of brands today are really singularly focused in terms of what they're offering from a food product. I seem like we started at an advantage with both brand names by having something distinct that filled a niche no one else was doing.

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

Major Expansion Targets in 2026

The second thingI came from a financing background, so a great deal of my knowings are more finance and data-driven versus a lot of early startup restaurateurs who are creative types. They love the food, they developed the menu, they built the brand. I most likely couldn't 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 don't know their breakeven sales. They do not understand how margin enhances as sales increase. I've seen so numerous business where the numbers simply don't work.

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers

If you do not have those 2 things, you shouldn't be constructing shops. Yeah, possibly both, right? Since as I hear your description, you've highlighted 3 things: execution, brand name differentiation, and financial viability. You've got to begin with execution. If you do not have an operating design that works, expanding it just multiplies issues.

Strategic Growth Milestones for 2026

Second, you require an engaging brand name or unique idea that resonates with customers. And another crucial lesson is about going into new markets.

When we expanded to Dallas, I expected brand-new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the first year. Too lots of operators assume new markets will open at complete volume the first day. That practically never takes place. And when the shops open sluggish, but you've signed leases and constructed a monetary design based on greater volumes, you get overextended.