Top Benefits of Restaurant Expansion in 2026

And we likewise have Clinton Anderson, the CEO of Fourth, who will be moderating the conversation with Jason. Jason, how about I let you offer the audience some details about your background and you can likewise 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 purchased the brand in 2016three unitsand I have actually grown it to 26. Prior to this, I've spent the majority of my career in hospitality in some shape or form. After a quick stint of trying to be an accountant for about a year and a half, I transitioned into casino property and worked in business finance.

I was the very first worker there after personal equity bought business. Assisted 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 Store. My hope is that we can reproduce the success we had at Zos, and we're off to an actually excellent 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 a few of the walk-the-line ideas that are out there, but we think we've got something pretty special. We're going to add another store this year and a minimum of four shops next year. We will be 31 or so stores by the end of next year.

National Success in Brand Scaling

Hey, everyone. It's excellent to be with you again. My name is Clinton Anderson. I'm the CEO here at 4th. I have actually remained in this function for about 6 years. 4th, as much of you know, is a leading supplier of software application services to the restaurant and hospitality market. Our goal is to assist our customers be effective in driving profitability and being efficientmanaging labor, managing stock, and generally offering them with tools they require to deliver their vision.

It's uncommon to have companies that are precious and growing quickly, that can repeat that success year after year. Jason, one of the reasons I was so ecstatic to have you join our session is the success at Zos was fantastic. I've just satisfied a handful of brands where there was such a strong consumer affinity for the brand.

And now you're doing the very same thing at Chop Shop. When you talk to customers about Chop Shop, they love the location. They discuss its differentiation. And to be able to take what is a relatively complex idea in terms of delivering an excellent experience for the consumer, and have the ability to grow that from a couple of stores to now north of 30 shops next yearit's incredible.

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

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

Major Expansion Milestones in 2026

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

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

And there's nothing precisely like Chop Store in terms of what we're finishing with a large, varied menu. Most brand names today are very singularly focused in terms of what they're using from a food item. I seem like we started at an advantage with both brand names by having something special that filled a specific niche no one else was doing.

Due to the fact that it's just more difficult to stand out when there are 10, 20, 50 principles within a 2- or three-mile radius trying to do the specific same thing. A lot of it starts with the brand. Does your brand have something unique that no one else is doing? That's unusual.

Comparing Franchise Models Against Growth Data

The second thingI came from a finance background, so a lot of my knowings are more financing and data-driven versus a lot of early start-up restaurateurs who are creative types. They enjoy the food, they developed the menu, they constructed the brand name.

They don't understand their breakeven sales. They don't understand how margin enhances as sales boost. I have actually seen so many business where the numbers simply don't work.

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If you don't have those 2 things, you should not be building stores. Due to the fact that as I hear your description, you've highlighted three things: execution, brand name distinction, and financial viability.

Expansion News: New Developments in 2026

Second, you require an engaging brand name or distinct idea that resonates with clients. And another essential lesson is about getting in brand-new markets.

But when we expanded to Dallas, I expected new stores to do 5070% of Phoenix sales in the very first year. Too lots of operators presume new markets will open at full volume day one. That almost never happens. And when the stores open slow, however you have actually signed leases and constructed a monetary design based on greater volumes, you get overextended.