Original ChopShop CEO Jason Morgan on AI Skepticism, Listening to Guests, and Not Overreacting to Trends

Original ChopShop CEO Jason Morgan joined me next on our Conversations series from Chicago. Morgan might have been the biggest AI skeptic thus far (he won’t be the last). He’s also not on the GLP-1 action plan train yet. Either way, Morgan is going to let guest feedback guide the emerging fast casual’s future.

Here was our full conversation. And if you want to keep the debate going in person, Morgan is on the speaker agenda for our upcoming QSR Evolution Conference.

There’s something we’re working on that we’re going to test next week that I’m really excited about (editor’s note: this was in May). We’re trying to do predictive prep planning. I’m seeing a lot of folks claim to have it and claim that it works. We went down the path with another company that didn’t.

So, we think with our kitchens being scratch, for the most part, we think that’s a huge opportunity for us. It’s layering in some AI in terms of predictive forecasting and predictive product mix. And then, it’s going to give us a lot of detail from store to store and cook to cook as well. I think I can pull half to a percent out of my labor model just by having more visibility into what’s happening in the back of the house and being able to schedule prep hours and know exactly what we’re doing across our stores.

I would tell you right now the AI that most people are selling doesn’t work. Everyone is trying to put it into their systems and their programs. We haven’t really found anything that we’re like oh, wow, that’s really, really great.

We’re tinkering as well with AI and looking at how we could pull AI from different sources to tell a story. I keep wanting something that’s actual. Most everything I’ve seen has been performative: We can tell you what happened yesterday.

I already know that. I already know my key metrics. I know what’s going on in this store and the different things that come together to make it better.

I think people’s eyes are bigger than their stomach a little bit in terms of what they want to use it for and how they want to use it. I think people are running 100 different directions. We’re going to stay pretty focused in terms of, this is what we want. We may end up being behind everybody else. But I feel good about the direction we’re going.

We have shifted this final question toward GLP-1s. Your thoughts on the impact, or lack thereof, of potential future impact, etc.

We talked about it internally but we’re doing nothing at this point. We think we benefit from it because we’re a better-for-you brand that someone on a diet or using the drug can use Original ChopShop in a way that suits their needs. Our customer is not talking about it. We don’t hear people putting in feedback saying we need GLP-1 menus. I don’t think a single person out of some 50,000 surveys over the last year has even mentioned it.

At times to me, it feels like when public companies talk about it it’s an excuse of why sales might be soft.