Breakout Session / Tuesday / October 7, 2025 / 10:30 AM
Building a Lean Restaurant: Optimizing Operations with Smart Self-Service
Experts will discuss how restaurants leverage self-service technology to improve profitability, enhance efficiency and delight guests while maintaining a budget-friendly approach.
Attendees will:
- Learn how to start small and scale.
- Investigate cost-effective options, such as using basic POS systems with self-service features, free or low-cost online ordering platforms, existing tablets or mobile devices and partnering with third-party providers for tiered pricing or pay-per-use models.
- Explore how to optimize the menu for self-service.
- Learn how to train staff effectively.
- Learn how to leverage data to identify areas for improvement and cost optimization.
- Promote self-service options to encourage guest adoption.
PANELIST
Mark Lohmann | CEO | Birdcall
Mark Lohmann is the CEO of Birdcall, an innovative fast casual restaurant brand with a proprietary and vertically integrated technology platform. Prior to joining Birdcall, he was an Operating Partner at High Bluff Capital Partners and President of REGO Restaurant Group where he was responsible for brand strategy, marketing, integration, and developing international opportunities across the group's portfolio brands. He was also the Chief Financial Officer at Cool Planet Energy Systems, Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Qdoba Restaurant Corporation, and a Project Leader at Boston Consulting Group, where he was responsible for developing and implementing strategies for internal and client projects. Mark has a B.Sc in Management Information Systems and Human Resource Management from Kansas State University, and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.