Alan Laughlin

Alan Laughlin is the CEO of Vapiano SE. Alan was previously the President and Partner of Black-eyed Pea Restaurants in Colorado. Alan is experienced in turning around businesses and has a background in finance and marketing.

Laughlin started their career in 2006 as the President and Partner of Black-eyed Pea Restaurants. Alan was able to turn the business around from double digit same store sales (SSS) declines to generating 10% annual SSS growth in the first 3 years. The company was then able to sustain 3% annual SSS growth and 8 years of profitability.

In order to achieve this turnaround, Laughlin instilled a culture of core values and collaborative customer focus, engaging restaurant management and corporate office employees to be leaders in driving sales growth and profitability. Alan also led the roll out of marketing and advertising initiatives utilizing digital, TV, radio and local store marketing (LSM). These initiatives were successful in increasing total customers and expanding the demographics to include younger, first time, family diners.

Alan Laughlin received their Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accounting from Colorado State University. Alan then went on to receive their certification in Corporate Social Responsibility from the University of Colorado Boulder - Leeds School of Business. Additionally, they are certified by the Colorado Society of CPAs | COCPA as a CPA.

Some individuals on their team include Monika Cyz - COO, Gregor Gerlach - Co-Founder, and Hassan Mechmechani - Director, International Franchising & Development..