
Born in Lincoln Park, Chicago, Bob took his first restaurant job at the age of 13 at a local family-owned brasserie as a sous chef under some of the toughest and talented European chefs and restaurateurs in the Midwest.
Driving his Volkswagen to Atlanta, Georgia on his 17th birthday, he went on to college to study business in both undergraduate and graduate schools with a strict focus on accounting, finance & business law. Simultaneously, Mr. Lynn was expanding his skill set working in the dining room and learning to bartend in one of the hottest and busiest restaurants in Buckhead, Atlanta.
Bob understood early on that any endeavor in hospitality requires a commitment to mastering a wide set of business skills. He was obsessed with building on his own natural ability to create delicious “populous” menus grounded by a farming and ingredient-centric ideal, influenced by his early years in rural Illinois.
My Lynn spent 25+ years as part of a small team growing one of the most successful restaurant companies in America developing recipes and service standards. From there Bob started LGO Hospitality with a model that looked to the tech industry, where the company is powered by diverse and highly gifted contributors at all levels. This approach eschews the previous “chain/don’t think” business model, and celebrates the chefs and leaders in the dining room that do the work directly for the guest.
Today Mr. Lynn thinks of himself as a leader/coach, often referring to his role much like a music producer such as Sir George Martin, who came to be known as “the fifth Beatle.”
In a recent team-building session Bob was quoted as saying, “With a company built with so many smart, talented and cool people, my role is to unite our ideology — and then work hard to be sure our guests feel the vibration of each one of you.”
Bob and his wife Sara live in Santa Monica , California.
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