Background
Once upon a time, four businessmen got together to bemoan the quality of some networking and business lunch clubs.

We talked about what we would look for in a club, who we would like to attend, and what we would like to get out of the “perfect” club. Two weeks later, we decided to set one up ourselves.

Welcome to the Brighton & Hove Business Lunch Club. It is managed by Tim Cobb of Cobb PR, and is supported by Nik Askaroff, a senior businessman of many years standing, Simon Dodds, partner at Mayo Wynne Baxter, and Rob Clare, RBS Senior Director of Commercial Banking.

Who is eligible?
We are looking for companies with a turnover of at least £2 million per annum, or who employ 10 people or more. They must be based in Sussex (East or West).

Only one representative of each professional service sector is eligible. In other words, one banker, one accountant, one solicitor, one independent financial advisor. Once that category is filled, everybody else is locked out.

Membership is for the individual, not the company. Substitutions are not allowed.

In addition, we will be inviting along local MPs, heads of local government, and a representative of Sussex Police. We believe that, as a senior business figure, you should have access to these people.

When diaries permit, we will also bring along a few Sussex sportsmen and women.

How will it work?
Attendance is by invitation only. It is not possible to just turn up. Invitees can attend up to two meetings and cover the cost of their lunches If they like what they see and hear, they can join for a first year fee of £250 plus the cost of lunches.

Tim, Nik, Simon and Rob will host the meetings, find suitable topics for discussion and invite quality speakers to address the meetings.

We will also seek to ensure a great mix of medium and large sized companies, where we can discuss issues relevant to our companies and share knowledge with each other.

We want members to gel and feel very secure. Requests to bring guests along must be made through Cobb PR. We will vet the proposed guests in terms of meeting our key criteria, namely size/turnover.

Membership will be limited to 70. If we reach this figure, and believe we can cope with larger numbers without diluting the impact of the event, we will continue to grow.

If the club proves successful, we will look to set up meetings in other Sussex towns.

Sponsorship Opportunities
Single Meeting Sponsor
We will be looking for single meeting sponsors at a cost of £250 + vat. Sponsors will get:

• Brochure on each seat
• Presenter mentions during the meeting
• 1 x 2 minute presentation during lunch

Partner Sponsor
We are aiming for five companies to become partners at a cost of £2,000 in the first year

The package would comprise:

• 1 x 15 minute presentation slot. This is an opportunity to identify an area of general interest to members, which aligns your offer to the subject. It is not a platform to sell your services.
• 1 x co-host for a meeting (welcoming members and co-chairing the meeting)
• 1 x joint badging for a meeting (The Brighton Lunch Club, in association with your name)
• 2 x 2 minute presentation slots during the year – these are a commercial plug, thus are restricted to two minutes
• 1 x goodie bag issue per annum. It is up to the sponsor to ensure quality goodie bags that are perceived to have value to members.

Running Order
12.15 Registration
12.45 Welcome and house rules.
1pm Lunch
2pm Speaker
2.25pm Vote of thanks for speaker
2.30 Close of formal business, informal networking until 3pm

Launch Date
The first meeting will be on Friday October 19 at The Arrogant Frog, 119 Church Road, Hove (near Hove Town Hall).

Dates for future lunch club meetings
Friday October 19
Friday November 16
December – no meeting
Friday January 18
Friday February 15
Friday March 21
Friday April 18
Friday May 16
Friday June 20

Enquiry form
I meet your criteria and would like to attend a meeting

Founding Members as of November 20, 2007
Gresham Blake, Gresham Blake Design & Tailoring
Hugh Burnett, Owner, Enterprise Works
John Burroughes, Managing Director, Uniglobe Preferred Travel
Barry Carden, Cardens Accountants
Caroline Charlton, Managing Director, Southern FM
Andrew Cheesman, Managing Director, Brighton & Hove City Cabs
Jo Clarke, Regional Director, LFC Mainstay
Derek Crowson, Chairman, Crowsons Fabrics Ltd
Andrew Davies, Managing Director, Silicon Beach Training
Patrick Davis, Chief Executive, Plumpton Racecourse Ltd
Simon Edgar, Edgar’s Cool Water
Christina Ewbank, Sales Director, Lookers Mercedes-Benz
Richard Flude, Managing Director, Fludes Carpets
Phil Frier, Principal, City College Brighton & Hove
Mark Froud, Chief Executive, Sussex Enterprise
Rosario Guarneri, The Arrogant Frog Restaurant
Chris Gull, Managing Director, Hudson & Bridges
Steve Haskew, Managing Director, Manta Finance Ltd
Jane Henshaw, Partner, Strutt & Parker
Charlie Hepburn, Managing Director, Vivid Event Group
Mike Herd, Executive Director, The Sussex Innovation Centre
Chris Ketley, Partner, Knill James
Robin Lampon, Lampons Estate Agents
Gus Mackay, Chief Executive, Sussex County Cricket Club
Colin Monk, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Brighton
David Radtke, Managing Director, The Tin Drum
James Tierney, Managing Director, Tierney Financial Services
Andrew Walker, Managing Director, Cavendish Communications
Tony Webster, Chief Executive Officer, Connect Mortgage Group
Martyn Willis, Managing Director, Newsquest Sussex Ltd – The Argus

Organising Committee
Tim Cobb, Managing Director, Cobb PR
Nik Askaroff, Managing Director, EMC Management Consultants Ltd
Rob Clare, RBS Senior Director of Commercial Banking
Simon Dodds, Partner, Mayo Wynne Baxter