Orlando Business Journal - by Chris Kauffmann Staff Writer
Friday, October 12, 2007

ORLANDO -- A former advisory board member of the now-defunct Breakfast Club of America LLC is cooking up a new, nonprofit business development group.
 
Jesse Davis of Beacon Benefit Consulting has joined forces with two other local businessmen -- Pat Hartle of Sihle Insurance Group and Shawn Jiles of Merrill Lynch -- to co-found the Central Florida Economic Cooperative.

It's designed to fill in the gaps Davis believes the previous entity missed.
 
The new group will be invitation-only and will focus more on business education and community involvement than the Breakfast Club of America, an Orlando-based, high-end networking/business development franchisor that went out of business last month because of money troubles. (Breakfast Club of America LLC is in no way related to Breakfast Club of Orlando, a restaurant on Pine Street.)

"There were some holes in what the Breakfast Club [of America] was doing -- it ended up just being a very expensive [business] leads group," says Davis, who adds that he's still owed about $4,500 of the $10,000 he spent to be a member of the organization. In total, investors, noteholders and franchisees across the country say they are owed more than $1 million by the club.

A focus on relationships

Davis and the other founders want the new cooperative, which kicks off in January, to be distinct from the Breakfast Club of America and other area networking groups.

Toward that end, there will be little emphasis on networking and leads -- though there will be social functions -- and more focus on forming relationships among members.

In addition, instead of monthly events with expensive speakers as with the Breakfast Club of America, the cooperative will hold business development functions and an Executive Seminar Series, where members will be encouraged to educate the group on topics such as marketing strategies, planning, product renovation and customer service.

"Hopefully, you'll be smarter when you leave than when you came in," Hartle says, noting members will have access to educational podcasts and a Web site with a business library.

The cooperative also will hold two annual charity events.

Keys to success
 
Perhaps the new cooperative's biggest distinction is it will be a nonprofit, the founders say.
 
And don't expect the Central Florida Economic Cooperative to be the biggest group in town. There are eight members now, and the target is to have 30. After that, the founders want a controlled growth rate of just one or two new members per month.

The price of membership has not been determined, but Davis says it will be less than half of the $10,000 he paid to join the Breakfast Club of America.

Jerry Ross, executive director for the Disney Entrepreneur Center, believes there's always room for more groups that provide business education and networking opportunities. "Success will be determined by content and participation," he says. "Are people walking away with something they can use, and are they meeting the people they want to meet?"

Chris Kauffmann can be reached at (407) 241-2903 or via e-mail at ckauffmann@bizjournals.com.

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