Breakfast Clubbing #53
Week of 28th April. BC is ON in PDX, Toronto, Miami, Hamptons, Wmsburg, CDMX, SF, London, DTBK, Manhattan, Cincy, Vegas and SOMa celebrating a year of Breakfast Clubbing!
Hi all,
Change, they say, happens very slowly. And then all at once. This week of Breakfast Clubbing is a bit of a mix of the two; I haven’t managed the planned revamp of the newsletter design (honestly, haven’t even given it a second thought), so you’ll get what you always do here this time. Sorry / enjoy.
On the other hand, a couple of momentous leaps this week. Major domo of BC Milan (and Bassano del Grappa) Charla Caponi took it upon herself to make a Breakfast Club host Starter Kit for easy use by potential new co-hosts; I approved of course, but the organizing impulse is all hers. Makes sense she’s been leading marketing departments for years. And it’ll make sense to you if you’ve ever thought, ‘Breakfast Club would be great in my city / neighborhood .. but how?!” Have a look. And thank you, Charla!
Another big leap forward: fresh from the success of Seraphina Woon’s first BC Singapore, our foreign correspondent Amy Daroukakis is globetrotting again, and bringing BC with her through a series of Breakfast Club pop ups - first Singapore again next week, then Bangkok, Tokyo and Seoul. These are going be fun - so tell somebody who’ll tell somebody.
Can’t wait for the reports back - nor from Toronto’s second outing, the re-energized London meet, Vegas’s return and of course all the stalwart weeklies. Scroll on for all the details. And then I’ll hope to see you at Breakfast. If not this week, another one soon.
Ben
The Breakfast Club Esprit de Corps:
* Everyone’s invited - especially you.
* Feel free to share, bring friends, colleagues, family, anyone.
* No agenda, no required buy-in, no need to RSVP. And no pitches.
* Everyone pays their own way.
* Everyone is welcome to subscribe.
Join the Linkedin group here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14449223/Breakfast Club Editions Around the World (cities added regularly):
Weekly:
Portland, OR [Tuesday]
Mexico City [Wednesday]
Williamsburg Brooklyn [Wednesday]
Miami [Wednesday]
The Hamptons [Wednesday]
San Francisco [Wednesday]
Downtown Brooklyn [Thursdays]
Manhattan [Thursdays]
SOMa, NJ [Fridays] Bi-Weekly:
Washington, DC [Thursdays]
Vegas [Thursdays]
Melbourne [Fridays, alternating between Fitzroy and Richmond]
Amsterdam [Fridays, alternating between locations East and West)
Monthly:
Boulder [First Tuesdays]
Barcelona[First Wednesdays]
London[First Thursday]
Burlington, VT [Second Mondays]
LA (West) [Third Fridays]
Vienna
Paris
Milan
Lugano
Portland, Maine
Philadelphia
Boston
Panama City
Seattle
Denver
Brighton
Singapore
Sydney
Bassano del Grappa
Toronto
Atlanta
Berlin
IbizaBreakfast Club This Week:
Tuesday, April 29th
Portland, OR
Co-hosted by Nina Sers
9a @ Proud Mary
Wednesday, April 30th
Toronto
Co-Hosted by Jared Gordon and Sarah Phillips
8:30a @ Boxcar Social Laneway
Miami
Co-Hosted by Jeff Carvalho and Jesse Kirshbaum
8:30a @ Novela Cafe Social
Brooklyn (Williamsburg)
Hosted by me and a gang of regulars
8:30a @ Le Crocodile at The Wythe Hotel
The Hamptons
Co-hosted by Mike Kilcoyne
8:30a @ Tutto Cafe
Mexico City
Co-Hosted by Steve Bryant
8:30am @ TBC (DM Steve)
San Francisco
Co-Hosted by Eve Lewis and Chris M. Gillespie
8:30am @ Terreene in the 1 Hotel
Thursday, May 1st
London
Co-Hosted by Victoria Gates-Fleming and Lucy Barbor
9:30am @ FOYLES Café, Charing Cross Road (top floor of the book shop).
Downtown Brooklyn
Co-Hosted by Kat Popiel, Marina Garcia-Vasquez, and Lynn Juang
8:30am @ Ace Hotel Brooklyn (Lobby)
Manhattan
Co-Hosted by Heidi Hartwig
9am @ Eva’s Kitchen on Grand
Cincinnati
Co-Hosted by Theo Erasmus and Emmit Jones
8:30am @ Mom and Em Coffee
Vegas
Co-Hosted by Steph Balzer and Julie Crisman
9am @ Urth Caffe
Friday, April 25th
New Jersey (SOMa)
Co-Hosted by James Friedman
9:15a @ Arties
Upcoming Breakfast Club Gatherings
5.6: Boulder, PDX, Singapore (Pop Up) 5.7: Barcelona, Williamsburg, Miami,CDMX, SF, Paris (L'Apéro) 5.8: Vienna, DTBK, Manhattan, Cincy,5.15: Portland ME, Vegas 5.16: Amsterdam, Bangkok (Pop Up) 5.20: Tokyo (Pop Up) 5.22: Boston6.4: Seoul (Pop Up) 6.5: London 
Breakfast Clubbing Happened Last Week In:
Denver, Singapore, PDX, Lugano, Atlanta, Miami, Hamptons, Wmsburg, CDMX, SF, Washington DC, DTBK, Manhattan, Cincy and SOMa
Breakfast Denver Report 4.21.25
Per Mike’s Post: I used to hate hosting events. Even though I did it a lot.
I did it because I wanted to build community, make friends, deepen relationships... but man, it was so painful. So difficult.
I'd be doing 95% of the heavy lifting—promoting, setting it up, running it.
Let me give you a specific example: I used to run this big meetup called Startup Denver.
Every month, we’d get 50 to 100 people in a room. Four or five judges. Four to six startups pitching. Hour, hour-and-a-half long show. And it was a show.
Behind the scenes? It was usually just me and my friend Matt. Maybe one or two other people depending on the month, but mostly just us. It was so stressful. So much time, energy, blood, sweat, tears—and I never made any money from it.
And I just remember every month thinking: this is too much. Eventually, I stopped. It became way too stressful.
So instead, I started asking: how do I make this easier?
That question changed everything.
Now it’s stuff like Steak Night. Or Breakfast Club. Things that are simple, natural. The stuff I’m drawn to now is effortless to host.
And over the last year—since I brought Breakfast Club to the Hamptons and started hosting it back in Denver—it's just become easy.
I’ll put out a quick post to promote it, and it grows on its own. People want to connect. It builds organically.
And for me, that’s the sweet spot. I still get to be part of something. I get to help guide it, help grow it—but I’m not the center of it. I’m not carrying the weight alone.
That’s the real shift.
And that’s why this kind of community-building feels so good now. It's lighter.
More joyful. And way more sustainable.
What are some things that used to be painful for you, that are now really, really easy?
People:
Michael Kilcoyne
Jim Morrissey
Charles Lim
Kate Gagnon
Samantha (Sam) Stakel, CAPM ® 🔥💦🧯
Jeff Forker, AIF, CEBS
Breakfast Club Singapore Report 4.22.25
Per Seraphina’s post: Peeking out of my LinkedIn shell to make my first ever post on the platform (I remain agnostic but not absent) for a special reason...I just hosted the first edition of Breakfast Club Singapore!
Before I go on, some thank-yous are in order. A massive shout-out to Ben Dietz for creating this movement, Kat Popiel for being a wonderful BC guide, and last but certainly not least, Putri Trisulo for kindling this spark.
So in yesterday's session, we chomped on quiches and chatted about: How much quality time we actually spend with our loved ones, Mushroom tea as a replacement for alcohol at parties, possessing more music flexibility as a DJ compared to a musical act, metal cans harming your endocrine system, Shibuya Meltdown, quality record stores in London and Berlin, the economic value of Design Thinking, the upcoming Singapore General Elections, communal cold plunges, overeating in Singapore (6 meals a day…it’s possible!), and much more.
Thank you for being the firsts in our Singapore crew Martin Capstick Debbie Chia Javier Perez Wenyi Huang SueAnn Teo Christopher Shearmon Eason Yang Ci En L. Your wisdom lives on.
Next round is on the 6th of May. Same place, different time (9:30 am - 11 am), and I'm co-hosting with Amy Daroukakis Dilys Ng Kajal V. and Ci En L. Everyone’s welcome - No agenda, no worries.
Join us, if the spirit moves you.
Links to everything:
Substack: https://lnkd.in/gzvRhgrE
LinkedIn group: https://lnkd.in/eHAWrG6n
I also made a playlist since ‘clubbing’ is involved: https://lnkd.in/gcj8wbEm
https://bit.ly/42r6nD8
Breakfast Club Lugano Report 23.4.25
Per Camila’s Post: ☕ Breakfast Club Musings – 23/04/25 @ Super Officine in Lugano, Switzerland.
A spring morning surrounded by wisteria blooms and the scent of espresso, sparking conversation across time, culture, and creativity:
🔹 Community & Connection – From Ticino’s international network to priests offering couple’s counseling and cultural hubs like former chocolate factories turned creative spaces—community and collaboration emerged as central to how we live and create.
🔹 Art, Therapy & Manualità – We explored the calming power of hands-on creativity—be it painting with wine, tactile coaching, or the meditative nature of manual work. Scars, we agreed, are not just physical—they’re emotional and spiritual too, and creativity can help us process the whole package.
🔹 Myth & Meaning – How do Swiss legends evolve through storytelling? And how can films breathe new life into ancient myths? AI’s role in the creative process sparked fresh perspectives on authorship, narrative, and imagination. We touched on Conclave, especially timely with the recent passing of the pope. Has anyone seen the film? It stirred questions about tradition, secrecy, and how storytelling captures such a pivotal, private moment.
🔹 Life Design & Coaching – From freezing eggs as a path to freedom, to life coaching as a tool for clarity and growth—this group isn’t afraid to ask big questions about timing, identity, and independence.
🔹 Culture, Travel & Aesthetic Living – Whether it’s slow travel across the Atlantic on the Queen Mary, the charm of Navigli aperitivi, or Thursdays at Castello di Morcote’s offices—Europe’s artistic density and lifestyle rhythm continues to inspire.
🔹 Spaces of Innovation – Concept stores that blend art and commerce, underground cultural centers, and reimagined industrial sites point to a new era of hybrid, purpose-driven spaces.
What do legends, life paths, AI, and aperitivi have in common? Turns out… quite a lot.
Until next time—bring your thoughts, your creativity, and maybe a bottle of wine to paint with, if that’s your thing at breakfast!
As usual thanks to BC papa Ben Dietz and BC Milan mama Charla Noel Caponi. Last but not least shoutout to the best co-host Elettra Fiumi!
Leonardo Conte, PhD
Emile Knystautas
Felix A. Bachmann
Kevin Merz
Barbara Tosti
Valentina Nerboni
Breakfast Club Miami Report 4.23.25
Per Jeff’s Post: A great week of new faces in Miami including Milan's own Charla Noel Caponi and family joining us from Italy. Miami conversation flows around F1 coming in a couple weeks. Both Miami-Dade and Broward County continue to grow as more people move South, but, are they coming here to relax or to cxreate?
This week, we were JN Silva, Danielle Salzedo, Arnel San Pedro, MBA, Steve Michaelsen, Bill Spector, Brenda Schamy, Dana Ben David, @lukebeyond and Rachael S.
Breakfast Club Mexico City Report 4.23.25
Per Steve’s Post: “Oh I spent Saturday unsubscribing from everything.”
“Everything?”
“Fucking GoDaddy bought this email company I used to use for free—”
“—oh no, and you’ve been paying—“
“—Like $30 a month! For ten years! I didn’t even know!”
“I’ve been unsubscribing from watching the news …”
“I love the news. I love Rachel Maddow.”
“I can’t, she’s like Rush Limbaugh to me.”
“When I was like 20 my summer job was for a moving company—“
“Those types of jobs were the best.”
“Right?! I got to see so many weird people’s houses. And anyway every morning I would wake up and go to Starbucks and buy a New York Times and like, literally read the news. Just to figure out what was going on.”
“I’ve been getting so many texts from friends in the states. The news is so fucked up.”
“Oh we’ve made a plan for when we fly to the states and get stopped by homeland security—“
“—I’m Venezuelan, so—”
“—So our plan is call her ex-boyfriend.”
“He was the vice-president of the congress in Venezuela.”
“Good guy. I chat with him on insta all the time lol.”
“Everybody advising Bukeli in El Salvador used to be in the resistance in Venezuela.”
“Oh so you’re like, what, three phone calls removed from Trump.”
“In the worst possible way, yes.”
***
This week we were a delightful four, including Maru M. Iglesias, Mark Holthusen, and Kristen Zwicker
We do this every Wednesday in CDMX. Live here? Visiting? Join us. Everybody's invited—especially you!
Breakfast Club Hamptons Report 4.23.25
Photo courtesy of Mike Kilcoyne
Breakfast Club Williamsburg Report 4.23.25
Per my post: At my end we talked about Future Commerce, panel discussions, the South Street Seaport, Meow Wolf, bleu de travail, "chore coats" v. "work jackets," slicked back hair, being heavily pregnant, Maspeth as the next neighborhood up, Mrs. Gallery, the painter Mark Mulroney, taking the red eye, returning to the Pacific Northwest, nudity as a breakfast mode, building an event business, producing festivals, being ok with buckwheat, doing the breakfast club circuit, planning a proposal, Dolly Parton as a godmother, Huntington Botanical Gardens, getting incrementally better at an exponential rate, parenting trade-offs, the rugby fringe in America, women’s rugby teams crushing right now, the onfield / off field dynamic of different sports, pandering to the youth vote, Carhartt WIP (Work In Progress), Sophnet , the Wegmans Food Markets fine-dining restaurant, "Tuna Tuesdays" happening on Saturday and Sunday, farmers markets, getting into the CSA for the year, creative directors who jog, googling inspiration for the sign-in sheet, forgetting how to spell ‘excellent’, cashing in on Palantir Technologies options, full on paredolia situations, Sal from Sal's Pizza, hockey-focused groupchats, how the Memphis Grizzlies came to be, wild retro jerseys, the curse of Barenaked ladies, the Apple TV+ series "Your Friends and Neighbors," watch prices, Patek Philippe and Cartier, majoring in Twerking (and minoring in HR), dive bars at the seaport, rich banana bread, Adam Curtis as the left wing Alex Jones, the newsletterer Reggie James, ‘blonde’ being a boring record, the weight of expectation, "Millions Now Living Will Never Die," the movie High Fidelity, great band names, ‘Jerome-y Rome’ Powell, Newsflash with Tom Brokaw and lots of other stuff I didn't write down.
It was me, Adam Phillips, Duncan Harriss, Nick Cogan, Jose Castillo, Leann Abad, Zachary Mallard, Marc Weissman, Eric Korsh, Peter Droste, Paul Greenberg, Dan Barman, Lee Baler, Ian Edgar, Randy Paul, Zaira Stefani Vallejo, Nick Bodor Ben Jenkins and Alexis Reiner.
We do this every Wednesday at Le Crocodile Restaurant in Brooklyn; everyone pays their own way and everyone's invited. Especially you. Come hang!
Linkedin group here: https://lnkd.in/eHAWrG6n
Newsletter every Monday here: https://lnkd.in/eyvtRq7Z
Breakfast Club SF Report 4.23.25
Per Chris’s post: Two weeks of breakfast club "overheards" in one:
Why are kids so into trash trucks? Oakland the Great Migration. The case for tenderness. The SF Center for Architecture and Design. Article: AI 2027. A psychiatrist for AIs. YouTube and masculinity. Spirituality's exclusionary jargon. Phil Stutz. Get on the block. Expressive Energetics. The infinite joy of foreigners mimicking an American accent.
Lineage. Permission to express. Amsterdam. The South. Why is Lake Lanier so dangerous? (Didn't get to the bottom of this one.) The supernatural. Guyanese teleportation—"Sometimes it happens." Moving back to where you're from. Podcast: Acid for Squares. Meeting friends' parents—and when it doesn't track.
Here's to great company—Magali Charmot, Heavenly Johnson, Mark Welte, Makenzie Darling, Eve Lewis
Join us every Wednesday—
1. No pitching
2. Pay your own way
3. Everyone's invited especially you
Breakfast Club DC Report 4.24.25
Per Michael’s Post: DC Breakfast Club goes hard in the paint!
🏀
This morning we talked about film stocks and Ngorongoro Crater.
The siren song of commoditizing community (FAFO).
Accidentally becoming a business owner. The Cosmos Club, The Ned & Ned's Club and Arts Club of Washington. Thoughtful design being MIA in the RTO era, and how leadership could better cultivate space with Priya Parker's insights. Hosting book readings at the 9:30 Club. Academic writing as obfuscation. Black Dandies, The Met Gala and Calendly etiquette. And a gentle reminder - don’t pet the drug sniffing dogs.
🥐
We do this every other Thursday
Always at The Line Hotel in Adams Morgan.
The next one is May 8th @ 830am.
Everyone pays their own way.
No agenda or RSVP necessary.
Everyone's invited, especially you!
🥯
The crew today was Michael Smith Maxwell Ballenger Shane Hoffman Dr. Leigh George Rebecca Davis Michael Hastings-Black Atin Moridian Tony Kosack Jen Perrone Jaylen Culp Robin Diamond
Breakfast Club Manhattan Report 4.24.25
Per Heidi’s Post: Another great Breakfast Club Manhattan edition.
Full of high vibes and good conversation. Lots of film and tv talk, how did I miss Cherry by the Russo Brothers?
Plus movies, tv, and music that’s kids need to know to be fully baked cool kids.
Grateful for everyone who shows up and brings the spirit of community and cafe culture.
We’re back at it this Thursday at Eva’s Kitdhen 359 Grand st.
All are welcome especially you!
With. Jonathan P. L. Spooner Lucia Santina Ribisi Brendt Barbur John Lee Tim Griffin CeCe Chin @david lee @gary Guarinello Henry Lee Carlos Chiossone @rachel win @krussia Jodi Rosenblum @sdj @chris thompson
Breakfast Club SOMa Report 4.25.25
Per James’s Post: Breakfast Club SOMa continues to be a moment of warmth and community amidst the madness. Now that the weather is warm, we're gathering outside on the patio in front of Artie's in Maplewood for coffee, croissants, and conversations that range far beyond our suburban surroundings.
Last week we had a big group of regulars and newcomers. Chatter covered a lot of ground, including: traveling for conferences where the selling starts before you’ve even gotten the lanyard over your head, does anybody other than members of the Miami Heat live on Brickell?, secret gardens, getting hired, the popularity of midweek brunch in LA, can NYC hustlers actually conquer more relaxed cities?, Telluride as paradise, Glasgow is a slept on gem of a city, why does it take so long to hire?, nerdy habits, bike busses and their NIMBY opponents, the environmental factors that make NY pizza and bagels superior, using professional skills assessments to crack parenting adolescents, tracking teens with technology, the enduring reluctance of cops to bust a truly raging house party, and much more
We do this every Friday at 9:15.
Everyone is invited.
Especially you.
