Creative Lunch Club :
Where connections are made over shared meals and creativity thrives.
Introducing the Creative Lunch Club: where connections are made over shared meals and creativity thrives. Founded by a seasoned creative seeking to break the monotony of solitary lunches, this platform matches creatives based solely on location, fostering serendipitous encounters, sparking collaboration and even launching new friendships.
Why lunch? Because a shared meal facilitates connection, ease in conversation and a break from the average networking scene…while only taking an hour of one's time. Operating across 100 cities globally, from Europe to the United States and Australia, the Creative Lunch Club allows creatives to get out of their bubble, meet people they might not meet otherwise and find new inspiration—one lunch at a time.
We talked to the founder of Creative Lunch Club, Klaus Heller, about his vision for the club, the magic of the random matchmaking process and why creatives need each other now more than ever.
Text by : Annika Bielig-Bussmann & Klaus Heller
Imagery by Mala Kolumna
What inspired you to create the Creative Lunch Club, and what was the initial vision behind it? I’ve been working in the creative industry for over 13 years, seven of them as a freelancer. One of the things I always liked about it was that you get to meet a lot of creative and inspiring people. In the last few years, I was working from home a lot and eating lunch on my own. I had the thought that it would be great to have lunch with other creatives. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this could be interesting for a lot of people, and so I started to build this platform.
Why do you think there is demand for this type of creative connection? With meetups, membership clubs like Soho House and other networking events available, how do you facilitate something different? Creative Lunch Club is way more intimate. It’s not a big networking event where you have the same superficial conversation with many people. It’s only three people, and you really have time to get to know each other better. I would say the quality of the connections you make with Creative Lunch Club is something you normally don’t get at an networking event.
Can you describe your process for matching up creatives? Our members get matched randomly. The only criteria is that they have to be in the same city, and we try to match users with the same or close postal code, so nobody has to drive through the whole city for lunch. Random matching is the beauty of the concept for me. You can’t pick who you want to have lunch with, and you can’t pick the person who you would profit from knowing the most. You have to be open and see who you get matched with.
But in reality, it’s not so random, because all members are working in creative industries, and I think there is something that connects us creatives. We all have similar challenges, things that bother us, things that inspire us, and things we like. So, it’s easy to find something to talk about.
“My first lunch was with Lea & Caroline, NYC designers like me and it was great to meet them outside of work in a casual setting.
Creative Lunch Club does the hard part of linking me up with others when otherwise, I’d be so focused on work that I wouldn’t have the energy to find likeminded people. And you make new friends.”
“The Creative Lunch Club is a fantastic initiative and a powerful network for me as a creative.
Beyond sharing meals and meeting people, I made good friends and found clients over time. It was surprising to learn that CLC is present in many European cities, allowing me to stay connected even after moving.”
Can you provide insight into the current cities or regions where the Creative Lunch Club operates? How have you selected these locations, and what factors influence the expansion of the club into new cities? Creative Lunch Clubs are happening in over 100 cities around the world. We have a lot of members in all the major cities in Europe, like London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Lisbon. Our community in the U.S. is also growing very fast. We’ve had lunches in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin and Nashville for example. And lately, a lot of creatives from Australia have signed up for the Creative Lunch Club. So, it’s really becoming a worldwide community.
The great thing with our concept is that as soon as there are three members in a city, we can match them, and they can have lunch together. There is no need for a big critical mass. So, it also works in a lot of smaller cities.
How do you facilitate communication and coordination between the matched creatives? The three matched members get an email with some information about the other creatives like profession, website and their social channels. Then one of them has to make the first step and suggest a place and a time for lunch. So, the first contact is via email, but in the meantime, we also ask our members for their phone number in the signup form. People can also create a WhatsApp group if they like. This makes it easier to coordinate everything.
And sure, at times it does not always work out. Sometimes people forget to answer the email or are too busy to meet. There is this human factor we have no control over. But if it doesn’t work out, you have a new chance next month.
What is it about sharing a meal that enhances the networking and collaboration experience? Sharing a meal is one of the most universal human experiences, and eating together is a fundamentally social act that can help to create relationships and bond people together. People have been doing this for hundreds of thousands of years. I think a shared meal makes it a more natural situation than an awkward talk at a networking event. We are more chilled and relaxed in this situation. Food also gives us easy opportunities to find something to talk about.
What challenges have you encountered in building and sustaining the Creative Lunch Club, and how have you overcome them? The biggest issue we have right now is that sometimes people don’t respond to their emails. One or two people want to find a date for lunch, and the other person doesn’t answer. Maybe the email gets lost, maybe it lands in the spam folder, maybe the person is very busy or just forgets to answer. That’s disappointing for the members who want to meet.
We have been working on solutions for this recently. If we get feedback that matches aren’t answering, we check in with them to see if they still want to be a member of the club and set their account on pause in the meantime. We also implement phone numbers in the user profiles, to have another communication channel. Soon, there will also be a solution to get new matches for the month if your matches aren’t answering.
In what ways do you believe the Creative Lunch Club fosters creativity, collaboration and community among its members? I think it’s a great way to meet creatives outside of your bubble. After many years working in the creative field, we often have found our people, and then we often only hang out with them. But it’s very important to also get new influences, to learn how other people are working and to not only work with your same buddies all the time. With the Creative Lunch Club, you can meet people you probably wouldn’t have met otherwise.
What role do you see the Creative Lunch Club playing in the broader creative community, and how do you hope it will continue to grow and evolve in the future? I hope it becomes a platform that connects people in the creative industries and makes bonds stronger within. The creative industries are having a hard time right now. Budgets are cut, and companies want to pay less and less for creative work. AI reinforces that even more. I think we creative people have to realize that it is very important for us to work and stand together, and not work against each other. Only then we can convince companies how important and valuable our work is.
For creatives who may be hesitant to participate in offline networking events like the Creative Lunch Club, what would you say to encourage them to step out of their comfort zone and give it a try? The feedback I get from members is very positive. They say it’s easy to connect with the other creatives and to find topics to talk about. Being in a group of three takes some pressure off everyone. It’s not like a date or an interview situation. Furthermore, lunch is normally only around an hour, so even if you don’t click with your matches, you can just say bye after one hour and leave. It’s a very small investment, but you can get a lot out of it.
Members of the Creative Lunch Club have told me they have found new friends through us, landed new projects and started collaborations. So, I really would give it a shot!
“I love Creative Lunch Club because it harnesses the most human way of connecting, sharing a meal. It’s an effortless way for creatives to build diverse connections and friendships across various fields and meet people they wouldn’t otherwise.”
“As a freelance creative, I am always on the lookout for others to find my community. And nothing compares to a relaxed lunch to connect with new faces and get away from your, sometimes lonely, desk.”