Dinner at 8

January 22, 2002

Renee Kostick began her own company, Dinner at 8, a dinner dating service, in October 1997 and approached Nalin Jain of Arlington Small Business Development Center for business assistance on start up issues. The company arranges dinner parties for 4 single men and 4 single women at local restaurants. The company began operations in the DC metropolitan area and with Nalin’s thoughtful advice on strategic business issues, the company expanded its services to Baltimore in March of 1999. Dinner at 8 plans between 15 to 20 dinner parties a month for its guests. Guests of the dinner parties are asked a brief questionnaire in order to ascertain their activities, interests, cuisine preferences and availability. This enables Dinner at 8 to invite other dinner guests who share these specific interests. Restaurants are chosen based on price range, ambiance, entertainment, accessibility and cuisine.A Dinner at 8 representative personally greets the guests, introduces them to each other and buys their first drink during a cocktail hour prior to the dinner. The group then dines together and each member is responsible for paying for their own meal. At the end of the evening guests can choose to leave contacting information with their new acquaintances. The ages of clients range from early thirties to mid sixties. All are professionals who want to broaden their social contacts, are new to the DC area or are interested in a relationship.

Also, the service offers various larger social events throughout the year such as happy hours, wine dinners, seminars and travel trips. Currently, Ms. Kostick employs four part-time employees. Since its inception, Dinner at 8 has been featured in the Washingtonian, The Washington Times, Singles Jewish Week, Style magazine and the Baltimore Sun.

Ms. Kostick sought the services of the Arlington Small Business Development Center in 1997 and to this date Nalin Jain is one of our strategic business consultant and continues to counsel Ms. Kostick regarding her business strategies and decisions. Having Nalin at the Arlington SBDC has indeed been a tremendous source of professional business advice and ongoing encouragement, especially in difficult times.

As an attorney, Ms. Kostick also specializes in civil child abuse and neglect cases in the District of Columbia and is a member of the Pennsylvania and District of Columbia Bar.