Companies Line Up for Lunch With Gorbachev : Soviet Union: The competition is fierce for seats at a session sponsored by San Francisco’s Chamber of Commerce.

SAN FRANCISCO —  In true capitalist fashion, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce will throw a lavish lunch for Mikhail S. Gorbachev when he’s in town next Monday.

All anyone needs to get invited is cold, hard cash and a few Chamber connections. Since the lunch became official just over a week ago, it has become the hottest ticket in town--and a nightmare of organization.

Fifteen corporations--usual Bay Area suspects such as Chevron and Bank of America, along with Security Pacific National Bank, the lone entry with a Los Angeles base--have coughed up $2,000 each to be co-sponsors. In exchange, they get two seats for their top executives, plus the chance to propose other names for inclusion. If approved by the Soviets, those people will be admitted at $500 a pop. The Chamber plans to use any profit from the event to support its international business programs.

As of late Wednesday, the guest list of 200-plus was still mightily in flux and a few small details had yet to be nailed down, such as whether Gorbachev would actually be eating with the business leaders and assorted politicians or just addressing them at 3:10 p.m. after they’ve had their fashionably late meal at the Fairmont Hotel. A question-and-answer session is planned after his half-hour speech.

“He’s not going to be eating lunch; he’s on a really tight schedule,” said Staci Walters, with PBN Co., the San Francisco agency handling public relations for the visit.

“He will be eating lunch,” countered Carol Piasente, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

But few seemed to care about such minutiae. The important thing, apparently, was just to be sure to get invited, not always an easy trick given the seat-of-the-pants nature of the affair.

“It has been such a zoo,” said Sharon Tucker, a spokeswoman for BankAmerica Corp., which secured four spots, including seats for former Chairman and Chief Executive A. W. Clausen and his successor, Richard Rosenberg.

The big banking company has maintained an office in Moscow since 1973 to facilitate trade financing and foreign exchange.

“There’s not a lot of business going on (yet in the Soviet Union),” Tucker said, “but we’re watching the changes with as much interest as every other kid on the block.”

In putting together a proposed list of participants, the Chamber adhered to Soviet guidelines that invitations go to executives in banking, oil and gas, telecommunications, high technology and construction--industries that could provide services for which there is great pent-up demand in the Soviet Union.

“The Soviets are very interesting in building ties between U.S. companies and the Soviet far east, which is relatively undeveloped and rich in natural resources,” said Piasente of the Chamber.

Chevron managed five invitations. It didn’t hurt that Vice Chairman James Sullivan is on the Chamber’s board of directors.

The huge San Francisco-based oil company has been negotiating with the Soviets for more than a year for a possible joint venture involving oil exploration and production in a rich field near the Caspian Sea.

Among those on the list in addition to officials from sponsoring companies, Piasente said, were executives who have been strong supporters of the Chamber.

In addition to the upper crust of Bay Area business leaders, Gov. George Deukmejian, San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos and Sen. Pete Wilson will also attend.

Rhea Serpan, an AT&T; executive who is chairman of the Chamber’s board and will serve as moderator at the luncheon, acknowledged getting lots of calls from friends interested in attending.

So far, he said, “nobody has tried to bribe me in any way I recognize.”