Entrepreneurship: Managing Ideas, Capital & Vision in an Environmental Way

The Presidents' Forum of Metro Washington
November 20, 2008

Hans Hess
CEO
Elevation Franchise Ventures / enviroCAB

Speaker Biography:
Mr. Hess is the founder of Elevation Burger and, with his nephew, a founding partner of enviroCAB. He began his career as a fund-raiser for an internationally active non-profit where he first had the opportunity to develop his people skills. From there he began to develop management skills in the call center operations of a major domestic airline. As he became interested in public policy and its relationship to business he obtained a position as a legislative aid to a member of the House of Representatives in Washington DC. He later worked as a real estate consultant and planner, helping develop over $3 billion of mixed-use projects using public, private and public/private financing mechanisms.

In 2005, after three years of research and planning, Mr. Hess founded Elevation Burger, a restaurant specializing in healthier fast food. Elevation Burger represented a long standing desire to be in a guest oriented business that could give back to the community in a tangible way. Because of this, Elevation Burger uses ingredients like grass-fed, organic beef and fresh cut fries cooked in olive oil in order to reduce the negative health impact of the classic American meal. Elevation Burger also purchases clean-source offset credits in order to be completely carbon-neutral in its daily operations. Other environmentally friendly practices include converting waste oil into bio-diesel and seeking LEED certification for new stores. Elevation Burger began selling franchises in March 2008 and has sold 24 franchises since that time. Elevation Burger will continue to expand nationally over the next several years.

Mr. Hess also became well known in the Washington DC area last year for successfully applying to Arlington County and receiving the right to operate a fleet of 50 hybrid taxi cabs known as enviroCAB. In addition to using lower emission, hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius and hybrid Camry, enviroCAB also purchases clean-source offset credits. EnviroCAB purchases enough credits to not only offset the enviroCAB fleet emissions, but also the emissions of 100 additional 16 mile per gallon competitor vehicles. EnviroCAB represents a long term interest in providing transportation to the public in an environmentally friendly manner and is an extension of the social concerns embodied in the Elevation Burger concept.

In general, Mr. Hess is known for his socially conscious, market-driven approach, and is an innovator in the application of market and financial analysis to the businesses with which he is involved.

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