Entrepreneur Elliot Hoffman Introduces REV, a Company Guiding Businesses to Sustainable Practices that Reach the Bottom Line and Build a Better World
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) April 07, 2015 -- San Francisco-based sustainability firm True Market Solutions will now be known as REV. Launched in 2010 by Just Desserts co-founder Elliot Hoffman, the company provides sustainability education and training to small- to mid-size enterprises (SMEs) through its core offering — Sustainability Circles® — currently being delivered in California.
REV Co-founder and CEO, Elliot Hoffman, was a perfectly happy entrepreneur building the household brand name “Just Desserts” which he established in 1974, but his learnings and experience creating sustainable business practices proved too fruitful not to share. He realized that “Businesses are the key to moving the world in a powerful, positive direction.” This is why he set out to build a movement to educate, share and empower this “new voice of business.”
Some might say that Elliot was groomed to help lead the charge, being intimately involved with the early entrepreneurial social impact movement of the late 70’s that popularized the idea of socially responsible business. Elliot bumped shoulders with early pioneers that included Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, Ben & Jerry, the founders of Stonyfield Farms and Seventh Generation, and Catherine Sneed of the Garden Project, amongst others.
At the time, sustainable business practices were rare but Hoffman was committed to environmental sustainability. In 1982, he installed a large solar thermal water heating system with 24 solar panels on the roof of Just Desserts headquarters for the bakery’s pan washing operation — a move that proved highly cost effective and energy efficient
Inspired by his socially conscious entrepreneurial cohort and driven by an intense belief in the power of community — nurtured during his youth growing up in a Bronx co-op —Hoffman used Just Desserts as a proving ground to show that environmentally sustainable practices and community engagement are not only good for business but also have the power to compel impactful positive change.
“Community is where I really see and believe the future is in terms of addressing the big challenges and opportunities that we’re facing,” explains Hoffman. “It is going to take communities of people, businesses, and leaders to come together to influence public policy and encourage decision-makers pay attention to what is needed in the world today.”
Hoffman’s early endeavors — which included an extension of the Garden Project to help re-integrate ex-convicts, and a gathering of over 850 business people and volunteers to renovate an elementary school in San Francisco’s Bay View Hunters Point district — helped grow Just Desserts from a small neighborhood café in San Francisco to a highly respected brand, with devoted customers and nationwide retailers including Whole Foods.
Hoffman’s efforts to bring together a coalition of major businesses to help pass the California Solar Initiative led to the birth of the advocacy group, New Voice of Business which he co-founded with a group of business friends in 2006. The nonprofit’s second charge was support of A.B. 32, the clean energy bill limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
The company Hoffman currently leads, REV, is a natural outcome of the work that he’s been doing — empowering communities of businesses to make positive change. The firm’s Sustainability Circle® Program brings together regional communities of small to mid-size businesses, municipalities, divisions of large companies and institutions for a 6-month peer-learning experience that helps them embed sustainability practices into their organizations. The results are impressive for participating businesses — the average projected recurring annual savings per organizations is over $280K, with reductions of 1000 tons of greenhouse gases per year, 1.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity, over 2 million gallons of water, and a more engaged workforce.
To date, REV has helped over 130 businesses achieve measurable results from sustainability initiatives through education, strong relationships, and shared ideas. Guided by Hoffman’s vision and leadership, REV is expanding rapidly through contracts with the four largest investor-owned utilities in California and additional utility partnerships, as well as with California government offices and influential business leaders.
“The role and purpose of business in the 21st century is to promote and add to the well-being of our communities,” says Hoffman. “This is what REV is about at a deeper level. And that’s where the more successful businesses are going to be in the future – improving the well-being of all life. It’s key to demonstrate that business can make strong profits by doing this.”
For more details, visit http://www.revsustainability.com.
About REV
REV integrates the best of sustainability with behavior change to accelerate business impact. By connecting people, expert resources, knowledge, and new and innovative thinking — in the context of peer-learning Sustainability Circles® — REV empowers businesses, municipalities, and institutions to co-create positive change in their organizations and broader community.
Self-generated Sustainability Action Plans give organizations the confidence to engage and inspire stakeholders and employees, implement initiatives, and help drive a mindset of efficiency and sustainability into the culture of the organization. Since 2010, over 175 companies have or are currently participating in Sustainability Circles®.
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