Elevation Burger: Raising Bar for Healthy Eating in Hyattsville

Ideas for new development in have clung to an organic twist, intending to bring hip to the city that began booming late last decade.

At 5501 Baltimore Ave., Christopher and David Wallis hope to shoehorn their burger joint into , set to open in the coming months.

As a founding member of the National Association of Women Business Owners, Kathi Wallis, wife of David, is excited about her newest business venture with Elevation Burger because of the brand’s focus on better living and eating. She and David already own a vegetarian quick-service restaurant, Maoz Vegetarian, in Washington, D.C. The couple believes organic eating is the wave of the future.

“As a certified yoga instructor, mother and lifelong ‘foodie,’ I have always been interested in healthy, organic foods,” Kathi said. “I think it’s especially important to offer organic, grass-fed beef due to the unhealthy ways that other cows are treated,” said Kathi.

Elevation Burger serves only 100 percent USDA-certified organic, 100 percent grass-fed, 100 percent free-range beef burgers freshly ground on-site and fresh-cut fries cooked in 100 percent olive oil. To complete the meal Elevation Burger offers fresh baked cookies and hand-scooped milk shakes.

Elevation Burger’s restaurants are also environmentally friendly, utilizing renewable, non-polluting materials and surfaces including bamboo flooring, compressed sorghum tabletops and low — or no — VOC paints and sealants.

But being environmentally friendly is only one reason why it looks like Hyattsville will make a good home for the fifth Elevation Burger franchise in the District area.

“I knew Hyattsville pretty well, and I really liked the idea that was trying to create something new and exciting and close to D.C. for young professionals who couldn’t afford to,” she said.

As for clientele, the Wallis’s are expecting young, urban professionals and families, including expecting mothers who want to be discriminating about what they feed their kids.

“America’s never going to stop eating hamburgers or pizza I don’t think, so [we] might as well give them something better to eat,” Kathi said.

, Kathi Wallis isn’t worried about bad business.

“We feel that people still eat out,” she said. “When times were difficult in the very beginning of the recession McDonald’s were selling a lot more. We think that people once they taste it — not only is it better for you but it really does taste good.”

The Hyattsville location is scheduled to open this month.