Element Fresh grew out of Scott Minoie's and Sheldon Habiger's lifelong passion for food.
Scott, a Boston-native started his first catering business at the age of 15 from his mom's kitchen, and has been involved with food and restaurants ever since, primarily as a chef and restaurant manager.
Sheldon, combining a strong background in nutrition with business experience in China, in the year 2000 convinced Scott they should start a catering service together, helping to fill the gap in Shanghai's offerings of fresh, international food. In 2001, they added a health food & juice bar in Shanghai's first international health club.
The big break came in 2002: a regular customer working in the leasing department of Shanghai's premier retail, office and hotel complex, the Shanghai Centre/Portman, offered a location in the Shanghai Centre to the young restaurant company. When the word got out, other regular customers decided to provide the required financial support to the founders... and so Element Fresh at The Shanghai Centre opened its doors on July 12, 2002!
The need and opportunity for expansion was clear. When drawing up the plan in late 2004, Scott asked an old friend for help. Frank Rasche had spent almost 2 decades in marketing and general management with The Coca-Cola Company, last as Operations Director, Greater China and General Manager, Coca-Cola Taiwan. A few days of heated planning later, the enthusiasm was great and Scott and Frank decided to team up as partners to bring Element Fresh to more people in Shanghai and beyond, and to build a brand embraced and trusted by its diverse customers.
Since then, Element Fresh
- opened a total of 10 restaurants in Shanghai and Beijing
- became the long-term partner of the Tennis Masters Shanghai (2005-12), bringing the world's greatest tennis players to Shanghai every year, and of the China Open in Beijing (2008-11)
- is supporting charities "Heart to Heart" and "Roots & Shoots"
- created over 800 new jobs, and was named one of "China's Top Employers" in 2009 and 2010
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