Falls Church Business News and Notes for the week of May 1 – 7, 2008.

The Falls Church City Economic Development Authority hosted a panel discussion with area planning and development experts which addressed the City Charter Change Referendum that will appear on City ballots next week. The session, which was open to business leaders and the general public, addressed market conditions, development trends and the like. Information on that discussion is available on the City’s website at www.fallschurchva.gov/Content/Agendas/DevelopmentForum042308.pdf. It can also be seen on FC Cable access on Monday, April 28 at 9:30 a.m., Tuesday April 29 at 9 p.m., Friday, May 2 at noon, and Sunday May 4 at 10 a.m.

Organic Doggie Kitchen’s “Doggie Happy Hour” will take place from 6 – 8 p.m. on Friday, May 2 in conjunction with FIRSTfriday of Falls Church. This event was postponed from its original April 4 date due to weather. It will take place in the parking lot of Art and Frame of Falls Church located at 111 Park Avenue. For more information about the Doggie Happy Hour and the host of business sponsored FIRSTfriday events and specials, visit www.firstfridayoffallschurch.com.

Curves of Falls Church is hosting a grand reopening on Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 240 W. Broad Street. In recognition of the reopening, new owner, Kathy Hamor, who has revamped the workout facility, is offering new members a $100 discount off of the service fee on Friday and Saturday, May 9 and 10. Additionally, the first 25 people to join will receive a certificate for a free manicure. For more information about Curves, visit www.curvescomplete.com. For more information about the grand reopening, call 703-536-0140.

Elevation Burger, an organic burger concept owned and operated in Falls Church by Hans and April Hess, has signed three multiunit franchising deals, bringing 12 new units to New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia. These three deals are in addition to the five corporate stores that Elevation Burger plans to open in the D.C. area by 2010. Franchisee Back Deck LLC expects to open five new units throughout New Jersey by 2013 with the first to open in early 2009. Two additional franchisee’s plan to open seven units in Crystal City, Old Town Alexandria, Shirlington, Kingstown, Arlington, and around George Washington University. Both franchisees expect to open their first unit by the end of 2008 or early January 2009. Elevation Burger cooks their fresh fries in olive oil, offers two kinds of veggie burgers and uses only 100 percent organic, grass fed, free range meat. The original Elevation Burger is located at 442 S. Washington Street in Falls Church. For more information visit www.elevationburger.com.

David and Leslie Hutchinson, operators of the Robeksâ Fruit Smoothies & Healthy Eats in Falls Church, Herndon and Sterling, opened a new Robeks in the Tysons Corner area earlier this week. The new location is at 8359 Leesburg Pike in the Tysons Square Shopping Center near the intersection of Rt. 7 and Rt. 123. Grand Opening activities are planned for Thursday, May 8 and Saturday, May 10 — noon to 3 p.m. both days. The general public is invited to attend the events which will feature free smoothies, food samples, giveaways and more. The couple will open their fifth Robeks store this summer in Reston. For more information visit www.robeks.com.

K3 Solutions LLC has been accepted by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), a Federally funded research and development center operated by Carnegie Mellon University, as a Partner authorized to provide CMMI appraisal and training services. K3 Solutions is officially licensed by the SEI to deliver the Introduction to CMMI v 1.2 training course and offer SCAMPI appraisal services. These will be offered alongside K3 Solutions’ suite of process management capabilities focusing on process improvement consulting services to our Federal and commercial clients. K3 Solutions is a small woman-owned full service management and information technology consulting firm providing a wide array of services including proposal management, process management, project management and software engineering and support services to Federal and commercial clients. For more information about K3 Solutions, visit www.k3-solutions.com.

Sweetwater Tavern recently claimed a silver medal in the Brewers Association (BA) World Beer Cup® 2008, a global beer competition that evaluates beers from around the world and recognizes the most outstanding beers being produced in the world today. Gold, silver and bronze medals in the competition’s 91 beer-style categories were awarded April 19, 2008 during the World Beer Cup Gala Awards Ceremony and Dinner in San Diego, CA. Sweetwater Tavern was recognized in the British Style Imperial Stout category for its High Desert Imperial Stout, which also won a silver medal in the same category in the 2004 World Beer Cup as well as a silver medal in the Great American Beer Festival® in 2001. Sweetwater Tavern is a restaurant/microbrewery located in Centreville, Merrifield and Sterling. Visit www.WorldBeerCup.org for World Beer Cup 2008 information.

Sponsors are being sought by the Falls Church Lions Club and The Unity Club for their annual fundraising golf tournaments. The Lions Club event will take place Monday May 12 at Algonkian Regional Park Golf Course. The Unity club event will take place Monday, June 16, 2008 at Forest Greens Golf Club. For more information about these popular golf tournaments, visit www.fallschurchlions.org and/or www.unityclub.com.