Zack Burkum and Stephen Knight are a pair of 20-year-olds driving what they believe is the state's first eco-friendly taxi service.
Green Chauffeur sprang as much from exasperation as innovation.
"We were both working at Denny's," Burkum recalled. "Stephen tried to earn some extra cash driving a cab.
"One day, he put in 12 hours behind the wheel. And, after paying for gas and splitting profits with the cab company, he cleared $12."
Instead of grumbling, Knight decided he could make more money with his own cab company.
"Stephen came home one day and he said, 'I want to be an entrepreneur,'" said his mother, Linda Knight. "He explained to me that, when he was driving cab, he heard a lot of customers saying that they wished that cabs were cleaner and the drivers more courteous."
Green Chauffeur is the result.
"I wanted to offer an eco-friendly service that featured ultra-clean, nonsmoking cars, drivers dressed in business casual and rates at or below the competition," Stephen Knight said.
The upfront investment was minimal since Knight already owned a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid.
He encouraged Burkum to leave Denny's with him, and a $5,000 loan from Burkum's grandfather, Merlim Burkum, helped get Green Chauffeur going.
But no matter how good a business idea is, lift-off isn't always glorious.
"We rented an office in Grandville and pretty much lived there," Burkum said. "That included sleeping under the desk as we waited for the phone to ring."
Four months in, Green Chauffeur's fleet has expanded to three vehicles with the addition of two used hybrids, 2007 and 2005 Toyota Priuses.
The company's other employees are the owners' mothers, Linda Knight and Debbie Buk.
"We did two things that really got us off the ground," Burkum said.
"First, we handed out about 7,000 business cards. And, then, we started to develop relationships with higher-end hotels so we could get the business traveler."
For both, their entrepreneurship is trumping any college plans.
Burkum is a Grand Rapids Christian High School graduate who studied information technology for a semester at Davenport University. Knight was home-schooled and has a GED.
"We both plan on going back to college once we get this business to where can step away a bit," Burkum said.
The hopes are to increase Green Chauffeur's fleet, a step that will likely include finding investors.
"We're personally stretched, but we feel like our plan is solid," Knight said.
In the meantime, the only other cab company in West Michigan with eco-friendlier aspirations is Metro Cab of Grand Rapids.
The firm's West Michigan fleet has 15 luxury cars and 20 cabs, and it plans to convert to propane in the coming year, Metro sales manager Jan Croft said.
"It's less cost-intensive than replacing the fleet with hybrids, and Metro has already made a partial conversion of their cars and buses in the Detroit area," Croft said.
For Green Chauffeur, expanding with new vehicles -- propanes or hybrids -- isn't currently an option.
But another form of green is important to Burkum and Knight: profit. They are banking that both greens can go hand in hand.