Hans was born in Wisconsin but most of his childhood was spent in Southern California. In his teenage years his family moved around quite a bit and this instilled in him a love for travel, food and the great outdoors. When his family moved to the United Arab Emirates, he was 16 years old. After a brief time in Abu Dhabi, Hans returned to the Netherlands on his own. He enrolled at the Technical University of Delft, studying Industrial Design Engineering and found a job as dishwasher at the Restaurant the Wijnhaven to pay for his rent. Being an adventurous world traveler the “dry” engineering industry looked looming. Attracted to the allure of the bar and the hospitality industry; he starting diving deeply into the mysteries of beer, wine, spirits and mixology. After 4 years of study, Hans dropped out to become a full time bartender. Fast forward a few years later, he worked fulltime as bartender at one of the hot spots in Amsterdam -The Panama- Restaurant and Night Club in the Netherlands. There Hans was scouted by the owner of Jazz club/restaurant Panonica in The Hague for the position of General Manager. Ingrid, the love of his life, whom Hans had bartended with in the days of the Wijnhaven, came back into the picture and in 2006 they moved to the United States. He trained as Restaurant Manager under GM Connie Laslow, winner and owner of best restaurant 2002 of Portland Oregon, at the Golden Hotel in Golden. In 2008, Hans worked with Steve Naples, owner of Heidi’s, to open up two restaurants (Lucille’s of Jersey and Sushi Hai) in Conifer in the capacity of General Manager. After the crash in 2008 Hans and his wife Ingrid decided to go in business together and bought the China Clipper Inn, a 13 room Bed and Breakfast, in Ouray while raising their daughter. The China Clipper has won several prestige awards from Trivago, Hotels.com and has won the Bedandbreakfast.com Top 25 award of the United States. After seven years Hans was ready to get back in the bar and restaurant business and they have sold the B&B. His forte being the front of the house, Hans has partnered with Cory Sargent, chef extraordinaire and friend of many years.