Burning Down Boundaries

BY CALLIE EVERGREEN

David Viana is pioneering a new way to provide equal footing for frontof-house and back-ofhouse employees.

TOP CHEF ALUM DAVID VIANA is revolutionizing the traditional restaurant team structure at his Iberian restaurant Lita, which is designed to burn down the boundary between front-of-house and back-of-house employees, plus mitigate the ever-common burnout of restaurant workers.

The Heirloom Kitchen executive chef and co-owner opened Lita on April 26 in Aberdeen Township, New Jersey. All Lita hourly employees (except for bar staff) are called hospitality professionals, and are fully cross-trained and rotate between working on the restaurant floor and in the kitchen each week, plus share tips equally. He projects every employee will make around $70,000 annually.

“It bridged that gap. There have been other attempts to do this,” he says, noting no-tipping models. “I want to make this clear, because I’m not saying this is going to make other models irrelevant … I want there to be an alternative avenue, and I think this is more problem-solving for places like Noma, which is a world-class restaurant which lic or speaking with people to contribute, and all we’re asking is for everyone to contribute. Contribution is the success,” Viana adds.

His other mission is to bring new life to Portuguese cuisine. Lita is a love letter to Viana's family, who immigrated from Portugal to Newark, New Jersey, in the 1970s. The restaurant is named after Viana's mother, Rosa Lita, who taught him to cook alongside his grandmother, Isaura. Modern twists on traditional Iberian dishes take center stage at the restaurant, where most of the menu