New owner takes the reins at Viva Taqueria

After 30 years, the owners of downtown Ithaca’s Viva Taqueria & Cantina are handing the reins to new owner Katie Stone. Her first official day on the job was Jan. 29.

“It’s fantastic,” Stone said of the experience so far. “I got there Wednesday morning just as staff were getting in there, and I had this feeling wash over me of ‘I can’t believe this is mine.’ It’s been a huge joy to meet and interact with the staff, who have been amazing, sweet and welcoming.”

Stone was assistant director of retail dining spaces at Ithaca College, which included the campus food court and Ithaca Bakery.

Last fall, she learned through a mutual professional acquaintance that the restaurant’s longtime owners, Pete and Ursula Browning, were looking to sell. “There was not a listing or anything, so it was nothing I was actively considering,” Stone said.

But after three decades of serving up Viva’s unique brand of Mexican food and drinks with an emphasis on healthy recipes and fresh ingredients, the Brownings — who opened the restaurant in 1995 — were ready for a change.

“We have been doing this for 30 years — that’s more than half our lives,” Ursula Browning told Tompkins Weekly. “Pete had open heart surgery a year ago, and that convinced us we needed to finish up our time at Viva. We realized we need to spend time now doing the things we want to do, instead of waiting.”

The opportunity came as a total surprise to Stone.

“My first thought was ‘Oh, my gosh.’ In my mind, Viva is such an institution in Ithaca,” said Stone, adding that she has been a “very active patron to Viva” over the years.

Stone and the Brownings hit it off right away.

“I had to check out all of the business aspects, but then once I could envision what I could do as the owner of Viva, it felt like, ‘Wow, I think I could really do this,’” Stone said. 

“When we discussed the ideal new owner for Viva, Katie was who we were talking about, even though we hadn’t met her yet!” Ursula said via email. “She understands the heart of Viva and has been a customer for 20 years. She has massive amounts of relevant experience and a commitment to hospitality, which is hard to find post-pandemic. She has lots of positive energy. She is the perfect person to lead Viva going forward.”

Stone has extensive experience in Ithaca’s dining scene, having worked at Lucatelli’s, Maxi’s, Hazelnut Kitchen, The Westy and Felicia’s before, most recently, working at Ithaca College.

“I was managing the operations of all of [Ithaca College’s food] retail spaces,” she said. “I oversaw them all, with student staff underneath me.”

Stone has a background in education and used to work for Tompkins Cortland Community College teaching literature within the college’s prison program.

“I love meeting people where they are and taking them where they need to go,” Stone said, “and really giving people the things they need and want, and I kind of see a parallel there to hospitality. People are choosing to go out and spend their money, and making a choice about where they want to spend their money. When I think about hospitality, I want to make sure that people are taken care of and that they are getting what they’re looking for, too.”

That philosophy is true for the staff as well, she added, saying that she is looking forward to coaching them “and making sure that they’re having a great experience in a place they have to go sometimes 40 hours a week.”

She said that she is grateful to have the institutional knowledge of Tomas Harrington, who has been the general manager for most of the restaurant’s 30 years.

“He has run the day-to-day and been the face of Viva,” Ursula said. “He has been the main player over the years. He was the first employee we hired. He was our first bartender, our first bar manager and our first and only general manager. … Viva would not exist without Tomas.”

Stone said she is excited to help enliven The Commons post pandemic. “I want it to feel busier, and like a place where people want to go and spend their time,” she said. She is looking forward to getting to know the regulars at Viva and her fellow downtown business owners.

She said she is also excited to welcome people from out of town and to collaborate with area organizations such as Visit Ithaca and the Downtown Ithaca Alliance.

Goals for the future include increasing Viva’s hours of operation; currently, Viva is closed on Sunday and Monday, and Stone would like for the restaurant to eventually be open every day and later at night.

“I would love to have Sunday brunch there,” she added.

Stone said that the Brownings have been very kind and generous with their time throughout the transition.

“They aren’t ready to just step away from Viva and say, ‘Hey, it’s yours,’” she said. “It really speaks to how much they want Viva to continue.”

The Brownings said that they value their employees immensely.

“Our fondest memories are of all the people we have worked with over the years,” Ursula said. “We’ve had hundreds of employees. The employees truly are the heart of Viva [and are] really great, fun-loving people who made Viva what it is.” 

“People have met their life partners working at Viva, and people who worked together decades ago are still friends,” she added. “We see people everywhere we go in Ithaca who we know from Viva, and that’s really special.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story stated that Katie Stone found out about Viva being for sale from a Viva employee. It was actually a mutual acquaintance. Tompkins Weekly regrets the error.