Vivian Howard

A former advertising executive, Vivian left the glamorous world of marketing for the hustle and bustle of the restaurant business. She enrolled in ICE’s Culinary Arts program to "get an internship in the city’s top kitchens.” After completing her campus kitchen classes, she externed at Wylie Dufresne’s acclaimed wd~50. From there, she trained at Jean Georges’ Spice Market and launched a successful catering business.

When her parents learned of her plans to open a New York storefront, they volunteered to fund its opening with a caveat — that she return to her hometown in Eastern North Carolina and opened there. That restaurant, Chef & the Farmer, sources over 70% of the restaurant’s inventory from within 60 miles. Vivian has since opened The Counter at Chef & the Farmer, a casual take on the dishes she serves at the counter's namesake home; the now-shuttered Boiler Room in Kinston; Benny's Big Time in Wilmington; and Lenoir in Charleston, South Carolina. As Vivian got to know her local farmers, her interest in the stories behind the food she was cooking blossomed, and she recruited a childhood friend and documentary director, Cynthia Hill, to help investigate the region’s culinary heritage. Describing her culinary voice, Chef Vivian says, “I believe in cooking food that has a story behind it and integrity to it — food with a very specific sense of place and that people want to eat.”

Howard's acclaimed PBS show "A Chef’s Life" was born of this passion, and  garnered both a Peabody and a James Beard Award, cementing Chef & The Farmer as one of the nation’s top “destination restaurants," earning Howard a nod for Best Chef: SouthEast and James Beard Awards for six consecutive years (2012-2018). Acoss Howards various efforts in the food space, she has been nominated or won 15 James Beard Awards as well as two Daytime Emmys.

In the years since its inception, Chef & The Farmer has morphed into two concepts, The Counter @Chef & The Farmer, with a casual dining atmosphere, and The Kitchen Bar at Chef & The Farmer, which is only open one weekend per month, where Chef Howard provides and intimate setting where she interacts with the guests and fans that make the pilgrimage to Kingston while she cooks before them. She has written about this shift extensively, including a thought piece in legendary southern culture magazine, Garden & Gun. 

Howard has also expanded her empire beyond Kingston, opening two different concepts in Charleston, SC. The first, Lenoir, is a pre-fixe southern restaurant while Handy & Hot is a quick-serve counter offering biscuits, coffee and grab-and-go breakfast and lunch fare.