The two Atlanta restaurant leaders recognized as James Beard Award finalists this year have at least one other thing in common: Both deflect recognition away from themselves and onto the teams supporting them.
Andres Loaiza, the owner and longtime manager of Aria, was buzzing when he spoke with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday afternoon. Aria was named a finalist in the Outstanding Hospitality category for a second year in a row.
“Only five restaurants are recognized every year from across the country,” Loaiza said. “We did that twice in a row. It’s amazing.”
That “we” is part of the key to Aria’s success, Loaiza said. Hospitality is a communal effort, a warm, welcoming atmosphere that can easily be punctured by one misaligned team member.
J. Trent Harris, the executive chef and partner at Mujo, was named a finalist for Best Chef: Southeast. His first words about the individual honor credited his team.
“I think it really speaks to the quality of the work my team does,” Harris said. “They’re recognizing the individual chefs, but I can’t do anything that I do there without the team of people behind me that are executing and making things happen every day. It really shows what a high standard they’ve set and continue to set.”
Both Aria and Mujo stand out in the restaurant industry for the way they’ve retained employees over the long term. Loaiza and Harris each credited their James Beard success to the cultures baked into their restaurants. They try to hire good people and give those employees opportunities to grow.
“We work really hard at making sure people feel appreciated,” Loaiza said, speaking not about his customers, but his employees. “(T)he work environment is such that they’re happy to come into work and they know that it’s going to be fun and they’re going to be able to do what they like to do.”
“What has made us successful is just attracting the right talent and taking care of them, supporting them and setting them up for success,” Harris said.
Aria and Mujo are both fine-dining restaurants where a meal can feel like an investment, yet Loaiza and Harris insist that making money is secondary to providing great experiences for their customers. Each restaurant has made adjustments over the years that appear to go against the bottom line in the name of enhancing their service.
At Mujo, the team was dissatisfied with the quality and texture of the napkins provided by their linen service, so the restaurant bought better napkins that the team laundered themselves. They still sand down the top of the bar every night, removing stains and freshening the surface for the next group of diners.
Loaiza said that one of the changes at Aria over the past year has been the removal of a small number of tables. Taking away even a few seats in a restaurant can remove enough revenue to throw off the entire balance sheet at some restaurants, but Loaiza said it made sense at Aria.
“It’s a quiet little thing that allows us to just really walk around a table and keep us from reaching over or leaning too close,” Loaiza said.
The change is something he believes diners feel, even if they don’t consciously notice it. And Aria might lose a few hundred dollars in revenue each night, but its convivial atmosphere has not been affected.
“If you come in on a busy night, it doesn’t look like we’ve slowed down at all; it still has that really buzzy feeling that Aria has, which I love,” Loaiza said.
Credit: Brandon Amato
Credit: Brandon Amato
Harris and Loaiza both emphasized that they focus on building culture and constant improvement rather than external awards or recognition.
Loaiza said that last year’s James Beard honor only settled in once he was in Chicago at the ceremony, surrounded by other restaurateurs and hospitality professionals he respected.
“Of course I know it’s a big deal,” Loaiza said.
“But not until I sat in that theater, that’s when the weight of it really hit me,” he continued. “I’m in this room with all these people that I respect and look up to … and they asked me to come.”
The 2026 James Beard Award winners will be announced at a ceremony in Chicago on June 15.
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