Celebrity chef resigns from iconic restaurant Noma after abuse allegations

Noma's chef René Redzepi prepares a vegetarian burger in a restaurant, in Copenhagen, Nov. 24, 2024. (Soeren Bidstrup/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — René Redzepi, the founder and celebrity chef at the iconic Danish restaurant Noma that won three Michelin stars and other international accolades for its innovative “New Nordic” cuisine, has stepped down following allegations of abuse and assault at the Copenhagen landmark.

Redzepi has been dogged for years by reports of mistreatment of his staff as well as his yearslong use of unpaid interns to staff the pricy restaurant, which was ranked first on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List five times. But the criticism recently came to a head on social media, and an article in The New York Times detailed former employees’ accounts of abuse just days ahead of the opening of a Noma pop-up in Los Angeles.

Sponsors have since pulled their funding for the Southern California residency, which opened on Wednesday to a small gathering of protesters and where a meal will cost US$1,500. Redzepi announced his resignation on Instagram with a tearful video soon after.

“I have worked to be a better leader and Noma has taken big steps to transform the culture over many years,” he wrote in the post’s caption on Thursday. “I recognize these changes do not repair the past. An apology is not enough; I take responsibility for my own actions.”

Jason Ignacio White, a former head of Noma’s fermentation lab, collected anonymous testimonies of alleged abuse at the restaurant and posted them to his Instagram page. The accounts, which range from verbal abuse to physical assault at the hands of Redzepi and his deputies, have gone viral.

“I got punched in the face during service there,” one unidentified person wrote to White.

Another said: “Noma destroyed my passion for the industry. I struggled with intense anxiety, bad enough to give me panic attacks in the middle of the night. The trauma, abuse and idea that nothing would ever change all led me to walk away from the career.”

Redzepi has publicly addressed his aggression over the last decade. In response to Saturday’s New York Times article, which included interviews with 35 former employees who worked at Noma between 2009 and 2017, the chef apologized on Instagram and said he has worked to change his behaviour.

He was knighted in 2016 to Denmark’s Order of Dannebrog by then-Queen Margrethe II.

Noma, Redzepi and the Danish royal family’s press department did not immediately return requests for comment on Thursday.

Kristoffer Dahy Ernst, editor-in-chief of Danish food magazine Gastro, said Redzepi had to step down for the restaurant to have a chance of survival.

“René Redzepi is the face of Noma, he is Noma,” Dahy Ernst told The Associated Press. “If you want to solve the huge problem that Noma has right now, you have to remove the source of the problem.”

Dahy Ernst said it is unclear whether Noma can continue without its visionary founder, who brought international acclaim to a Scandinavian country that can trace a change in its gastro-tourism before and after the restaurant’s 2003 opening. With its dedication to hospitality, flawless execution and culture of foraging from the nearby land and sea, Noma made Copenhagen a top dining destination for foodies worldwide.

“We were very old-fashioned. We had open-faced sandwiches with rye bread, but we weren’t really that proud of our gastronomy,” Dahy Ernst said.

Nick Curtin, the American executive chef and owner of Copenhagen’s Michelin-starred Alouette restaurant, said the culinary industry gives too much power to a single person at the top.

“It’s long overdue that we get rid of the notion that sacrifice, humiliation, pain (and) violence are the ways -- the building blocks -- for greatness,” he told the AP.

Copenhagen local Nicklas Keng said he doesn’t expect that an industrywide reckoning will follow. But he’s hopeful that even if Noma’s excellence fades, its talented alumni in Denmark will ensure that Copenhagen’s food scene stays on the map.

For Annie Nguyen, an American tourist visiting Copenhagen, Noma had long been on her list of places to check out. But the recent headlines have prompted a change of heart.

“I personally would not want to continue dining there with that kind of culture,” she said. “I feel it does kind of leave a bad taste.”

The Copenhagen restaurant was closed as scheduled on Thursday due to the Los Angeles pop-up, but the nearby Noma cafe was business as usual, and visitors milled around to buy coffee and specialty sauces.

James Brooks and Stefanie Dazio, The Associated Press

Dazio reported from Berlin.