René Redzepi, the founder and celebrity chef behind Denmark’s famed Noma, resigned after abuse and assault allegations gained new traction, including through posts and messages shared online ahead of a Noma pop-up in Los Angeles, according to reporting by The Associated Press.
The resignation followed years of criticism that Redzepi had fostered mistreatment of staff and that he had used unpaid interns to work at the Copenhagen restaurant. The renewed attention came after allegations circulated on social media and after a New York Times report described former employees’ accounts of abuse shortly before the Los Angeles pop-up opened.
In a Thursday Instagram post accompanied by a tearful video, Redzepi wrote that he and Noma had been working on change, adding that the organization had taken “big steps to transform the culture over many years.” He also said he recognized that the changes were not enough on their own, writing, “I recognize these changes do not repair the past. An apology is not enough; I take responsibility for my own actions.”
The allegations gaining momentum included posts shared by Jason Ignacio White, a former head of Noma’s fermentation lab, who collected anonymous testimonies and published them on his Instagram page. Those accounts included allegations ranging from verbal abuse to physical assault, and one unidentified person wrote, “I got punched in the face during service there.”
Another testimonial shared by White described the impact on a former worker, saying: “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.”
Noma’s Los Angeles residency began this week, opening on Wednesday with a small gathering of protesters and pricing a meal at $1,500, according to the Associated Press report. After the allegations drew wider attention, sponsors pulled their funding for the Southern California residency. The Danish restaurant was closed as scheduled on Thursday for the Los Angeles pop-up, while a nearby Noma cafe remained open for business.
Redzepi has addressed his aggression publicly over the past decade, the Associated Press reported, and he apologized on Instagram in response to the New York Times article, which interviewed 35 former employees who worked at Noma between 2009 and 2017. The report said Redzepi told followers he had been working to change his behavior.
Kristoffer Dahy Ernst, editor-in-chief of Danish food magazine Gastro, said Redzepi had to step down for Noma to have a chance of survival, telling the Associated Press: “René Redzepi is the face of Noma, he is Noma.” Dahy Ernst added that removing Redzepi was necessary to address “the huge problem that Noma has right now,” and he said it was unclear whether the restaurant could continue without its founder.
Other voices reflected on the power dynamics of top chefs. Nick Curtin, the American executive chef and owner of Copenhagen’s Michelin-starred Alouette, told the Associated Press that the culinary industry gives too much power to a single person and said, “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.”
Some Copenhagen residents and visitors said they did not expect an industrywide reckoning to follow. Nicklas Keng told the Associated Press he was hopeful that even if Noma’s excellence faded, alumni in Denmark would keep the city’s food scene prominent, while Annie Nguyen, visiting Copenhagen as a tourist, said the headlines had changed her view of whether she would dine there again.
Dazio reported from Berlin.