In addition, René Redzepi shared a video showing him addressing the team in Los Angeles. In it, he said: “I am truly sorry that you are all in this situation. I don’t believe this represents our team. I am so proud of where we stand as an organisation. But we are currently in the midst of a crisis. To ensure you all feel completely safe, I will be stepping back temporarily. We will announce this soon. For the time being, however, the running of the restaurant is in your hands, and I sincerely hope that you will fight for it. I am not shirking responsibility for my behaviour. Quite the opposite. I know how I have behaved. Many of you have been here long enough to have witnessed this change. That is why I need your support. We’re winning our guests back one by one. And that’s what will make the difference. In the long run, that will be the key to success. To the guests here and there: speak openly about what’s on your mind when asked. But we’re winning our guests back one by one. We’ll manage it. But because everything revolves so much around me, I have to step back. I believe this is the restaurant of the decade. I only intended to say this at the end of this project, but I firmly believe it. I can feel it in the energy. Of course, it’s not just work for me. Many of you are my family now. When you’ve worked with someone for 19, 14, 10 or another 10 years, the connection is simply palpable everywhere. After 13 years, we become more than just colleagues. This is where I draw my energy from. My commitment remains the same: I want to create an extraordinary company where good food takes centre stage and we are part of a transformation. And my promise to you is to create the best company the hospitality industry has ever seen. That is my promise. And it has been for many years. The NOMA 3.0 phase was the time when we wanted to try and build a kind of economy to support people in the hospitality industry in an unobtrusive way. It is very, very difficult to bring about real change. You can destroy things in minutes, and rebuilding can take forever. Please, fight! Stick together! Find strength in each other as a team. And know that I am doing this to protect everyone here. I can only say this because I see what’s going on online – we haven’t seen anything like this for a long time. I know, I know that this isn’t who we are. And that is exactly what motivates me so much. And that is what we must explain and convey to the world. There are many sides to this. It’s not a one-sided affair. Good. So you’ll still see me, but not in the same way as over the last 23 years. You’re in charge now. This is your restaurant now, every single one of you. I’m planning the next phase now. I’ll take care of that. Let’s provide good service!”

Protests and withdrawal of sponsors

Previously, local media such as the Los Angeles Times had reported on protests outside the Noma pop-up. According to the reports, there were said to be around a dozen people. “René Redzepi, shame on you,” shouted the protesters, who also held up signs reading “Stop wasting your time, you’re paying for a crime”, whilst the first guests were driven to the venue for the first dinner service in cars with tinted windows. José Ignacio White, who previously worked as head of Noma’s Fermentation Lab and played a leading role in publicising the recent allegations against Redzepi and the restaurant on social media, also spoke at the protest. He appeared on behalf of the organisation “One Fair Wage”, announced legal action and demanded compensation payments. He also called for changes to the company’s management and employment policies.

He also shared a letter from the organisation on social media: “We, the employees of Noma, are writing to you together with our lawyers and representatives from One Fair Wage to demand the settlement of legal claims, immediate compensation for the damages suffered, and changes to corporate governance and personnel policy. We ask that you agree to meet with us to discuss these demands by no later than Thursday, 12 March 2026, 12:00 pm PST. Noma has committed physical and psychological abuse and withheld wages. Should the company continue these practices in the United States, it will immediately be in breach of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. The restaurant has violated its employees’ rights for many years; the restoration of these rights is necessary but not sufficient. Noma must change its corporate governance and personnel policies to fulfil its legal and moral obligations towards its employees and society as a whole. The wage structure in the hospitality industry, from which Noma has profited, is a direct legacy of slavery and has for decades been a source of poverty, racial inequality, harassment and wage theft for restaurant workers worldwide. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of our colleagues have left the hospitality industry because they could no longer endure the starvation wages and poor working conditions. Restaurants have tried to hire new staff, but none of us will accept being treated as exploitable replacements for those who refuse to work for starvation wages. We wish to inform you that all workers in this industry worldwide are demanding decent, living wages and working conditions. We demand an immediate meeting with you to resolve these issues. Should we not hear from you by 12 noon on Thursday, 12 March, we will continue and escalate our actions and bring the matter to public attention and before the courts. Please note: Any retaliatory measures taken by management against current employees constitute a violation of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C.) §§ 151–166. We will immediately take legal, public and media action should any retaliatory measures be taken against these employees. We look forward to discussing these demands with you.”

Redzepi’s announced resignation was preceded in recent days by new allegations against Noma. The trigger was an extensive investigation by the New York Times, in which numerous former employees recounted their time at the restaurant. They described a problematic working environment that had persisted for years, verbal humiliation and isolated cases of physical assault. René Redzepi subsequently admitted publicly that he had behaved inappropriately towards staff in the past, apologised and stated that an apology alone was not enough.

Regardless of the current debate, Noma is regarded as one of the most influential restaurants in modern gastronomy. Since its opening in 2003, the Copenhagen-based establishment has had a lasting influence on international haute cuisine with its consistently regional, seasonal and technically innovative cuisine. The restaurant has been voted the world’s best restaurant on multiple occasions and has become a global benchmark for a new form of fine dining that combines a focus on produce, fermentation and culinary research. Noma’s influence extends far beyond Scandinavia and is still evident today in the concepts, working methods and culinary approaches of numerous top restaurants worldwide. In 2016, Noma closed its premises on Strandgade. The building continues to be referred to as Noma in many current articles. In the new, significantly larger premises at Refshalevej 96, known as Noma 2.0, the restaurant has access to gardens and greenhouses. The move was part of a fundamental fresh start, through which Redzepi sought to reposition the restaurant both conceptually and structurally. Even back then, improving the working culture was one of Noma’s goals. Later, Redzepi spoke of the extreme pressures of top-tier gastronomy, long working hours, his own problematic management style in the past, and the economic viability of the fine-dining model, which, in Noma’s case, also relied on the work of a multitude of unpaid interns. It was not until 2022 that Noma began paying interns a regular wage, following widespread international media coverage of the previous practice. Consequently, Noma announced the end of its regular restaurant operations in Copenhagen, alongside plans to hold pop-ups worldwide and only open in Copenhagen on an occasional basis.