Last week, days before Noma was scheduled to start a sold-out pop-up restaurant in Los Angeles, the New York Times published allegations of workplace abuse by the renowned Copenhagen restaurant’s co-founder and chef, René Redzepi. Dozens of former employees who spoke to the Times accused the restaurateur of punching staffers, slamming them into walls, publicly ridiculing them, and threatening to have their families deported among other allegations. Redzepi apologized on Instagram shortly after the story was published, saying he had become “the kind of chef I had once promised myself I would never be.” “Although I don’t recognize all details in these stories, I can see enough of my past behavior reflected in them to understand that my actions were harmful to people who worked with me,” he wrote.
The report cast a large shadow over Noma’s $1,500-per-person pop-up, which opened in Silver Lake on Wednesday with protesters — some of whom were former employees — gathered outside. (Ahead of the opening, two of the pop-up’s major sponsors, American Express and Blackbird, also pulled out.) Amid the protests, Redzepi announced on Wednesday that he would be stepping down.
In a video he shared on Instagram that showed him announcing the news to staff, Redzepi said, “I’m sorry everyone is in this situation – I really, really am,” explaining that he was not “running away from any responsibility” but rather trying “to protect everyone here.” In the caption, Redzepi said he has “worked to be a better leader” but knows “these changes do not repair the past.” “An apology is not enough; I take responsibility for my own actions,” he wrote.