Noma steps down chef, expands worker protections amid abuse allegations

René Redzepi is stepping back at Noma just as the world-famous restaurant is trying to convince workers that elite kitchens can be built differently. The Copenhagen dining room closed at the end of 2024, and the company’s next phase, a Noma 3.0 concept centered on a laboratory and food innovation, is arriving alongside a new package of workplace protections that goes far beyond the old fine-dining script.

Noma says everyone working there is paid, and since October 2022 it has run a fully paid internship program in six- or 12-month periods. Its workplace transparency review also says the company created a pension fund and offers individual financial planning support. Staff benefits include 28 weeks of fully paid maternity leave, 14 weeks of paid co-parent leave, health insurance that covers dental care and physiotherapy, and an in-house physical therapist offering subsidized weekly treatment. The restaurant also says it has dedicated HR, leadership training, mentorship and an independent audit designed to keep the workplace safe.

Those changes land under the shadow of abuse allegations that resurfaced around the brand. Reporting from The New York Times drew accounts from about 35 former employees and described alleged physical and psychological punishment inside Noma from 2009 to 2017, including punches, jabs with kitchen tools, slamming against walls, intimidation, body shaming and public ridicule. Redzepi publicly apologized, said he could see enough of his past behavior reflected in the reporting, and said the changes at Noma do not repair the past.

The backlash also followed Noma into Los Angeles. The restaurant opened a 16-week pop-up in Silver Lake scheduled from March 11 to June 26, 2026, with tickets priced at about $1,500 per person and reservations that sold out almost immediately. Former Noma employee Jason Ignacio White and One Fair Wage organized a protest around the residency, calling for dialogue, reparations for harmed workers and broader structural change. American Express, Blackbird and Resy reportedly pulled support after the allegations resurfaced.

For restaurant workers, the stakes go well beyond one famous dining room. Noma’s benefit package is a reminder that the most punishing parts of kitchen culture are not inevitable, even in high-pressure, high-prestige rooms. Paid internships, parental leave, financial planning and access to physical therapy do not erase abuse claims, but they do show what a stronger employer can look like when leadership decides burnout, injury and turnover are business problems, not just cultural background noise.