Wednesday was supposed to be celebratory occasion for Los Angeles’ food scene as Noma, an acclaimed restaurant, opened its doors to Southern California foodies for 16-week pop-up experience.
Instead, the opening day was marked by a protest led by former employees who claim working for Noma’s founding chef René Redzepi “broke” them. Hours later, Redzepi announced he’s resigning from the head chef position.
“After more than two decades of building and leading this restaurant, I decided to step away and allow our extraordinary leaders to now guide the restaurant into the next chapter,” Redzepi said on social media, promising fans the new team will “carry forward together” into its LA residency.
Noma, one of the most extravagant restaurants to have started in Copenhagen, Denmark, is enormously popular despite its $1,500-per-person price tag. All the tickets to the LA pop-up in Silver Lake have been sold out.
Despite having been selected as the top restaurant on the list of World’s 50 Best Restaurants, what happened behind the scenes was violent and abusive, according to former employees, as first reported by the New York Times.
Protesters outside the Paramour Estate in Silver Lake said countless workers experienced the “true harm” done by Redzepi, while the business allowed the abuse to persist for two decades.
“Beneath the glamour and stars, workers being pushed beyond their limits, workers being punched and choked, workers being humiliated and dreams being broken,” Jason Ignacio White, the former director of fermentation at Noma, said.
Redzepi had apologized on Instagram before announcing his resignation, saying while he doesn’t recognize all the details, he acknowledged his past behavior and actions were” harmful to people” who worked with him.
“We will not accept damage, magical PR attempts to hide the truth of what he has done to me and my peers,” White said.
White also brought a demand letter to the protest Wednesday, demanding, among other things, a settlement and management change at Noma. White had said, if he doesn’t get that agreement by Thursday, he and his former colleagues are going to elevate the matter legally.