The restaurant industry is tough, and getting tougher. From staff to electricity, produce to publicity, costs are rising. The sacrifice needed to reach the top of the industry is legendary. Success is far from guaranteed.
Nonetheless, the announcement that Noma, in its current iteration, will close its doors at the end of 2024 has sent shockwaves through the hospitality industry. For if René Redzepi’s pioneering new Nordic eatery, widely lauded as the best in the world, can’t make the fine dining business model work, where can?
“Serving guests will always be a part of who we are, but being a restaurant will no longer define us,” Redzepi revealed yesterday, in a statement posted on Noma’s website and social media channels. “From 2025, our restaurant will no longer exist in its current form. Instead, we will pop up in different parts of the world – including Copenhagen – while focusing more time on innovation and product development.
“We are by no means closing,” he added, unveiling his plans for what he calls Noma 3.0. “On the contrary, we will share our innovations and ideas more widely than ever before.”
The plan, Redzepi says, is to turn the existing Noma space into “a giant lab – a pioneering test kitchen dedicated to the work of food innovation and the development of new flavours,” feeding the business’s Noma Projects arm and occasionally re-opening its doors to diners for pop-up events.
The shock announcement comes on the back of bullying claims and criticism of Noma’s staffing model, which turned out some of the world’s most promising talent but for years relied in part on unpaid labour. The eatery recently began paying its interns at a reported cost of $50,000 a month. Hours were long and back-breaking, a brigade of almost 100 required to maintain standards. Redzepi says the cost, both human and financial, was no longer sustainable. But his admission is now leading many in the industry to question where the future lies for the fine-dining movement he has led for so many years.
“This isn’t actually a new conversation,” says Dubai-based chef and consultant Nick Alvis, who recently stepped back from Folly, the restaurant he co-founded. “When I first started out in restaurants as a kid 25 years ago, I was told that restaurants at that level were unsustainable, so when René says it, I’m totally on board.
“I think to have operated at that level for the number of years he has is an incredible achievement. I’m sure he didn’t want to come out and say what he has about how impossible it is, but I have huge respect for him for doing that.”
René Redzepi: A master of reinvention
It’s a sentiment echoed by chef Matthijs Stinnissen, who recently joined Tashas Group as executive chef. “If you want to strive for greatness like René Redzepi, and if you want to be part of that process as an employee, then you need to put in blood and sweat, every single day. Chefs like him are perfectionists. And of course, there’s no place for physical and mental abuse, but in my experience, it becomes almost inevitable when you’re working at that level where the pressure is so great.
“To work at that level for so many years is crippling,” he adds. “So when you add in all these issues around staffing and costs, you’re left facing a choice – do you prioritise your health and family or do you push, push, push at work and risk being left with nothing else?”
For his part, Redzepi says the next incarnation of Noma will be more focused on creating a healthy workplace for its team. “One of the main reasons we are making this change, is so that we can become a more sustainable workplace for our team and for us to grow together,” he says, adding: “It’s time to redefine what it means for us to be a restaurant, and to build a lasting organisation for our team to thrive in.”
For Ossiano’s Grégoire Berger, however, there’s more to that announcement than meets the eye. “I think the strength of René Redzepi is that he’s very good at making noise and reinventing himself,” he explains. “Restaurants or chefs who want to not be forgotten need to be constantly reinventing. So while I think it’s true that René’s approach at Noma wasn’t sustainable in terms of man power versus guests, that’s a problem that’s well known if you want to do fine-dining.
“For me, once you get to his level you either fade away or you reinvent yourself. He’s a genius of our industry, arguably the most successful chef on the planet, and I don’t think people like him can just step away. So, I think this is less an announcement of a closure, more a notice of something new to come – and while he’s working on his next project, he’s just created so much hype around the final year of Noma. So I think it’s a very intelligent announcement.”
Has René Redzepi had enough of business?
Whatever the pressures behind the scenes, it is unquestionable that Noma is going out on the top of its game. Since opening its doors two decades ago, the restaurant’s new Nordic approach has transformed the fine-dining industry, introducing Nordic ingredients to diners the world over and bringing foraging and locality into the mainstream.
The plaudits have been numerous and lofty. But as Alvis says, such success can often come at a personal cost. “I’m 43, I’ve been in kitchen environments for 25 years and I almost achieved what I wanted to achieve,” he says, simply. “But it gets to the point where you ask, am I ready to go again or do I want to take some time to give back to myself and my family? I think the new era of chefs and restaurateurs is more people-focused and less aggressive. They’re more aware of working hours. You didn’t hear the words mental health when I was younger – you were either tough enough or you left. Now, that’s changing.
“So I think what René is doing in setting Noma up as a development kitchen is really interesting. Clearly, he’s fascinated by produce and experimentation but I’m not sure that worrying about revenues and HR is necessarily what he wants to do. There comes a time, I think, where you have to say enough is enough and you shift your focus to what you actually want to do.”
Stinnissen agrees – but suggests that Reedzepi’s influence is so huge that his next project could yet revolutionise the industry anew.
“Noma was at the forefront globally and when the restaurants that are pushing boundaries speak out and change the conversation like this, others follow. Look at Eleven Madison Park going vegan – it sent shockwaves through the industry but now we see more and more people prioritising plant-based cuisine and sustainability, following that lead.
“We all look up to people like Redzepi as role models. And for that reason, I think the potential impact of his starting this conversation and shining a light on all these issues will be a better and more sustainable future for everyone in our industry. That said, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of him. Not by a long way.”