High-end pop-up Noma LA will remain open despite restaurant abuse controversy

Resurfaced abuse allegations and an expected protest won't stop Noma's sold-out pop-up store in Los Angeles, set to begin Wednesday evening. A spokesman for the world-famous Copenhagen restaurant told the Times on Monday that plans for Noma's 16-week run at Silver Lake, where seats cost $1,500 per guest, are proceeding as planned.

The pop-up, the allegations and a public apology from celebrity chef and restaurant co-founder René Redzepi are dividing the restaurant industry and renewing the conversation about systemic imbalance and fair compensation.

A former Noma employee posted a series of anonymous messages on Instagram for weeks from other workers and interns, recounting physical, verbal and emotional abuse he suffered years ago. These reports were compiled and published by Jason Ignacio White, who previously managed Noma's fermentation laboratory. White also posts about his own mental health struggles during his years at the restaurant in Copenhagen.

A New York Times article on Saturday reported accounts of abuse compiled from interviews with 35 former Noma employees, including instances of humiliation, physical violence and intimidation. According to the New York Times, these incidents occurred between 2009 and 2017.

Redzepi could not be reached for comment, but on Saturday he apologized to those he had hurt and stressed that Noma had corrected its practices through new initiatives, such as paying interns.

“I can’t change who I was back then,” he wrote. “But I take responsibility for it and will continue to work to get better.”

Redzepi's post received tens of thousands of reactions, including words of support and heart emojis from some prominent LA chefs and restaurants. Less encouraging comments called for further accountability and reflection.

“I'm a big proponent of: Be better today than you were yesterday,” said Phillip Frankland Lee, chef and owner of Pasta Bar, in an interview.

Frankland Lee runs three restaurants in LA and commented on Redzepi's post with clapping emojis. Although he said he did not condone the abuse in question, he felt called to support Redzepi's growth in the years since the investigation first surfaced.

“I think it's more important to give people the opportunity to reflect, apologize and lead by example,” he said. “People should have the right – and they have the duty – to speak out, but we as a society, as people, also need to applaud people for doing better and doing better.”

Other chefs said the statement was a PR spin.

“I felt like it was a bit canned, that it was specifically designed to ward off any kind of legal liability,” said Uyên Lê, chef and owner of Bé Ù.

Before opening her Vietnamese restaurant in Silver Lake, Lê worked in labor organization and research. She said she hopes the discussion about Noma's harassment will help bring about systemic change in culture and compensation and ensure voices in the kitchen are louder.

“I hope that we actually focus on changing the culture and not just say, 'Oh, this guy has changed – he has mental health issues, but he's worked on it,'” Lê said Monday. “It's not about this one person. It's about a culture that is rotten and needs to change from within.”

An LA chef who worked with Noma abroad said he was shocked by the attack. The chef requested anonymity for fear of public and industry retaliation, but shared that he is trying to balance the bills with the healthy kitchen practices he has seen firsthand at Noma in recent years.

“They are still an inspiration to me, but we need to do something about it, and I think we have for many years,” the chef said. “I can empathize equally with both sides. It doesn't seem very rosy at the moment, but I feel like the future is still bright.”

On Wednesday, White plans to lead a protest against Noma's pop-up in Los Angeles with worker advocacy nonprofit One Fair Wage, which advocates for fair pay in the restaurant industry, such as a proposed $30 wage floor in Los Angeles. Organizers also plan to send an open letter to Redzepi regarding the investigation into the abuse.

“We respect the right to peacefully protest and agree that it is important to speak about the culture and standards in our industry,” a Noma representative said via email. “Noma has been participating in this dialogue for many years and has taken steps to improve. We recognize that changes should have come sooner and for that we are sorry.”

The resurfaced allegations against Redzepi and Noma have prompted others in the hospitality industry to publicly discuss their own experiences at other restaurants.

Lindsey Danis, a former restaurant worker in the Bay Area, said she had a boss at a bakery where she worked in 2007 who was “very volatile” and “went off the rails in screaming nervous breakdowns,” Danis said.

“It felt like she was treating us like she was a dysfunctional family member and not the way a boss would treat his employees,” Danis said.

When she was in culinary school, one of her teachers opened up about his own experiences, explaining that a previous chef used to hit him with sheet pans. Danis said the instructor tried to “prepare us in some ways that it wasn't going to be a warm and fuzzy environment.”

And people are attracted to working in the industry and tend to be “a little bit rebellious, a little bit non-conformist, a little bit eccentric,” and so some take “a little bit of pride in the harshness of the work environment,” Danis said.

“The tougher and braver you are, the more respect you get from other people. And it's all pretty dysfunctional.”

Danis said she saw examples of kitchens that didn't have any malfunctions, which encouraged her to stay in the industry before eventually retiring from it entirely.

“I wish as diners we would stop giving people passes for making really good food when they are completely stupid in the real world,” she said. “We shouldn't keep going to these restaurants. There are so many other restaurants…so many chefs who are some of the most generous people in the world.”

Ellen Meiser, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, began studying violence in the restaurant industry by accident. She set out to interview 50 kitchen workers about their perceptions of success in the culinary industry, but issues of abuse kept cropping up in the conversations. Since Meiser herself worked in the catering industry, she didn't even consider the abuse to be abnormal.

Hierarchical structures in kitchens and power imbalances contribute to abuse, she said. Interns at some of the most luxurious restaurants may work long hours without pay for the chance to be paired with a top chef with a “shining touch of genius.”

Meiser said several organizations have pushed for accountability in the industry, and while awareness has increased in recent years, the issue has not been resolved. “Awareness is progress,” she said, “but is it resolved? Not at all.”