Renowned chef René Redzepi, known globally for his culinary prowess, is facing serious accusations of staff mistreatment spanning over a decade as he gears up for a highly anticipated pop-up event in Los Angeles, where a seat commands a $1,500 price tag.
According to a report by The New York Times, Redzepi, who established the celebrated Danish restaurant Noma, is alleged to have bullied and physically assaulted more than 30 employees between 2009 and 2017.
Former staff members have claimed that the Michelin-starred chef often coerced colleagues into forming a circle around the victims, forcing them to witness the alleged abuse.
In one reported incident, Redzepi is accused of punching an employee in the ribs for playing music he didn’t like in the kitchen. Another former employee recounted frequent verbal abuse at close quarters, as well as instances of being slapped across the face.
A past employee also described being attacked by Redzepi on numerous occasions, including being slammed against a wall and punched in the stomach twice.
Despite these allegations, Redzepi is pressing ahead with the opening of Noma’s opulent pop-up in LA’s Silver Lake neighborhood this Wednesday, although the event now faces significant backlash in light of the recent claims.
The former head of Noma’s fermentation lab, Jason Ignacio White, has called on workers to protest the pop-up starting next week and throughout the residency.
‘For years, the culture surrounding René Redzepi and Noma has been celebrated without confronting the harm many workers experienced behind the scenes,’ he said.
Celebrity chef René Redzepi has been accused by at least 30 employees of bullying and physical abuse between 2009 and 2017
Noma, which was originally based in Denmark and ranked first five times on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List, is scheduled to begin a residency in Los Angeles on Wednesday
White claimed to have ‘witnessed intimidation, unpaid labor, and a culture that pushed people beyond their limits while expecting silence in return’ at the restaurant.
He has been sharing accusations sent to him by former employees for the past month, as well as derogatory pictures about Noma, on a public social media profile.
One of the most recent posts on February 27 showed a text message thread that featured an anonymous worker who said working at Noma was ‘the worst two weeks of my life.’
The worker claimed that Redzepi had punched him in the stomach for ‘not picking the herbs right’ in 2012.
Those claims echoed the ones made in the Times piece, where one chef named only as Alessia said that ‘going to work felt like going to war.’
‘You had to force yourself to be strong, to show no fear,’ she added.
In one incident, Redzepi was said to have repeatedly ridiculed a sous-chef in front of about 40 uniformed cooks. Public shaming like this was reportedly common.
He allegedly punched the employee in the ribs several times and did not stop until the chef told the group that he liked performing oral sex on DJs.
The violent confrontation was allegedly triggered by the chef playing techno music in the kitchen, a genre Redzepi disliked.
Jason Ignacio White, the former head of Noma’s fermentation lab, is urging workers to protest Noma’s LA pop-up
White has been posting accusations against Redzepi and his three-Michelin-starred restaurant on social media for the past month
Another chef solely cited as Ben claimed that no one in the kitchen was exempt from Redzepi’s alleged physical abuse.
‘He just went down the line and punched us in the chest,’ the former Noma worker said. ‘Even the interns who had been upstairs picking elderflowers.’
Redzepi was also accused of having interns work demanding 16-hour days while they went unpaid.
‘René raised a generation of bullies, and they bullied us,’ Mehmet Çekirge, a Noma intern in 2018, said.
That allegedly included an American chef Blaine Wetzel, who was accused of physical and verbal abuse after leaving Noma to open a separate restaurant.
He furiously denied allegations of bullying at his restaurant Willows when they first surfaced in 2021.
At the time he gave a statement to the New York Times, which said: ‘We are deeply saddened to learn that some former employees shared concerns about our business.
‘Our goal is for anyone who works at the Willows to think of us as the most kind, caring, generous, and talented people they have ever worked with and that the Willows was the best job they have ever had. If we are missing that mark in any way, we must improve.’
On Saturday, Redzepi apologized for his past behavior and said he understood that his ‘actions were harmful to people who worked with me’
Former Noma employees alleged that the acclaimed chef repeatedly punched and publicly shamed members of his staff (Photo of Noma workers in Copenhagen in 2021)
Redzepi responded to the allegations on Saturday morning, saying he wanted to ‘address past stories around my leadership in the kitchen that have resurfaced recently.’
He claimed that he did not ‘recognize all details in these stories’ but that he saw ‘enough of my past behavior reflected in them to understand that my actions were harmful to people who worked with me.’
The Danish celebrity chef apologized and said he had ‘worked to change.’
‘Over the past decade that has meant therapy, deep reflection, and stepping away from leading the day-to-day service,’ he said. ‘I have found better ways to manage my anger, and I am still learning.’
Redzepi previously wrote in 2015 that he had ‘been a bully for a large part of my career.’
‘I’ve yelled and pushed people,’ he said. ‘I’ve been a terrible boss at times.’
He added then that he wanted to ‘change things’ in his profession, which included his restaurant.
‘When we started trying to change the culture at Noma, we did it for the sake of our own happiness,’ Redzepi wrote. ‘I didn’t expect that it would also make us a better restaurant. But it did.’
In 2015, Redzepi wrote that he had ‘been a bully for a large part of my career’ and a ‘terrible boss at times’
Noma also addressed the new accusations with less than a week to go before its Los Angeles pop-up.
The restaurant told the Daily Mail: ‘Although the stories appear to date back many years, we take them seriously and are looking into them carefully.’
Noma claimed that the stories did ‘not reflect the workplace’ of the restaurant today, and added that an independent audit would be taking place.
‘This work is ongoing and we will continue to improve,’ Noma said.
The three-Michelin-starred restaurant was originally based in Copenhagen. It ranked first five times on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List.
But Noma shuttered its doors as a restaurant in 2024 in favor of becoming a food laboratory with occasional pop-ups.
Its Los Angeles event sold out in 60 seconds, according to Redzepi. Tickets cost $1,500 per seat.
The restaurant’s Silver Lake residency is scheduled to last 16 weeks, through June 26.
White urged his followers and past Noma employees to gather for a protest on Wednesday, when the pop-up will start.
Redzepi’s Silver Lake pop-up reportedly sold out in 60 seconds. Tickets went for $1,500 per meal
He will attempt to deliver a ‘formal demand letter’ to Redzepi to discuss his alleged abuses and ‘clear protections against harassment and retaliation.’
‘If René is willing to meet, listen, and take responsibility for the harm caused, there is a real opportunity to repair that damage and move the industry forward,’ White said.
He added: ‘But we also have to ask whether we are willing to keep accepting a system that breaks people just to maintain the illusion of greatness.’
The Daily Mail reached out to White and Wetzel for further comment.
