The restaurant that transformed New Nordic cuisine will return on 5 August with a new executive team and twelve continually changing seasonal menus. Yet René Redzepi’s continuing creative involvement means that questions surrounding Noma’s workplace culture have not disappeared.
Noma is preparing to open its doors in Copenhagen once again. On 5 August 2026, one of the most influential restaurants of the twenty-first century will begin a new chapter—without its celebrated co-founder René Redzepi directing its daily operations. The reopening follows a turbulent period for the restaurant. In March, Redzepi stepped away after former employees made serious allegations concerning physical and psychological abuse during earlier periods of his leadership. Now three long-serving members of the organisation are taking operational control: Pablo Soto as executive head chef, Mette Brink Søberg as head of research and development, and Annika de Las Heras as chief executive. Noma describes the reopening as “the beginning of a new chapter”, promising changes not only to its cuisine but also to the way the restaurant is managed. However, Redzepi remains connected to Noma as a creative director. The result is a transition that combines genuine organisational change with a degree of continuity—and leaves an important question unanswered: how far can Noma reinvent itself while its founder remains part of its creative identity?
From three seasons to twelve
Noma’s previous Copenhagen format revolved around three broad culinary seasons: seafood, vegetables and game and forest. The reopened restaurant will instead work with twelve “micro-seasons”, creating a substantially different menu every month. The idea is to follow the Nordic environment more closely, responding to ingredients as they appear rather than fitting them into three predetermined categories. In August, that might mean berries, edible flowers, young vegetables and seafood; later months will move towards mushrooms, roots, preserved ingredients and game. The concept seems a natural extension of Noma’s longstanding philosophy. Since opening in 2003, the restaurant has treated the Nordic landscape as both pantry and laboratory, turning seaweed, wild herbs, fermented grains and overlooked parts of plants into elements of haute cuisine. Among the dishes developed for the reopening are a gazpacho made from berries and flowers, and courgette stems filled with horseradish and gooseberry paste. The menu may continue to change from one service to another as ingredients briefly enter or leave their ideal season.
“Our ambition remains the same as it has always been: to keep exploring, to keep learning,” the restaurant said when announcing its return.
The ambition also carries an exceptional price. The tasting menu costs DKK 4,500, while the wine pairing adds DKK 2,000, taking the complete experience to DKK 6,500—approximately €870. A non-alcoholic juice pairing is available for DKK 1,500.
A restaurant that was supposed to become a laboratory
Noma’s return to regular service represents another reversal in the restaurant’s complicated recent history. In 2023, Redzepi announced that the conventional restaurant model had become financially and emotionally unsustainable. Noma was expected to end regular service and evolve into a creative food laboratory, developing products and occasionally resurfacing through international residencies. After its Copenhagen operations were suspended, the team continued through projects abroad, including a sixteen-week Los Angeles residency in spring 2026. The permanent Copenhagen site, however, is now returning as a restaurant, operating from Wednesday to Saturday. Reservations for the period from August to October were reportedly almost entirely taken shortly after their release. Whatever damage the controversy may have caused to Noma’s reputation, global demand for the experience remains considerable.
The allegations that changed Noma
The reopening cannot be separated from the accounts provided by former employees. A March 2026 investigation by The New York Times, based on interviews with 35 former workers, reported allegations of physical violence, intimidation, humiliation and psychological abuse at Noma, particularly between 2009 and 2017. Former employees alleged that mistakes in the kitchen could be met with shouting, public ridicule or physical aggression. Redzepi said that he did not recognise every detail in the accounts but acknowledged that enough of his past conduct was reflected in them to understand that he had harmed people who worked for him. He apologised and subsequently withdrew from Noma’s daily management. He also stepped down from the board of MAD, the non-profit organisation he founded. The disclosures intensified a much older discussion about working conditions in elite restaurants. Noma had previously attracted criticism for its reliance on unpaid interns, some of whom described extremely long hours and highly repetitive work. The restaurant began paying all interns in 2022, reportedly adding tens of thousands of dollars a month to its operating costs. Noma says it has since introduced improved human-resources procedures, shorter working hours, more time off and a fully paid internship programme. Its careers page now explicitly emphasises work-life balance and the responsibility to provide a healthy working environment. These reforms are significant, but the reopening will provide the first major test of whether they can coexist with the extraordinary precision, pressure and commercial expectations associated with the Noma name.
The people taking over
Pablo Soto, who has worked at Noma for approximately a decade, now carries the most visible responsibility as executive head chef. He has described the restaurant as fundamentally still being Noma, while acknowledging that its leadership and working rhythms must evolve.
Mette Brink Søberg, another central figure in the organisation, will direct research and development. Her team will continue the experimentation that has long distinguished Noma, exploring fermentation, fungi, insects, plants and other potential sources of flavour.
Annika de Las Heras, meanwhile, becomes chief executive and will oversee the wider organisation. This tripartite structure appears designed to distribute authority more broadly than during the era when Noma was overwhelmingly identified with Redzepi.
It nevertheless represents an internal succession rather than an external takeover. The new leaders all emerged from within Noma and helped shape the institution as it currently exists. That continuity offers valuable experience, but it also means they must demonstrate that the organisation can critically examine its own past rather than simply move beyond the controversy through a change of titles.
Redzepi steps back—but does not disappear
Redzepi will no longer run kitchen service, yet he has not completely left Noma. He remains involved in broader creative work and may contribute to experimental projects concerning food, science and technology. This ambiguous position is likely to remain controversial. For supporters, retaining his creative contribution while transferring operational authority may allow Noma to evolve without abandoning the imagination that made it globally important. For critics and former workers, however, his continuing presence could make the separation appear incomplete. The distinction between leadership and influence will therefore matter. If Redzepi no longer manages employees but continues to shape projects, ideas and public identity, the new executives will need sufficient independence to establish their own authority and workplace standards.
No Michelin stars—for now
The reopened Noma will also return without the three Michelin stars it previously held. This is not the result of a conventional demotion: the restaurant was not open for a sufficient period to be assessed for the 2026 Michelin Guide Nordic Countries. Its absence therefore says little about the quality of the new menu. A future inspection could return Noma to the guide, although the restaurant’s reputation no longer depends solely on Michelin. It has topped The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list five times and played a decisive role in placing Copenhagen at the centre of global gastronomy. The more consequential assessment may now come from its employees rather than its inspectors.
A reckoning for New Nordic cuisine
Noma’s influence has extended far beyond individual dishes. It helped transform Nordic food from a collection of regional traditions into an internationally recognisable culinary movement. It encouraged chefs to work with local ecosystems, revive fermentation, collaborate with small producers and reconsider ingredients previously dismissed as humble or unusable. But the mythology surrounding radical creativity also helped sustain a culture in which endurance, obedience and suffering could be treated as necessary stages in a chef’s education. Similar questions have emerged throughout international fine dining: can an establishment demand exceptional standards without normalising fear, exhaustion or unpaid labour?Noma’s next achievement, if it succeeds, may therefore have less to do with discovering a new berry or perfecting another fermentation. It may be proving that culinary ambition does not require an abusive working environment. The reopened restaurant will undoubtedly be watched for its food. Yet every monthly menu will also be part of a wider experiment: whether one of gastronomy’s most powerful institutions can preserve its creative importance while abandoning the culture that cast such a long shadow over its success.
Noma helped change how the world imagined Nordic cuisine. It must now show that it can also change itself.
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