Noma + the real industry power players
It's no secret restaurants take money from finance companies, tech vendors, and other deep-pocketed brands, but the Noma LA fallout raises questions about what happens next.
On Wednesday night, Noma chef René Redzepi announced he was stepping away from the restaurant and resigning from the board of MAD, a culinary education nonprofit he founded in 2011. Redzepi broke the news on Instagram; shortly afterward a Noma spokesperson confirmed the news via email.
His statement was clear:
“After more than two decades of building and leading this restaurant, I’ve decided to step away and allow our extraordinary leaders to now guide the restaurant into its next chapter. I have also resigned from the board of MAD, the nonprofit organization I founded in 2011.”
In a video of Redzepi addressing his staff, also posted on Instagram, the message was less clear.
“The running of this restaurant… for now… will sit on you guys,” he said to the restaurant’s workers, gathered before Wednesday service. “You’ll see me around but not in the way you’ve seen me for the past 23 years,” he added. “For me, I’m going into planning the next phase.”
The move felt inevitable, but still jarring to even the closest industry watchers.
Honestly I feel like I knew it was coming but I’m still shocked, a fellow writer messaged me. Didn’t think it would happen this quickly — or at all. The financial pressures must’ve been enormous, another industry pro said.
I bet they were. The stakes changed when American Express, parent to reservations services Tock and Resy and a major supporter of Noma LA, pulled its support of the residency — a story I broke in this newsletter. Tech company Blackbird soon followed. Both companies offered refunds to diners who purchased tickets through their respective orgs, and pledged to donate all remaining proceeds to groups that support restaurant workers.
One at a time, mentions of each company disappeared from Noma’s website. But before it was scrubbed, the site read: Noma LA is supported by our global partner Blackbird and our longstanding partner American Express, without whom Noma LA would not be possible.
So, uh, is it?
For now the residency continues, albeit without Redzepi. The loss of corporate sponsorships is not the most important angle of the Noma story. But I do think it is the most consequential given how restaurants operate today. Sponsors like Amex have become underwriters of what is still a tough working culture that people find troubling — even though restaurants, including Noma, say that much about kitchen work has changed over the last decade.