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Why is Noma closing? 'World's best restaurant' trolled over its low wage scale as shutter comes down

'Good riddance. They abuse their foreign workers and interns aren't paid,' a user alleged

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK: Noma, the Copenhagen restaurant rated as 'world's best' will be shutting down its services at the end of 2024, following scrutinies over the poor treatment of the employees. Apparently, the restaurant is now being slammed for its low-wage scale strategies. Chef Rene Redzepi, the creator of this famous restaurant who is popularly referred to be the most influential and brilliant chef of this era, stated that the model on which he has built the food empire, over years has turned out to be "unsustainable".

“We have to completely rethink the industry. This is simply too hard, and we have to work in a different way,” Redzepi told the New York Times. He has acknowledged that to produce the restaurant's exquisite dishes and maintain high standards, extremely long hours of work are required, which he now considers impractical.

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Kim Mikkola, the Finnish chef who has previously worked at Noma for four years, highlighted the abuse involved in building the fine dining elite experiences. “Everything luxetarian is built on somebody’s back; somebody has to pay,” he said. However, Redzepi has denied the failed employee relations as the reason behind the restaurant exiting the culinary world and brought in the unsustainability factor within the industry as its real reason.

The news outlet also highlights the interns who were left unpaid for their work at the restaurant and also the ill-treatment of foreign workers. The restaurant that topped the influential 'World’s 50 Best Restaurants' list will now be transformed into a full-time food laboratory that would focus on creating new recipes and goods functioning for its e-commerce platform, Noma Projects.

Twitter users troll Noma's closing

Following the news of the Danish restaurant Noma's closing breaking out, social media slammed the restaurant over its low wage scale, unpaid interns, and exploiting foreign workers.

One user reacted to the news on Twitter and wrote: Hopefully all your staff then will get a decent salary and no 'volunteers'," while another wrote: "These egomaniacs who charge $500/person for 'foraged elements from the forest' make me want to puke. The pretentious arrogance while abusing workers 16 hours a day is beyond the pale. I hope many other restaurants like this close." Another user tweeted, "Good riddance. They abuse their foreign workers and interns aren't paid".

Focussing on the grueling work hours of the employees and suffering abuse while going underpaid, social media users empathize with the employees of Noma. One user wrote, "Twenty years of grifting and wage-slave labor," and another wrote, "It pisses me off so much when this happens to interns. The whole point of being an intern is that you're exchanging labor to learn a valuable skill. Who else would want someone skilled at putting together candy insects? Intern: Noma looks good on a resume, I guess."

Another user tweeted, "No one needs reindeer hearts served on a pine bed, or fruit roll-ups made into beetles. When a diner learns that their plate will cost >$500 but that kitchen staff isn't paid, they should walk out the door."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online