"Being a restaurant will no longer define us": Rene Redzepi to close Noma next year

The chef-patron at the Copenhagen restaurant, which has been named The World’s Best Restaurant on numerous occasions and which holds three Michelin stars, will close at the end of next year and reopen as a food lab ‘Noma 3.0’.

Writing on the restaurant’s website, Redzepi says: “Winter 2024 will be the last season of noma as we know it. We are beginning a new chapter; noma 3.0.

“In 2025, our restaurant is transforming into a giant lab—a pioneering test kitchen dedicated to the work of food innovation and the development of new flavors (sic), one that will share the fruits of our efforts more widely than ever before.”

Redzepi says that in the restaurant’s next incarnation the team will continue to travel and search for new ways to share its work. 

“Is there somewhere we must go in the world to learn? Then we will do a noma pop-up,” he says. “And when we’ve gathered enough new ideas and flavors, we will do a season in Copenhagen. 

"Serving guests will still be a part of who we are, but being a restaurant will no longer define us. Instead, much of our time will be spent on exploring new projects and developing many more ideas and products.

“Our goal is to create a lasting organization dedicated to groundbreaking work in food, but also to redefine the foundation for a restaurant team, a place where you can learn, you can take risks, and you can grow!

“We’ve spent the last two years planning, and we’re ready for the next many years of realizing our goal.” 

This is not the first time the chef has made the decision to close Noma as part of its evolution. Having launched it in 2003 he closed it in 2016, reopening it two years later​​ in a new location.