Amex pulls support for Noma LA Residency

[splinky]

"American Express, parent company of reservations services Resy and Tock, is stepping away from its planned involvement in Noma’s Los Angeles residency. A spokesperson for Resy confirmed the move.

This comes after a remarkable New York Times report that highlighted a history of alleged physical and mental abuse inside Noma from 2009 to 2017. A decade later, as reported by Julia Moskin in the Times, former workers say Noma’s founding chef, René Redzepi, “has not acknowledged the extent of the violence they say he inflicted for years.”

The Copenhagen restaurant’s pop-up opens this week and lasts until June. On Monday, Amex/Resy cancelled a planned industry dinner scheduled for next week. In an email sent to a small group of invitees, a Resy executive wrote:

In light of the disturbing information that has come to our attention, American Express, Resy, and Tock have made the decision to step away from our involvement in Noma’s LA residency. As a result, we are no longer hosting the dinner.

Resy’s rep also said they feel badly about canceling an industry event people were excited to attend, but “felt it was important today to take the first step of exiting the sponsorship.” The bookings company is considering several options to make it up to the group of invitees, they said.

It’s notable fallout for Noma, whose long-planned Los Angeles residency is scheduled to open on Wednesday. (The opening is continuing as planned, according to a Monday Los Angeles Times report.) A previous reference on Noma’s website to “our longstanding partner American Express” has been removed."

 

 

[small h]

[Wilfrid]

Helen Rosner's take.

[small h]

I thought it was a good take. Nothing earth-shattering, but hard to argue with.

[MitchW]

Quote

Big-name chefs such as Michael Solomonov and Hajime Yoneda left strings of heart emojis; 

In addition to the really terrible, inedible Passover meal that I ordered from Zahav during the pandemic, and the fact that he never got back to me after sending him an email questioning the product/delivery/etc., another reason to dislike Solomonov.

As if I needed one.

[backyardchef]

Just flush him down the drain already. Noma was always a self-mythologizing, uninteresting hype machine and I hope to never hear his name again.