Denmark's Noma, which has regularly topped the list of the world's best restaurants in its twenty-year history, will close at the end of 2024

In short, Noma cannot turn a profit and its business model is not sustainable.

They currently charge £400+ per head for dinner. If they need to charge another £100-200 to pay their staff properly, they are probably one of the few places who could get away with doing that. They've been at or near the top of the list of best restaurants in the world for well over a decade. I'd still go at £500, even £600. Anyone who's into fine dining is used to paying that sort of money. But I don't have their accounts in front of me, so I am just guessing.

For what it's worth I don't think Rene is a bad guy, any more. He certainly has been in the past, but at least he's owned up to it and made efforts to change. Noma only just started paying it's interns, literally a few months ago. For years people were expected to work there and be paid in "experience". I think Noma did a lot of shitty, exploitative stuff because that's how the industry has always worked and it's just been so expected, and it's good that Redzepi has decided he doesn't want to do that any more. It's a shame it took so long, and it's a shame that it's happening at the cost of Noma existing - but if paying decent wages for reasonable hours in good conditions isn't affordable, then I'd rather it was shut. Even if it means I'll never get to go there.