COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Denmark's famous Noma eatery will welcome guests again starting Aug. 5, but without its founder and star chef René Redzepi in charge and minus its three Michelin stars.

Redzepi declared he would step back from directing the Copenhagen landmark in March after claims of mistreatment and aggression there, many dating back over ten years. In his 23 years leading Noma, the spot earned many global honors, including five top spots on the World's 50 Best Restaurants List thanks to its creative New Nordic dishes.

Yet five months after Redzepi's public troubles, Noma describes this as the start of a fresh era under veteran chefs with a menu that shifts every month to highlight ingredients even more closely tied to the seasons.

It has been extremely challenging, said new executive head chef Pablo Soto in an interview on Tuesday. There has been intense media focus and inquiries about our plans, but we remain here and active.

Redzepi, considered among the globe's leading chefs, faced ongoing reports of staff mistreatment along with his extended reliance on unpaid interns at the high-cost venue. Issues peaked shortly before a Noma temporary site opened in Los Angeles, when a New York Times piece outlined former workers' stories of verbal mistreatment and physical aggression by Redzepi and his team from 2009 to 2017.

Redzepi, now 48, later expressed regret and shared plans to step back in an emotional video on the restaurant's Instagram account. The restaurant chose not to offer Redzepi, now in a creative director position, for comment. In the Instagram video he expressed enthusiasm for new vitality entering the venue.

Beyond Redzepi absent from the open kitchen, another key change next week is the loss of the restaurant's three Michelin stars. The third star arrived in 2021. In May, the restaurant announced it would skip this year's Michelin Guide, noting it fell short of the guide's standards for sufficient operating time in 2026.

The Copenhagen site closed in January before the Los Angeles pop-up and stayed shut for much of the year.

Tom Sietsema, food correspondent for Washington-based news organization NOTUS, thinks Noma's focus on new ideas and renewal since its 2003 launch will aid recovery, provided its founder remains out of the spotlight.

For years it ranked as the top restaurant worldwide, he said. That status does not disappear overnight. This is a difficult period for the restaurant, yet interest persists. Diners will visit to judge for themselves if it matches the reports of quality or issues. I anticipate it staying relevant for years ahead.

Soto noted the restaurant is nearly booked solid for its first three months through October. Guests will pay a fixed 4,500 Danish krone (about $686 USD) each for the menu, plus 2,000 krone ($305) for wine pairing.

Soto said the restaurant completed an internal review and now has numerous protocols to ensure staff feel content and can advance.

We have navigated a crisis phase, he said. This requires greater focus on every person.

Noma, formed from Danish terms for Nordic and food, launched in 2003 with a goal to explore wild local ingredients through foraging while tracking the seasons.

While earlier menus followed three main seasons, the reopening will feature ongoing menu updates.

In this new version of Noma, we are inviting others into our creative process with a fresh seasonal pace, the restaurant's website states. This marks the 12 seasons of Noma. We are creating a steady stream of new dishes that shift month to month with the year, each period bringing its own seasonal character influenced by changes in ingredients, weather and surroundings.

During a Tuesday visit to the Copenhagen restaurant, chefs rehearsed dishes with pike perch, brown crab, shrimp and mushrooms in the open kitchen.

Mette Brink Søberg, head of research and development, carefully finished a berry gazpacho plate with bright flower petals freshly picked from the nearby garden in the test kitchen.

We sense that after years of practice we have mastered the flavors, methods and ideas, Brink Søberg said. I believe we are prepared to advance further.

Redzepi's decline drew praise from some as a turning point on when kitchen hierarchy turns into mistreatment and whether the era of intimidation in fine dining has ended.

Sietsema observed that restaurant owners and chefs now pay closer attention to staff treatment and pay to build support from the base. They are reassessing kitchen conditions and adjusting time-off policies so workers can have two or three consecutive days off. Noma began paying interns fully in 2022.

All these small steps combine into major industry shifts, he said. People are reconsidering their work style, effort level and this leads to improved restaurants and better hospitality overall.

Dazio reported from Berlin.