Australian Expat Made Co-Owner at Noma

Noma has been crowned world’s best restaurant an astonishing four times. And though the Danish restaurant may have “slipped” to number five last year, James Spreadbury must be pretty happy right now.

The Australian (Adelaidean, to be exact) has been made a partner in the restaurant. Owner/chef Rene Redzepi made the announcement via Facebook late last month. Spreadbury, who we interviewed last year ahead of Noma’s pop-up in Sydney, has been working at the restaurant for eight years and currently serves as restaurant manager.

Two other staff members were given shares in the business: service director Lau Richter, and dishwasher Ali Sonko. Sonko quit farming and moved to Denmark 34 years ago from Gambia. The 62-year-old has been washing dishes at Noma for 13 years, aka the entire life of the restaurant.

"I don't think people appreciate what it means to have a person like Ali in the house. He is all smiles, no matter how his 12 children fare,” SBS reports Redzepi said before staff and friends on February 24. "And, by the way, my own father was also named Ali, and he too worked as a dishwasher when he came to Denmark.”