Annika de Las Heras did not plan any of this. She studied international politics, worked as a consultant, and stumbled into Noma almost by accident – drawn in by a meal that changed how she understood hospitality, and by a founder who told her that PowerPoint and spreadsheets sounded boring and she should come work for them instead. Fourteen years later, she is the CEO. She has managed pop-ups across four continents, launched Noma Projects, completed an MBA on the side, and helped build one of the most talked-about organizations in the food world. She did all of this without ever quite deciding to – it was always just too exciting to leave.

Before the interview, a Proust questionnaire – a few personal questions to meet the person before we talk about the work.

What did you dream of becoming as a child?

A veterinarian. I have always loved animals and still do.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Being part of building something over many years with people I deeply admire and growing with it.

What is the quality you most like in people?

A sense of humour. Especially the kind that comes with warmth, intelligence, and not taking oneself too seriously.

Who are your heroes in real life?

I really admire people who are able to identify what they are naturally brilliant at, what they truly love doing, and then build a long-lasting career around it. There is something very inspiring about that combination of self-knowledge, discipline, and joy.

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Teleportation. I love being in different places, but I would happily skip the airports and the lost time in between.

Which book has strongly influenced you?

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro is at least one I read most recently that I quite enjoyed. It stayed with me because of the way it looks at love, care, and being human.

Your favourite dish?

Tacos al pastor.

 

Andreja: I’d like to know your personal story – why you first decided to work at Noma, what year that was, what was happening in your career, and what Noma represented to you. What were your dreams back then?

Annika: I had moved to Denmark and had been living in Copenhagen for about a year. I had been working for a wonderful small consulting firm based out of Washington D.C., working remotely. I had studied international politics, so that felt like my natural career path. But I’d always had this thing in the back of my mind – wouldn’t it be interesting to work in a creative industry at some point in my life?

I remember earlier in my college years, I’d passed up an unpaid internship at National Geographic Channel, which I would have loved to do. From that moment on I, always carried this quiet thought: one day it would be wonderful to work somewhere creative. What would that be like? Would I ever get the opportunity?

While I was living in Copenhagen, I actually ate at Noma before I ever worked there. It was the first time I had ever been to a restaurant like that in my life. I hadn’t grown up dining out that way, and it was just a mind-blowing experience. What I really took away from it was the people. The food was incredible, unlike anything I had ever seen, but the people around you also made you feel completely comfortable trying something you’d never encountered before. I had certainly never experienced that level of care and hospitality in that kind of setting. I just thought: this is something really special and really unique.

Over the following couple of months, I met René and Peter, and I remember René asking me: why don’t you come work for us? What do you do? Consulting? So – PowerPoint and spreadsheets? That sounds boring. Come work for us. And I thought: this is the opportunity. Even if it’s outside my traditional path, even if it’s not what I studied for – this is a rare chance to go into something that feels genuinely special, with people who have real passion for what they do, and to see if I can make a place for myself here.

The role that had opened up was PR coordinator, and I was completely honest that I had no experience in it. But I thought: this door is open, let me see what I can make of it. About a year later, the idea came up of taking the entire team to Japan for our very first international pop-up. I remember René saying: This is a real project someone needs to manage it – how do we set it up, what does the dining room look like, how does the team get there, how do we handle reservations? He asked: do you want to work on this as a dedicated project? I said yes, absolutely.

From there, over what is now 14 years, I’ve had maybe four or five different roles in the organization. But starting with that Japan project gave me the best possible foundation – when you take an entire restaurant and all its people from one country and figure out what they need to make it work somewhere else, you learn so much about who the people are, what they need, and how they work. Then I got to do it again for Australia, and then for Mexico. When we came back to Copenhagen and moved to the new Noma location, I became general manager for a couple of years.

I was also doing a part-time MBA on the side. After COVID I finished it, and René said: now is the time to start a product company. We’d been talking about products and fermentation for as long as I’d known him. He said: Annika, you just finished your MBA, so that means you know how to start a company – let’s go. So I became employee number one at Noma Projects, then managing director, and now CEO of Noma.

I had absolutely no idea when I was first interviewed 14 years ago that this is where it would lead. But I’ve never really considered anything else, because there has always been something new, some opportunity for growth – for the team and for myself – that I never wanted to miss. I think that reflects how I see Noma in general. It’s a place that never ceases to evolve, to learn, to change for the better. I feel lucky to have been along for the ride.

 

Andreja: Did it fulfil your dreams – was it what you expected, or even better?

Annika: Way better than I expected. I could never have imagined it. When I accepted the job, it was such a different role from anything I had done before, and I honestly thought: maybe this is just a creative detour, and then I’ll go back to consulting because that’s what I know and where I thought I was headed. But I just never left. It was always too exciting to step away from.

 

Andreja: In recent months, Noma has been very much in the media, including from a negative angle. Journalists rarely seem to think about the people who actually work there and what it means for them. How were you feeling inside the organization while all of this was happening, and how did it affect the team and you personally?

Annika: I can speak for myself personally – it has been very difficult to see the organization portrayed in that way. We have done so much over the past years to improve and to make structural changes, and I don’t think those articles truly reflect the organization we have today.

We have changed significantly. The industry has changed significantly. René has been very vocal about these things over the years – about his own role, his own reflection on his leadership in the past, and the things he wanted to change. Talking openly about those things and sitting with that reflection is actually what has driven a lot of the improvements within the organization. That doesn’t mean we don’t still have work to do – we always put that pressure on ourselves, both creatively and in terms of how we care for the team, how we ensure people can grow and develop here. But to see an organization that you have watched evolve and genuinely change for the better reflected in that way – that has been hard.

Andreja: What does it mean to you to step into the CEO role at this particular moment?

Annika: It’s a really big title and a big role to step into, and I take the responsibility of it very seriously. But I also know that we have an incredible team, and I have incredible people around me.

The way I’ve always approached leadership at Noma – from the very beginning – is: what can I do to ensure that the people in this organization have what they need to do what they do best? I see my role no differently today. It’s about how we ensure we’re working as creatively as possible, maintaining that level of ambition, while also making sure the team is as well supported as it can be.

 

Andreja: This new structure has three leaders from within Noma stepping up. What was the philosophy behind keeping the leadership entirely internal rather than bringing someone in from outside?

Annika: Part of it is simply that we recognized we already have those leaders within the organization. So much of what has built Noma into what it is today is a direct reflection of the leaders who have been stepping up over the last several years.

Pablo is an incredible example of leadership in a kitchen – he has been implementing new structures and new ways of communicating and organizing that make a real difference on a day-to-day level. And Mette as well, both in how she thinks about creativity and in the conversations we have about how we want to lead and what we value.

There are also many other strong leaders on the team with real ambitions. But it became clear to us that the people who had been doing this work for years – who understand the challenges from the inside, who can see both where we struggle and where we truly excel – are the right people to take this to the next iteration. There is confidence in that team already. We know how to make things even better.

 

Andreja: Some media coverage has suggested that Noma is reopening too soon – though again, they don’t seem to think about the people who would lose their jobs if you didn’t. What is your answer to that?

Annika: It’s a simple answer. We are a large organization with a lot of people to support, many of whom have been with us for a very long time. Coming home and reopening is the best way to support our team, support the company, and rebuild from here.

 

Andreja: What does growth look like for Noma now, in your vision?

Annika: Right now it’s really about protecting what is most creative and alive about Noma, while building the structures that best allow our people and our ideas to thrive. We have never been about growth for scale’s sake – it has always been about iterating and evolving for the better. So for me, it comes down to that balance: what does it mean to be the best when we come back? What does it mean to be the best both as a restaurant and for the team? And how do we challenge ourselves to do that better than we’ve ever done it before?

 

Andreja: We moved through this quite quickly. Is there anything I haven’t asked that you think matters to this story?

Annika: I think the one thing worth adding is the structural changes we’ve made as an organization – not just reflecting on how we do better, but actually implementing it. Over the 14 years I’ve been here: four-day work weeks, paid internships – something we have been doing for many years –and dedicated HR leadership and training. These things haven’t been reflected in recent articles, and I think that matters.

Andreja: What does coming home to Copenhagen in August mean to you personally?

I look forward to having the team all back and to begin building the next chapter together. Personally, I’m most excited about being part of yet another evolution of Noma and see where this new chapter leads us next. I’ve been fortunate to be part of many iterations of this place, and every time, we learn a little more and take our creativity to new places.

 

Andreja Lajh is the founder of Haut de Gamme, a London-based agency working with chefs, restaurants and food producers worldwide. She writes about food, wine and the restaurant world at hautdegamme.net.