One of the world’s top restaurants is making its long-time dishwasher a partner in the business.
Ali Sonko, an immigrant from the Gambia, will become a partner in Noma when the restaurant reopens in December, alongside two fellow employees, chef and co-founder Rene Redzepi announced this week.
“It gives me incredible joy to let the world know that our restaurant managers Lau and James, and our dishwasher, Ali, have become partners in NOMA,” Redzepi said Tuesday on Instagram.
Sonko, 62, has been working as a dishwasher at the restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark, for more than a decade.
Partners in a business typically receive a share of its profits. A spokesperson for the restaurant — which has two Michelin stars — declined to disclose the financial terms of Sonko’s partnership.
Redzepi described the dishwasher as the “the heart and soul of Noma” when announcing the news to staff, according to Danish newspaper Berlingske.
“I don’t think people appreciate what it means to have a person like Ali in the house,” Redzepi said. “He is all smiles.”
Redzepi opened Noma in 2003 after working in the kitchens of famous restaurants elBulli and The French Laundry.
The acclaimed Copenhagen restaurant captured the “World’s Best Restaurant” title for three consecutive years between 2010 and 2012, and then again in 2014.
Sonko was not able to travel to the 2010 award ceremony, reportedly because he couldn’t get a visa. The restaurant’s team accepted their prize while wearing t-shirts with Sonko’s face printed on them.
When the restaurant won the prize again in 2012, Sonko was in attendance.
Noma specializes in Nordic cuisine made from locally sourced ingredients. The restaurant closed its doors last month, but will reopen at a new location with a new menu.
A video posted by Redzepi on Instagram shows Sonko removing a letter from the restaurant’s sign.
