René Redzepi, chef of noma restaurant, one of the world’s best restaurants in Copenhagen, assumes that after the coronavirus crisis it will welcome fewer guests than before.

Speaking to Canadian journalist Marie-Claude Lortie on Instagram Live, Danish chef René Redzepi said: “The concept of sitting at a table for four to five hours in a fine dining context seems very dated to me despite being just one month old. We might be back there in a few years but this will take time.” he said, adding that the post-coronavirus era would also change fine dining restaurants. Redzepi, a celebrity chef who said people would also take a break from gastronomic tourism after the outbreak, said he would work to fix the post-crisis financial problems by decrying travel. “With the restaurant management, we were noticing increased cancellations and from that point onwards we developed a worst-case scenario and a best-case scenario plan,” said Redzepi, who said he planned what to do 10 days before the Danish government closed the country. Food prices will increase in the process and people should be directed to local farmers, he said, adding that people will make changes in their lives because their financial power will not be as high as it used to be. He expressed gratitude for his ‘adapted’ hometown, saying it looked like a ‘luxury’ crisis compared to other places in the world where people ran out of money in a week or two and lost their health insurance.

Redzepi, who is worried about younger colleagues in addition to restaurant and hotel operators, said, “Most restaurants operate on very tight margins. It is incredible how fragile it all is. I worry for the young chefs. I think that big groups will be the winners in this crisis. They have the cash and they will get everything at half the price. This is discouraging and will lead to a more uniform offering and less diversity,” in the statement.