Build to Last
May 25–26, 2025
MAD Symposium is back! After a seven-year hiatus, the most exciting gathering in food returns for mind-blowing ideas, inspiring talks, and meaningful connections. Under Build to Last, we’ll explore how we can best ensure that our planet, our communities, our industry, and we ourselves continue to thrive—now, and in the future.
Ticket applications for MAD7 are now open — make sure to apply by January 9, 2025.
Got a question before you apply? Check out our Symposium FAQ.
About Symposium
MAD Symposium “is a place to learn from big thinkers, a bacchanal pushing world-changing ideas.”
— The Wall Street Journal
Founded by René Redzepi of restaurant noma, the MAD Symposium brings together hundreds of the most innovative minds in hospitality for an immersive experience of learning and connection centered around food. Unlike typical chef conferences that focus mainly on recipes and techniques, MAD Symposium—often dubbed “the Davos of food”—has a broader mission: to ignite curiosity, inspire bold ideas, and unite current and future leaders dedicated to tackling the hospitality industry’s and the planet’s most pressing challenges.
Join us under the tent, and at the chef’s table.
MAD Symposium is made possible through the generous support of YETI®, The Sye Fund, William W. Helman IV, and Christine Lippert and Fred Landman.
Our favorite talks from past Symposia
Past Symposia
MAD6
2018
MAD5
2016
MAD4
2014
MAD3
2013
MAD2
2012
MAD1
2011
Latest News
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MAD Symposium 101
An Illustrated Guide to MAD7 Last week, we announced the return of MAD Symposium on May 25-26, 2025. By the time the tent flaps open on MAD7, it will be seven years since the global hospitality community last gathered together in Copenhagen. Seven years is a long time in this business, and we realize that many of…
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Uses for Obsessives like Ben Shewry
When Ben Shewry appeared on stage at the first MAD Symposium in 2011, most of the audience had never heard of him. He was clearly nervous, and his talk about his Melbourne restaurant Attica was at times somewhat halting. But about midway through, he showed a short film that brought the house down. It focused on him…
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5 Questions with Julia Soria
Julia Soria, a chef and MAD alum with an impressive culinary career, has recently taken on a new challenge: launching her own bilingual magazine, Figo. We caught up with Julia to chat about going from chef to publisher, and where you might just see a wee bit of MAD in Figo’s pages.