2024-03-17 05:15:00
NEW YORK (CNN) People who have made reservations at a Michelin-starred restaurant may wonder why a rating guide for top restaurants has the same name as a tire manufacturer.
All-weather tires and fine dining restaurants have little in common. But for chefs and restaurateurs, receiving recognition from 100-year-old tire manufacturer Michelin is a long-held dream.
Although the Michelin Guide has evolved into a highly influential rating system, it was never originally intended to direct people to the highest-ranked restaurants. Although its success is now legendary, it started with a sly advertising campaign.
family business
In the late 19th century, brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin founded a tire company in Clermont-Ferrand, a rural town regarding four hours south of Paris. At that time, fewer than 3,000 cars were in circulation in France. Driving was not an easy task, as the road network was not developed and gasoline was difficult to obtain. The Michelin brothers needed to give people more reasons to drive their cars.
Introducing the Michelin Guide, a pocket-sized red booklet.
In the preface to the first edition in 1900, André explained that the guidebook “provides all the information drivers need when traveling through France, including gas stations and repair shops, as well as accommodation and restaurants.” ing.
Michelin brothers Andre and Edouard, who founded Michelin/Culture Club/Getty Images
They reasoned that if people drove more, their tires would eventually wear out, leading to more tires being purchased.
According to Michelin, the guidebook has been distributed free of charge for some time. However, Andre stopped distributing the guidebook for free following witnessing it being used to prop up a workbench at a repair shop.
According to Olivier Darmont’s book “The Michelin Man’s First Hundred Years,” which was later translated into English, the decision to pay for distribution without relying on advertising was made because “cars were becoming cheaper and had better performance.” .
As a result, more French people want to travel within the country, and the Michelin Guide has become increasingly indispensable. To better support drivers, Michelin has opened an office where travelers can consult experts to plan their itinerary and get road maps from around Europe. This is a concept similar to that of the American Automobile Association (AAA), which was established in the United States around the same time.
“Most of the information came from traveling Michelin tire salesmen. They spent a lot of time on the road, so they were a very reliable source of information,” Darmont said.
There is no evidence that the guidebook increased tire sales. However, Darmont points out that it has become a new source of revenue for the company and served as an advertising tool to increase public confidence in driving.
Today, Michelin is a publicly traded company with a market capitalization of approximately $24 billion (approximately 3.6 trillion yen) and produces approximately 200 million tires annually. The Michelin Guide currently features more than 30,000 restaurants from three continents, and has sold more than 30 million copies.
From driving guide to badge of honor
In the late 1920s, restaurant ratings published in Michelin guidebooks became extremely influential. So the brothers set up a new business, hiring undercover investigators to determine whether a restaurant was a high-end restaurant. If a restaurant was judged to be high class, it was given one star.
This rating system has evolved, and the evaluation method established in the 1930s continues to this day. One star means the restaurant is “worth the trip,” two stars means it’s worth the detour, and three stars means it’s worth the trip.
William Bradley, executive chef and director of the three-star restaurant “Addison”
William Bradley, executive chef and director of Addison, one of only 13 three-star restaurants in the U.S., says guests from all over the world should first consider making other travel plans before making other travel plans. He says he often secures reservations at the Addison in San Diego. (10-course tasting experience: $375)
Addison earned her first one-star award in 2019 and two stars in 2021. The following year, in 2022, he earned a three-star rating. Mr. Bradley and his staff never suspected that undercover agents were visiting the restaurant, nor did they treat anyone in particular.
“We didn’t want to fall into that trap. We just wanted to provide the best quality for everyone,” Bradley told CNN.
This system was not without its critics. The Washington Post wrote in a 2023 article that the system supports innovation as much as chefs recognize that they can be penalized for straying too far from the norm. , which impedes innovation.” The Michelin Guide has also faced backlash for favoring French chefs and cuisine.
But earning just one star makes a restaurant famous.
Chef Roberto Alcozar of Valley, a modern Mexican restaurant in the San Diego suburb of Oceanside, says that until it received a Michelin star in July 2023, the restaurant was never fully booked. That’s what it means. However, the morning following receiving one star, reservations were fully booked until the following month.
Taking this opportunity, the Valley extended the period for accepting reservations from one month in advance to 90 days in advance, but the reservations quickly filled up.
Christophe Bellanca, chef-owner of Essential by Christophe, a one-star restaurant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, had a similar experience.
He opened the restaurant in 2022. Before receiving one star last year, the number of guests per night was 80 to 100, but that number has now increased to 120 to 140.
“Chef Christophe Bellanca’s dishes are simple and elegant: plump white asparagus atop a fragrant bergamot-flavored cream, a refreshing herbal vinaigrette, and paper-thin red daikon radish. The slice speaks for itself,” says the Michelin Guide.
Research method
So how is an undercover investigation conducted? People assume that Michelin inspectors are characterized by people who eat alone at high-end restaurants. On the video app TikTok, some users have recorded that they received “better” treatment when they went alone to a Michelin-starred or high-end restaurant and took notes at the table.
Michelin inspectors take great care to hide their identities to avoid receiving any preferential treatment./Jorge Gil/Europa Press/AP
But real Michelin inspectors don’t bring notebooks into restaurants. Gwendal Poulenec, international director of the Michelin Guide, told CNN that investigators take great care to hide their identities to avoid receiving any preferential treatment.
He added that the teams will decide whether to award a star, so the restaurants being reviewed will serve multiple inspectors. This helps determine whether a restaurant is delivering on one of Michelin’s five criteria: consistency.
Other criteria include “the quality of the ingredients, the high level of seasoning and cooking techniques, the chef’s individuality expressed in the dining experience, and the harmony of flavors.”
All surveyors have at least 10 years’ experience in the hospitality industry and have also received extensive training in the Michelin Guide survey methodology. The same investigator will never visit the same restaurant once more.
Poulenec said researchers first compile a list of restaurants worth visiting through a variety of channels, including “local and national media, social media and word-of-mouth recommendations.”
Mr. Bradley said it was “impossible” to even guess who the investigators were because most of the guests who visit the restaurant are not regulars. “The great thing regarding the Michelin Guide is how secretive the inspectors are. They take their work as seriously as we do.”
Michelin guidebook from the 1900s
Pressure to stay a star
Star-rated restaurants are visited by multiple inspectors throughout the year to determine if their previous rating is still valid, deserves more stars, or is no longer valid. .
If the restaurant is determined to be in third place, it might lose the star it previously earned.
For example, Carbone, one of the most famous Italian restaurants in New York, has been visited by famous celebrities such as Jay-Z, Kim Kardashian, and former President Obama. was deprived of. However, it is still difficult to make reservations. (Major Food Group, the restaurant group that owns Carbone, might not be reached for comment.)
Carbone seems to be an anomaly in that reservations are difficult. For a chef, losing a star is not only seen as the biggest blow, but it can also drive away customers. Chef Kevin Thornton’s restaurant Thornton’s in Dublin, Ireland, has closed following losing two stars.
“Losing our Michelin star was an unexpected shock, but it was softened by the warm support we received from our long-time customers and the restaurant industry,” Thornton said.
He told CNN that the loss of the star had no impact on sales and was not the sole reason for the store’s decision to close. However, in 2016, The Irish Times reported, citing records obtained from Conted, the company that operated the restaurant, that the loss of the star had caused the restaurant’s profits to plummet.
Mr Thornton now runs a private dining business with his partner, cooking for guests in his home and giving masterclasses in his kitchen.
However, following the suicides of two celebrity chefs who were at risk of losing their stars, Michelin announced that it would notify chefs in advance of any demotion and give restaurant teams time to sort out the news privately. We are taking action,” Poulenec said.
He added that Michelin Guide inspectors do not give any negative reviews. “The inspectors only provide positive comments regarding the restaurant and its food being good or very good. We never criticize and the inspectors are not critics.”
Initially it only looked at restaurants in France, but now it covers more than 30 countries./Bobby Yip/Reuters
However, this does not mean that the task of maintaining or acquiring stars becomes easier.
“Now that I’m living this life, I understand why some chefs say, ‘We don’t want this,'” Alcocer said.
Bellanca also said that following earning a star at a restaurant where he previously worked, his performance suffered due to the stress of maintaining the star.
He learned strategies to better adapt to constant stress, including meditation. However, in the days leading up to the Michelin awards ceremony (when they are notified in advance if they lose a star), they say they have trouble sleeping.
“I don’t want to be the guy who loses his Michelin star,” Bellanca said.
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