
How Did Michelin Become the World’s Authority on Restaurants? - hunglee2
http://www.messynessychic.com/2015/03/18/so-how-did-a-company-selling-rubber-tyres-become-the-worlds-authority-on-restaurants/
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cooper12
Disappointingly, the article doesn't really explain the authority part, just
how they came to review restaurants.

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anigbrowl
Presumably people largely agreed with the tastes of the reviewers.

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pascalmahe
Can't it be a simple case of being the first so widely distributed ? A quick
skimming on Wikipedia shows that of the main guides showed today [1], only one
other guide started at the end of the of the 19th century [2]. So probably a
good example of the "Land Grab" strategy (from Spolsky, [3]), being the first
to grow fast in a new(ish) market. Then they were the reference and that's a
easier position to maintain than to grab.

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restaurant_rating](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restaurant_rating)
[2]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Cuisini%C3%A8re_Cordon_Bleu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Cuisini%C3%A8re_Cordon_Bleu)
[3]:
[http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000056.html](http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000056.html)

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sanderjd
That's funny, I always assumed it was a _different_ Michelin. Perhaps a French
company by the same name.

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sgryzko
I had the same reaction when I realized that Guinness, the authority on World
Records is the same company that makes the delicious Irish stout. Brilliant
marketing.

I think the story was that many pub arguments were about what was the biggest,
fastest, most, etc. So Guinness decided to do some research on these records
and publish it.

I actually am one of the several hundred people to hold the record for largest
hockey game (unless it's been broken recently) and apparently it's quite the
racket. Organizations hoping to set records have to go through a lengthy
application process, pay an adjudicator to witness the record, etc. Then, if
they want it in the Guinness Book (as opposed to just online) they have to pay
extra. Record holders can then pay for an official certificate so they can
show their friends and family (which of course I did).

Sorry for the wild tangent by the way. I now realize this has nothing to do
with Michelin or restaurants.

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sanderjd
Ha! I didn't realize _that_ one was the same company either! From now on, I
guess I'll switch to assuming that anything with the same name is actually the
same company, no matter how seemingly unrelated.

Good story, thanks for sharing.

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negativity
My god. I never realized that people used to actually dress up in suits made
of inner tubes. Those pictures are surreal.

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pilatesfordogs
Apparently major chefs don't care for the Michelin stars:

[http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/09/top-chefs-
michelin...](http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/09/top-chefs-michelin-
stars)

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resu_nimda
That seems like a somewhat inaccurate takeaway. A few of them "gave them back"
because they didn't like the pressure and/or wanted to change their menu.
Bourdain of course doesn't care much for them but he was the only one in the
article that really took that attitude (and being a rebel is kind of his
thing). Other chefs mentioned were devastated to lose them.

There are certainly some misgivings about the organization and process but it
seemed like most of them still consider a 3-star to be the top honor in fine
dining.

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mturmon
It's really a mixed bag. Michelin favors a certain type of place -- posh,
traditional, French -- and doesn't know what to do with other cuisines. This
could be OK if you are in France, or if you share that taste, but it doesn't
translate well and doesn't serve many diners well.

For a view of how this looks to a very adventurous and accomplished reviewer
(look him up if you don't know), see Jonathan Gold's take here:
[http://www.laweekly.com/restaurants/michelin-
tires-2151006](http://www.laweekly.com/restaurants/michelin-tires-2151006)

Teaser:

"Michelin is usually one of the guidebooks I take with me when I visit France,
although I tend not to use it much. In Paris, Patricia Wells and the Pudlo
guide are better at pointing me to the kind of restaurants I like best; in the
rest of the country, I prefer Gault Millau. Outside France, Michelin is all
but useless — in most of Italy, you could probably find better restaurants by
sticking a pin into a map than you could by following the guide, and while
Gordon Ramsay’s supremely boring London flagship gets three stars, Fergus
Henderson’s splendid St. John, a restaurant that visiting chefs head off to
the second they land at Heathrow, has none."

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pella
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelin_Guide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelin_Guide)

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205guy
The blog article had lots of nice historical images, but I think it missed 2/3
of the story: Michelin also made green guides with tourist information and
highly accurate maps. The tourist guides were some of the first and cover
pretty much every single place of interest in France (from natural attractions
to cultural and historical monuments--chateaux and country churches). The maps
are some of the most readable and complete in my experience. Thanks to these 2
publications, travelers in France are not at the mercy of the local chambers
of commerce and roadside advertising.

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buserror
I agree, the "Carte Michelin" is a LOT more popular than the guide, for normal
french people.

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asdfologist
I'm more curious as to why they are still relevant in this day and age of
Yelp.

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gyardley
Michelin's reviews have nearly always been in line with my own tastes. Yelp,
not so much. A good portion of Yelp reviews are written by rubes who don't
don't know what good food is, tightwads who prefer a low price over quality,
and boors who don't understand why a restaurant won't tolerate their
embarrassingly bad behavior - enough to significantly botch their accuracy.

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rottyguy
On the other hand, I've eaten my share of expensive food at "fine" dining
establishments across nyc and have found less then 10% are worth the price
(eg. worth going back). The recent one was Maialino in Grammercy. So much
wanted to like it but our dinner was disappointing (thankfully the company
picked up the tab). Overly salty Fettucini and Sausage and mediocre chicken
cutlet.

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2muchcoffeeman
Well,
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon's_law)

Most fine dining places I've been to in Sydney are nice enough, but also not
usually worth a repeat visit.

