After 125 years, are the Michelin stars still shiny?
03 April 2025
This year's Michelin Guide was released on Monday. As seen in Ratatouille, Emily in Paris – the guide continues to fuel a very specific Parisian fantasy – prestigious, refined, and elite – even though it now reviews restaurants on a global scale.
Decisive for a restaurant's success, the Michelin stars are famous for their particular protocol: incognito inspectors bound by absolute secrecy. But how did the guide build such legitimacy?
Created in 1900 by Michelin, a highly successful tyre brand, the guide was originally a reference book for gas stations and restaurants – intended to promote car travel and, ultimately, sell more tyres. In 1926, the concept of stars was introduced, and less than a decade later, the now-famous Michelin inspectors became professionals. Today, in the age of constant online reviews, sales of the guide have dropped, but it continues to find ways to stay relevant.
 | Juliette Ovigneu Some rules have changed: restaurants can pay a subscription fee to be included in the guide. But the selection of inspectors and the frequency of their visits remain obscure and criticised – Michelin has even been accused of removing stars just to create buzz. During the pandemic, many restaurants lost their stars simply because they couldn't open. Secrecy sells, and it might be exactly what keeps the Michelin Guide alive. |
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