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The History of the Michelin Guide as Interesting as the Recent Michelin Ratings Given to S’pore Food Places

2016-07-28 , 6:58 pm

Singaporeans have been feeling really proud recently when news revealed that 34 of our establishments have been given the Bib Gourmand award 2016.

Out of these 34 establishments, 17 of them are hawker stalls. This is truly a moment of glory for Singapore and our hawker culture as it is definitely not an easy task to get ourselves featured in the Michelin Guide.

As we celebrate these victories, have you ever wondered the origins of the Michelin Guide? Where and how did it come about? Let us show you where and when it actually started.

The Michelin Guide

Michelin Guides, as we know, are a series of annual guide books published by the French company Michelin for more than a century.

This term is coined for the Michelin Red Guide, which is the oldest hotel and restaurant guide in Europe. This guide awards Michelin stars to selected establishments for excellence in their food, ambience and service in general.

The guide has become such a household name that the gain or loss of a Michelin star can have drastic effects on a success of a restaurant.

To boost demand for tyres and cars

How did the Michelin Guides start? In 1900, tyre manufacturers Andre Michelin and his brother Edouard were thinking of ways to boost the demand for cars and in turn car tires.

They decided to publish a guide book for motorists that include maps, instructions for repair and changing tires, a list of car mechanics, hotels, and petrol stations.

This guide was given to anyone free of charge. The first guide book was published in France in the same year. 4 years later, the brothers published a similar guidebook in Belgium.

With this guide, the first Michelin Guide was born. Motorists began to use this guide book and popularity slowly increased.

In the subsequent years, guides were published in Algeria, Tunisia, the Alps and the Rhine, covering northern Italy, Switzerland, Bavaria, and Netherlands.

After 10 years, guides also appeared in Germany, Spain, Portugal and the British Isles.

In 1911, guides were even published in northern Africa, southern Italy and Corsica. These guides were given away free of charge all the way till 1920.

No longer Free

The Michelin brothers began to charge for the guides after Andre Michelin visited a tyre merchant and saw that their free guides were used to prop up a workbench.

They believed that once people start to pay for the guide, it will be respected and valued as something worthy to be on a bookshelf instead.

Restaurant listings

They also began to make changes to the guide. They stopped all the advertisements in the guide, listed restaurants by specific categories and debut the listing of hotels. In fact, after this revamp, the brothers discovered that the popularity of the restaurant listing grew by leaps and bounces.

After their realisation, they hired a term of inspectors to visit and review restaurants. These inspectors are careful to remain in anonymity so that their reviews will be an accurate reflection of the restaurant true worth.

This practice has endured till today where inspectors continue to remain anonymous whenever they visit a restaurant for reviews.

The start of Michelin Stars

In 1926, the guides began to award stars for the restaurants they review. For a start, it was only one star, but in 1931, the hierarchy of zero, one, two and three stars was proposed and that received wide recognition.

With such popularity, the Michelin brothers published the criteria of the ranking of stars in 1936 as follows:

The guide cover was also changed from blue to red in 1931 and it has remained since then.

The guide as a tool for war

During World War 2, the publication ceased but it was revived in 1944 at the request of the Allied Forces due its accurate maps.

The Michelin Guides became a tool for the invading armies. The regular Michelin Guide was resumed in 1945 after the end of the war.

After the war

After the war, the Michelin Guide continues to grow and award restaurants with good reviews and stars.

By 1974, the first Michelin Guide in Britain was published with 25 stars awarded to its restaurants. In 2005, Michelin has its first American guide, concentrating on New York. It covered 500 restaurants. In 2007, a Tokyo guide was launched followed by a Hong Kong – Macau guide in 2008. By 2013, Michelin has published 14 editions covering 23 countries and sold in nearly 90 countries.

The story of the Michelin Guide is a wonder in itself due to its longevity from 1900 till today.

The popularity and prestige given to the Michelin Guide continue to give it creditability in its ability to sniff out the best food and restaurant in the world.

The irony of it all was the motive of the guide – it was published originally to boost the demand for cars and tire sales.

Top Image: michelin.com

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com