A tire brand’s gastronomic journey: Michelin Star
Michelin is a French vehicle tire brand founded in the 1850s by brothers Andre Jules and Edoudard Michelin.
The Story of the Michelin Guide
With the decrease in tire sales, the Michelin brothers were thinking “how can we boost thesales?”, and came up with the idea of developing a guide to recommend the best restaurants and cafes in the country to the few and respected car owners in France.
The main purpose was to encourage people to hit the road. In 1900, the first free edition of the guide was distributed. Offering practical information for car owners, the guide became increasingly popular. Due to the World War 1, the distribution of the guide was postponed for a while. After the end of the war in 1918, the guide was limited to Paris, and the restaurants were listed by their categories.
With the addition of new hotel lists and the removal of advertisements, the restaurant section became the center of attention, and the legend of the “Michelin Guide” was born.
In 1926, the Michelin brothers founded an independent team of inspectors to review the restaurants, and the top quality enterprises were started to be awarded with the Michelin stars.
In the process of creating the guide, a three-step rating system was used. In this system, the restaurants were assessed according to a scoring system based on the area that they serve and their performance.