Michelin awards stars (along with other distinctions)

The Michelin Guide is the gold standard in fine dining

Michelin may be chiefly concerned with tires, but it's also known for its restaurant rating system, commonly referred to as “Michelin Stars.” The guide awards restaurants between one and three stars to designate varying levels of excellence in cuisine.

The Michelin Guide, explained

Every year, Michelin—a tire company—transforms the culinary world through its prestigious Michelin Stars. Starting in 1900 as a guide to boost road travel, Michelin evolved into the global authority on fine dining. Today, anonymous inspectors assess restaurants across 30 countries, awarding one to three stars for quality, consistency, and creativity.

The three-star system arrived in 1931

In the 1920s, the Michelin brothers employed anonymous inspectors to review restaurants in their guides. Inspired by other popular European guidebooks, they added the Michelin Star in 1926 to mark the best restaurants in France. In 1931, it was expanded to the current system of up to three stars.

Michelin stars aren't permanent

Michelin stars must be maintained year-to-year. Restaurants have lost their stars for a variety of reasons, including chef changes and inconsistent quality.

Affluence largely influences where Michelin stars are awarded

Countries with high GDP are the most highly decorated with Michelin stars. As this 2024 in-depth statistical analysis notes, though, that appears to be changing, with the Guide beginning to recognize other areas of the globe.

Michelin stars don't guarantee financial success

A Michelin star generally increases customer traffic for a restaurant. Still, prestige does not guarantee improved finances. According to a 2017 report, half the European restaurants with more than one star weren’t making a profit. However, losing a star can also be devastating.

There are roughly 90 Michelin judges around the world

A major reason the Michelin Guide remains prestigious is the extreme secrecy surrounding its inspectors, sometimes assuming fake names and donning disguises, to ensure ratings are not influenced by special treatment.

Why diners and chefs are ditching the Michelin Guide

The Michelin Guide's influence appears to be waning, indicating a shift in the perception of fine dining in contemporary culture. Trends show that diners today prefer getting recommendations from more informal networks, especially after lackluster experiences at Michelin-rated restaurants. Some chefs claim the star ratings don’t significantly influence their business, and others reject the pressure of obtaining a Michelin star altogether. Read more about the shift in this article.

Thoughts from an anonymous Michelin inspector

An anonymous Michelin inspector answers the most common questions about their job and explains how reviewing and awarding stars works. Covering everything from how they decide what to order to advice for young chefs, get a peek into the details of one of the most influential restaurant reviewing jobs.

Chefs face intense pressure to maintain Michelin stars

Explore the pressure pursuing a star puts on chefs—sometimes at the expense of their mental health, and social media's impact on the culinary landscape. A conversation with Nick Kokonas, co-owner of the three-starred Alinea in Chicago, gets into the ways Michelin’s rankings affect business.

12th-century Chinese restaurants followed a rating system

Like a predecessor to today's Michelin stars, restaurants advertised their offerings and skill level based on the number of flags flown outside: a simple, one-dish diner had one; a sit-down restaurant with a proper menu had at least two; three flags was not used for superstitious reasons; four meant the chef had mastered a culinary style; five meant patrons could expect dishes from every region of China.

Some chefs relinquish their Michelin stars

Five years after Marco Pierre White became the youngest chef to ever achieve a three-star rating, he also became the first chef to “return” his stars and retire. Since then, multiple chefs have followed in his footsteps and requested to be removed from the judging process.

How Michelin-starred chefs cook steak

Earning a Michelin star is no easy feat; neither is cooking a steak. This tutorial, featuring three Michelin-starred chefs, shows how the pros tackle the subtle art, walking even the most kitchen-averse eaters through the best ways to cook a great cut.

The first street vendor to win a Michelin star was Singaporean chef Hawker Chan

The first street vendor to win a Michelin star was Singaporean chef Hawker Chan, whose food was uncharacteristically inexpensive for a Michelin-approved chef. After expanding, he lost the star, but was eventually awarded a Bib Gourmand Michelin Man symbol, which recognizes restaurants serving exceptional food at more accessible prices.

The Oscars of food

Every year, the James Beard Awards spotlight the best in food, media, and hospitality—often called the "Oscars of the food world." But behind the prestige is the story of James Beard himself: a failed actor turned culinary icon.

The awards focus on three categories: performance, show and technical, and special honors

While marquee awards like best musical attract the most attention, the Tonys award the many elements that contribute to American theater. This video breaks down the various award categories, including the ones retired over the years, as well as eligibility requirements, how nominations are decided, and, of course, how the winners are selected.

How to dine like they do in 'The Bear'

One of the most exciting aspects of FX's hit show "The Bear" is how it highlights real Chicago restaurants and businesses. This guide to some of the restaurants visited by the show’s characters (and a few that aren’t) includes the real Michelin inspectors’ notes on each spot.

The Madison Avenue Walk of Fame

In Hollywood, the most prominent celebrities get “stars” on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Now, industry events producer Advertising Week has created a virtual walk of fame for the biggest stars of the ad world, from the Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime Bear to the Energizer Bunny.

The best restaurant tasting experiences in every state

Looking for the best tasting experiences that are a must-try in your home state or anywhere you may be traveling? Here are your options.

Energy Star certifies efficiency to help Americans save energy and cut emissions

Launched by the EPA in 1992, the Energy Star program identifies appliances, buildings, and electronics that meet high efficiency standards. It has helped consumers save over $500B in energy costs and prevent 4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

The sun is not as exceptional as once believed, but it remains rarer than most stars

Once believed to be the center of the universe, the sun is a G-class star, the same category to which about 6% of the Milky Way's stars belong. However, the sun is younger than 85%, more massive than 95%, and more metal-rich than about 93% of all stars. Unlike the sun, half of all stars also exist in multi-star systems.

Explore a virtual tour of the Starlab Space Station

Hilton plans to design much of the interior of the free-flying commercial facility to provide comfort and hospitality during astronauts' in-space living. Starlab will include crew communal areas, wellness spaces, and advanced sleeping quarters.

The Platinum American Express card is among the most expensive mainstream travel credit cards

American Express charges a $895 annual fee on its Platinum Card in exchange for nearly $3.5K worth of credits and benefits. Some of the credits include a $600 for hotels, a $400 credit at restaurants with Resy, a $300 Lululemon credit, and even a $200 credit at Oura ring. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Stars appear to twinkle because turbulence in the motion of molecules in Earth's atmosphere causes light to bend and wiggle rapidly on its way to the surface—a phenomenon called scintillation.

The value of a trademark is just one element of brand valuation

Brand valuations give companies an idea of how valuable assets, like logos, are to the company and can help determine how much money branding departments should receive. Typically, brand valuations are a compilation of brand awareness metrics, like a consumer's willingness to pay, the value of a trademark, and the company's market position.

Critics rank the best movie franchises of all time

Franchises and sequels make up a growing percentage of annual films at the box office and aren't typically associated with critical acclaim. However, many franchises over the decades have achieved high praise from critics. This list compiled from...

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

Neutron stars, the remains of some massive stars after they explode in a supernova, are the densest directly observable objects in the universe.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

One disco producer saw 'Star Wars' four times on its opening weekend and was so inspired that he recorded the album 'Star Wars and Other Intergalactic Funk,' which produced a chart-topping single.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

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The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

See this overview of the firework rules across all 50 states, ranging from a complete ban on non-professional fireworks in Massachusetts to states with more lax rules like Indiana.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Prince's sexually explicit 1984 track 'Darling Nikki' attracted the ire of the Parents Music Resource Center, an advocacy group that inspired the Parental Advisory sticker, even though the song ends with a Christian message.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.