MNG3702
Assignment 2
Semester 2 2024
[Company address]
,MNG3702 Assignment 2 Semester 2 2024
Michelin is a leading French brand and manufacturer of tires and rubber products.The
company was founded in 1888 by two Michelin brothers and grew to one of the largest
tyre manufacturers in the world, with a market share of 14.8% in 2023. Oddly enough,
the company also sells popular travel guides and road maps. They can make or break
chefs by the number of Michelin stars they award to their restaurants. Michelin stars are
a rating system used by the red Michelin Guide to grade restaurants on their quality and
excellence. Restaurants can be awarded one, two or three stars, based on various
criteria, such as quality of their ingredients used, the harmony of flavours in their dishes,
the mastery of various techniques, the personality of the chef, and the consistency of
the menu. The Michelin Man (Bibendum) is known word wide. The history of the
Michelin Guide The Michelin Guide is considered by many to be the hallmark of global
fine dining and quality cuisine. It has immense power over chefs, restaurateurs, and
foodies world wide. It may divide opinions across the food service industry, but its
influence is undeniable. French chef Paul Bocuse, a pioneer of nouvelle cuisine (a
modern French style of preparing dishes that avoids rich, heavy foods, rather
emphasizing the freshness of the ingriedients used in prepring the dishes and the
presentation thereof), once said, “Michelin is the only guide that counts.” The birth of the
famous little red book is a very interesting story. When the Michelin tire company was
established in 1888 by brothers André and Édouard Michelin, it was a time when driving
was perceived as a novelty to most. There were less than 3 000 cars in France at the
time. However, the brothers were quick to recognize driving and mobility as a lasting
, trend. To encourage more road travel, and hence boost tire sales, they decided to
create a comprehensive guidebook for motorists which catalogued hotels, restaurants,
mechanics, and gas stations. In 1900, the very first edition of the Michelin Guide was
published, and 35 000 copies were given out for free. 3 MNG3702 Assignment 2,
semester 2 As the tire company grew, so did the Michelin Guide. Country-specific
editions were published throughout Europe, starting with Belgium in 1904. A charge was
introduced for the first time in 1920 when André Michelin walked into a garage and saw
copies of the guidebook being used to support a workbench. Realising that “Man only
truly respects what he pays for,” the company started charging 7 francs for the guides.
By that time, the restaurant section of the Michelin Guide had become so popular that
the company started to recruit anonymous inspectors to visit and review restaurants. Six
years later in 1926, the Michelin star system was born. There were other notable
changes as well, namely listing restaurants by specific categories, the debut of hotel
listings and the abandonment of paid-for advertisements. The single-star restaurant
review system also expanded to the present a three-star system in 1931: “A very good
restaurant in its category.” “Excellent cooking, worth a detour.” “Exceptional cuisine,
worth a special journey.” In 1957, the Michelin Guide began awarding accolades to
restaurants that provided “good meals at moderate prices,” a feature now called Bib
Gourmand. The Bib Gourmand symbol—the image of Bibendum or the Michelin Man
licking his lips—debuted in the Michelin Guide in 1997. What began as a promotional
device for the Michelin brothers’ tire business at the turn of the 20th century has grown
into an authority on global fine dining. Since its first publication in 1900, more than 30
million copies of the Michelin Guide have been sold across the globe. It presently rates