Museum Notebook: The origin of Michelin Stars

An advertising sign for Michelin tyres, featuring their iconic logo Bibendum.

What do a tyre and a plate have in common, besides being round? They can both carry the Michelin seal of approval. Although it would be odd to see a star on a tyre.

The Michelin Tyre Company was founded by French brothers André and Édouard Michelin in 1889. At that time there were only about 3000 cars in all of France. Driving was an expensive novelty, but the brothers realised the fad was likely to become a part of everyday life.

As a way to promote the use of their products, they produced a guidebook for motorists which reviewed hotels, mechanics, gas stations and restaurants in France. The first volume was published in August 1900, 123 years ago this month. The guides were free and the first print run of 35,000 were snapped up. The brothers hoped that motorists would be inspired to drive to the reviewed hotels, increasing tyre usage and boosting sales.

Souvenir menu from Grand Restaurant Le Meunier in France, the home of the Michelin Star. This menu was collected by Whanganui serviceman Albert Greccia Peirce who served in World War II.

Both the tyres and the Guide Michelin grew in popularity and were published annually. By 1904 the brothers had expanded their audiences and started producing Michelin Guides for other countries in Europe to promote travel within and between each country and increase tyre use of course.

André Michelin received a shock in 1920 when he visited a garage and saw a number of his free publications being used to prop up a crooked worktable. He thought the books would be better respected if people had to pay for them so began charging seven francs per book, around $80 today. The price tag didn’t deter motorists. The books became much more prestigious, the reviews fostering a sense of status for the restaurants mentioned.

1926 saw the first Michelin Star which indicated restaurants that were judged to be particularly good. The star rating system seemed popular so two more categories were introduced in 1931, creating the three-star system we know today:

■ One Star = a very good restaurant

■ Two Stars = excellent cooking, worth a detour

■ Three Stars = exceptional cuisine, worth a special trip

From its beginnings in 1900, over 30 million copies of the Michelin Guides have sold worldwide, offering reviews of over 40,000 restaurants in 25 countries across four continents. Stars are awarded to restaurants, rather than chefs and are based solely on the contents of the plate, not the décor or service, although the ambience can be commented on. Inspectors are trained specially in France and encouraged to remain anonymous, not permitted to talk to the press, and are even discouraged from telling their friends and family about their job.

And what about the Michelin Man? His origins were at the 1894 Lyon Exhibition where Édouard remarked that a stack of their white tyres resembled the figure of a man. Later, André met French cartoonist Marius Rossillon and looked at a design he’d made for a brewery that had been rejected. André suggested the main image be replaced with a tyre man. The result was of the Michelin Man raising a toast to his competitors and claiming “Nunc est Bibendum! C’est à dire: à votre santé le pneu Michelin boit l’obstacle”. It means “Now is the time to drink! Which is to say: ‘To your health, the Michelin tyre drinks down the obstacles’!”

From this slogan, the Michelin Man was baptised ‘Bibendum’ and is one of the oldest trademarks still in use in the world.

■ Sandi Black is the archivist at Whanganui Regional Museum