Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The MICHELIN Guide to Restaurants and Hotels
or the 'Red Guide'
The Michelin Guide
was started in France by the makers of car tyres, Andre
and Edward Michelin, when they wrote a guide in 1900 for French car drivers
on the best hotels and restaurants in Europe.
In 1926 they developed a star points system to grade the top restaurants
and Michelin star rankings have become the 'Oscars' of the restaurant in-
dustry. The stars are divided into three groups:
•
One star - very good restaurant;
•
Two star - excellent restaurant;
•
Three star - exceptional restaurant.
Food connoisseurs search out Michelin restaurants in Europe. Michelin rank-
ings are now in other countries as well. The Michelin 'red book'
(
www.michelin-
travel.com
)
has become the culinary tourists' 'bible' of the restaurant industry.
Top restaurants guides
Magazines and the Internet also now provide lists of the top restaurants in
the town, county, country, or the world and have become a major reference
source for culinary tourists. Restaurant owners should have as one of their
aims to get on to at least one of these lists, for example
The Good Food Guide
1
in the UK, which lists the
50
best restaurants.
Present-Day Food Tourism
Food tourism today, like other types of tourism, can be divided into two
groups: businesses who are the primary provider of the offer and secondary
providers. In general food tourists often carry out less prior research than
gourmet culinary tourists and will find venues as they travel a region. Food
tourists will often select from the following two options.
Primary food providers
Primary food providers are businesses that are food destinations in the con-
sumer's mind. They need to provide excellent food and service and are the
main reason for the tourist visiting the region. The food they provide is crit-
ically important to the consumer experience.
Secondary food providers
This group often do not see themselves as being in the tourist industry, but
in the visitor's mind they are just as important. They are the providers who
