This is a practice that is being implemented more and more often, amid awareness and attention to the mental health issues chefs can face. During this period, guide managers also contact the remaining 20-30 chefs who will lose their star.
“We are fully aware of the impact our decisions have on individual restaurants,” commented the group.
Many chefs strive to achieve three Michelin stars throughout their lives, but the effort to earn and maintain them is often stressful. In France, the suicides of two Michelin-starred chefs are often featured as feature stories.
“After getting 3 stars for being the best of the best, losing a star is like tearing your heart out,” commented Samuel Squires, head chef at the Old Crown Coaching Inn in Oxfordshire, England. “Public and media attention and your doubts about whether I’m good enough will follow.”
Chefs who committed suicide
When award-winning chefs Benoît Violier and Bernard Loizeau committed suicide (one in 2016 and the other in 2003), those who knew them suggested that the need to keep their Michelin stars could be due to the tragedy. Their deaths sparked a public debate about pressure at work.
“Being a chef is lonely,” said Chris Hall, founder of the Burnt Chef Project, a mental health advocacy campaign for the restaurant industry. Some work up to 12 hours a day in some restaurants, leaving little time for relaxation or personal life. “It has a huge impact not only on your mental state, but also on your physical state,” said Hall, who worked as a supplier in gourmet restaurants in England for many years before founding his group.
covert communication
Chefs are sometimes “under a lot of pressure and put a lot of pressure on their teams because they want to maintain a certain level of performance,” a spokesperson for the Michelin Guide admitted, speaking on condition of anonymity to openly discuss company policy. That’s part of the reason Pullennek, who took over the organization in 2018, began reaching out to star-losing chefs, he says. “Before him, some calls were made, but not all of them were called.”
Michelin communicates this well in advance of the public announcement, at a time when chefs are not working, so they don’t have to go back to their kitchens and contact customers as soon as they know about the star removal. “It’s very important for us to have the time to get things right,” a spokesperson for the driver said.
The group says it is moving towards a more transparent way of working. “We remain independent and this is our strength, so we will not compromise on this part, but we can also take the time to explain our decisions.”
In 2017, Sebastian Bra, a Michelin-starred chef, asked the guide to strip him of his award so he could experiment “without wondering if my creations would satisfy the Michelin inspectors or not.”
When Bras explained the reasons for his unusual request in an interview with AFP, he said he meant – like “everyone, restaurateurs and drivers” – the memory of Loiseau’s death.
“I may be losing some of my reputation, but I accept it,” Bras told AFP. “I can feel free.”
Source: Washington Post.
Source: Kathimerini
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