Getting a Michelin Star Could Spell Disaster, According to a New Report

Gaining a Michelin star may not be all it's cracked up to be, at least according to a new report.

In September, researchers from the University College London (UCL) released their findings, showing that a restaurant with a Michelin star is statistically more likely to close than other highly-rated restaurants sans a star. 

The research, titled "Double-edged stars: Michelin stars, reactivity, and restaurant exits in New York City" and published in The Strategic Management Journal, tracked both highly rated restaurants and Michelin-star restaurants located in New York City from 2000 to 2019. (The guide, which began in France in 1900, came to the U.S. in 2005, giving stars to 39 New York restaurants. As of 2023, there are 71 Michelin-starred restaurants in the city and hundreds more in the Michelin Guide.)

The research found that those with stars were "more likely to exit after having received a Michelin star." In fact, 40% of those it tracked had closed by 2019, and just one out of every five highly rated but non-Michelin restaurants had closed over the same time.  

"While restaurateurs frequently reflected on a feeling of achievement after receiving a Michelin star and highlighted that this led to a heightened focus on their restaurant, their staffs, and themselves, the consequence of Michelin stars were not all necessarily favorable," David Sands, the author of the study, shared with restaurant operators, according to Restaurant Business. 

One major consequence, Sands added, included landlords increasing rent. Sands pointed to the 2014 op-ed by restaurateur Danny Meyer, who wrote in The New York Times, “It's hard to come to grips with the notion that our success has, in part, contributed to our inability to remain in our neighborhood.”

Additionally, Sands found that not only does the accolade push the restaurant to the forefront, it also puts employees in the limelight too — which can lead to many getting offers elsewhere. "... the value of these employees may be enhanced as their quality of work becomes more salient to others who could seek to hire them away or provide them with access to funding to start their own restaurants," Sands wrote. 

Sands added one more downstream consequence: Customers' extreme expectations. The star, Sands added, "could lead to a customer base that has tastes that become relatively misaligned with the restaurant's offerings. Meeting the demands of Michelin-primed consumers can be a difficult and costly challenge for a restaurateur. Restaurateur Skye Gyngell (of Petersham Nurseries Café, London) even went so far as describing the heightened consumer expectations following his Michelin star as a “curse” due to the burden that it imposed."

So perhaps this study is the perfect lesson to be careful what you wish for. Because it can get lonely and difficult at the top.