Paris (AFP)
After causing excitement by downgrading the Paul Bocuse restaurant near Lyon from three to two stars, the Michelin guide does not foresee any other decisions of this type in its 2020 list which will be made public on Monday, announced its boss Gwendal Poullennec to AFP.
"There are no other three-star establishments in 2019" questioned "in the 2020 vintage," he said after the demotion of the famous restaurant by Paul Bocuse, in an interview given this week.
The "pope" of French gastronomy, who died two years ago, held these three stars since 1965 without interruption, a record.
"Losing a star has an emotional and sometimes even an economic impact. Michelin shows the greatest kindness possible, so we systematically want to announce this personally to the chefs or team leaders," underlines the boss of the red guide. , in office since September 2018. The 40-year-old went to the Collonges-au-Mont-d'Or establishment a week ago to inform the restaurant.
"The Michelin guide has more than 61 years of history with the house of Bocuse and I can assure you that this history will continue (with) the new dynamic team which took up the project head on and that we do not wish only one thing: to succeed, "he said.
The boss of Michelin also defends the work of his inspectors, questioned by chef Marc Veyrat after the loss of his third star.
Decommissioned in January 2019, a year after being crowned, the "chef in the black hat" went to court to ask for evidence of the guide's inspections and the skills of the inspectors. He lost his trial but does not intend to stop there legally.
Within the team of inspectors, "we have more than 15 nationalities, more than 25 languages", underlines Mr. Poullennec.
"They are professionals, which means that they have training in the hotel industry and mainly in catering. And when they join the Michelin guide, they are also trained at length in the field". Their average age is 41 years.
© 2020 AFP