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This study aims to explore how haute cuisine excellence is and can be self-represented on the websites of three-star restaurants and juxtaposed onto the websites of external authoritative food guides.

In total, 26 French Michelin three-star restaurant websites and their reviews in the prominent Michelin and Gault and Millau dining guides were examined. This data was then processed using lexicometric software.

Five semantic universes emerged, showing that restaurants and dining guides do not emphasize the same elements of culinary excellence. While restaurant websites emphasize the charismatic leadership role of the chef through family history, professional recognition and vicarious learning, the two iconic guides are far from rating the criteria they claim to: For the Michelin Guide, criteria other than cuisine appear central. Conversely, Gault and Millau, far from its nouvelle cuisine principles advocating democratization at lower cost, insists on fine products.

It remains essential for restaurants to use a repertoire of cultural components and symbols, capitalize on the charismatic and architectural roles of their chef and showcase fine products that are representative of classical cuisine. Storytelling and dynamic narrative add-ons, regularly updated on large-audience social media, appear central to increasing restaurants’ perceived value, communicating innovation and attesting to their singularity and uniqueness.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study to overlap the lexical perspectives of three-star restaurants and iconic guides’ websites.

The aim of this paper to shed light on the strategies adopted by chefs and to identify the most successful in terms of Michelin rating and profitability.

In‐depth exploratory interviews with 20 great chefs located in France, Belgium, the UK and Switzerland having gained two or three Michelin stars over the last ten years.

Chefs use three different strategies for revenue‐generation: core business, full diversification and partial diversification. The reasoning behind the choice of strategy varies between two‐ and three‐star restaurants. The first strategy seems to lead to higher Michelin star ratings, and strategy, the second seems superior in terms of profitability. The third strategy yields inferior results, but is less risky.

The observations are constrained to “recently successful” restaurants, and hence may not be applicable to longer‐standing restaurants.

Concentrating on the core business leads to higher star rating, but lower profitability. Full diversification increases profitability but can jeopardize Michelin rating. The middle‐of‐the‐road approach seems inferior in any case.

To this day, little research has been conducted on the way in which great chefs having two or three stars in the famed Michelin Red Guide run their businesses. In particular, very little is known about their revenue‐generating strategies: what options are available and which revenue models are the “best”. This paper is exploratory in nature and aims to inform further research about luxury restaurants.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the brand communication on social media (SM) made by two- and three-starred restaurants and the customer reaction in terms of engagement effects during a crisis. The research highlights the connections between brand communication and engagement dynamics on Instagram by looking for differences in the strategies of two and three-starred restaurants and by highlighting the changes in the background engagement drivers.

Using data collected from 5,666 Instagram posts by 34 Italian Michelin-starred restaurants, the authors analysed the crisis-driven changes in online communication and customer engagement comparing three phases of the COVID-19 pandemic by applying a linear regression model with fixed effects.

Michelin-starred restaurants changed their strategies of brand communication to overcome the effects of the crisis. The findings highlight the importance of SM as a tool to stay in touch with consumers and the pivotal role of customers in engagement, especially during a pandemic.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is among the first studies to investigate the changes in brand communication and the effects on customer engagement during a pandemic, with a focus on Instagram. It contributes to understanding the role of platform and the main drivers of engagement on Instagram, as well as suggesting how managers can improve brand value using SM.

The haute‐cuisine industry must cope with two, apparently antagonist demands from customers: providing reliable advice about the choice of restaurant, while concurrently preserving the “magic of discovery” and creativity every haute‐cuisine restaurant should provide. This paper has the objective of analysing how the Michelin guide “star system” operates as a “signalling device” in the industry, and handles these two market requirements. The research also explores how secrecy contributes to preserve chefs' creativity for the benefit of customer satisfaction.

The research is derived from 20 exploratory field interviews of chefs belonging to the “star system” in France, Switzerland and the UK.

Field research and analysis reveal the pressure to minimize type II errors, i.e. of selecting restaurants that do not merit inclusion and, consequently, increase type I errors. This behaviour explains the stability, reliability and consistency of the system.

Further research is needed to analyse the extent to which the phenomenon observed in the haute‐cuisine industry is manifest in other artistic (i.e. fashion) or hospitality (i.e. hotels) related sectors.

There is no unique route to the star system. The best way for chefs to increase the odds to get promoted is to focus on quality, develop their own style and be patient. The policy of the Michelin guide opens the door for competing guides willing to take more risk of type I errors.

This exploratory research is the first attempt to analyse the role of gastronomic guides in the haute‐cuisine sector.

This paper aims to explore the phenomenon of molecular gastronomy by conducting empirical research focusing on renowned chefs.

The approach taken is a literature review summarising past culinary innovations then the paper focuses on the origins and evolution of molecular gastronomy, followed by 18 phenomenological interviews with a snowball sample of world class chefs from across Europe.

There is far greater confusion about what molecular gastronomy might be than is implied in previous studies. The term has become wrongly used to describe a possible culinary movement mainly as a result of media influence. Leading chefs, whose new restaurant concepts have become associated with it, reject the term.

With only 20 years of history molecular gastronomy is still a comparatively new phenomenon. This initial research presents a clear picture of its evolution so far and the increasing confusion the use of the term has created. It is still far too early to decide if these are heralding a new gastronomic movement.

Although molecular gastronomy itself may not provide a foundation for a genuine and lasting development of cuisine it is generating fascination with the fundamental science and techniques of cuisine and showy culinary alchemy. As with nouvelle cuisine poor quality copycat chefs could bring into disrepute the reputation and practices of those who are at the vanguard of culinary and restaurant innovation.

This paper is the first widespread primary study, across five countries, into recognised exceptional chefs' understanding of molecular gastronomy. It clarifies that molecular gastronomy was never intended to be the foundation of a culinary movement and identifies four key elements for the development of lasting cuisine movements and trends.

The concept of the focused factory is well known and accepted in manufacturing industries. It is argued that the same concept can and should be applied in service industries as well. The differences between a service and manufactured product, however, cause some specific problems with respect to focusing. These problems are the variance among firms within a certain service sector, customer participation, the variability of customer needs, the need for consistency among the various elements of the service encounter, and the difference between the front and the back office. Some recommendations are made to cope with these problems.

The purpose of this study was to examine the global perceptions of social equity in the fine dining business model as a result of the surprise announcement for the 2024 planned closure of the Michelin three-star restaurant, Noma.

This study used critical discourse analysis to inductively analyze 91 source documents retrieved through a lexical database search. The analysis yielded five overarching themes and six subthemes.

Findings from this study serve as a benchmark in retrospect for capturing a rapidly accelerating global conversation from January to March 2023 around the long-term viability and social sustainability of the fine dining business model.

Against the backdrop of labor challenges in the restaurant industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath, the announced closure of Noma precipitated criticism of the stage (unpaid intern) system and the intense pressures of attaining and maintaining Michelin star status.

Results from the discourse analysis suggest certification for fine dining restaurants, perhaps through the Michelin Guide, for demonstrating a commitment to social sustainability as a qualifier to achieve a Michelin star.

Findings from this research reveal a palpable change in societal tolerance for a more socially sustainable fine dining restaurant business model that advances equitable solutions for its workers while assuring the economic sustainability of restaurants.

This study drew upon a foodscape lens to reveal a juxtaposition between well-executed environmentally sustainable initiatives in the fine dining business model and the threats to the social sustainability among its workers.

The growth of luxury tourism has been brought to a grinding halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic affecting most parts of the world since early 2020. Although the time for recovery of hospitality and tourism industries is still unclear, experience from the SARS outbreak in 2003 showed that the bounce back from consumers could be fast. The group of most affluent consumers, mostly known as HNWIs (high net worth individuals), will resume their original consumption behaviour much sooner than the rest of the market; these affluent consumers are the main target market of luxury hospitality and tourism industries.

This chapter presents different types of luxury tourism, luxury lifestyle, luxury tourists' decision-making and luxury hospitality products. The luxury food and beverage business in Singapore is presented to illustrate the commercial environment during the pandemic.

The purpose of this paper is to examine a multidimensional model of marketing culture and performance in tourism restaurants operating in Jordan. The paper introduces a model proposing certain associations between Webster’s (1990) marketing culture dimensions and attempts to underline how such associations affect restaurants’ performance.

A structured and self-administered survey was used, targeting managers and employees of tourism restaurants operating in Jordan. A sample of 334 tourism restaurants’ managers and employees were involved in the survey. A series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to assess the research constructs dimensions, unidimensionality, validity and composite reliability. Structural path model analysis was also used to test the hypothesised interrelationships of the research model.

The empirical findings indicate that the marketing culture dimensions are seven rather than six, as proposed by Webster’s (1990) original model: service quality, interpersonal relationships, management–front-line interaction, selling task, organisation, internal communication and innovativeness. “Organisation” had positively and significantly affected “interpersonal relationships”. “Interpersonal relationships” had positively and significantly affected each of “management–front-line interaction”, “selling task” and “internal communications”. On the other hand, each of “management–front-line interaction”, “selling task” and “internal communications” had positively and significantly affected “innovativeness”. However, “innovativeness” itself had positively and significantly affected each of “service quality” and restaurant performance. Finally, “service quality” had positively and significantly affected restaurants’ performance.

Only seven dimensions of marketing culture were examined; meanwhile, there could also be other dimensions that affect restaurants’ performance. This paper has also examined the effect of a multidimensional model of marketing culture on restaurants’ financial performance only; the use of other types of non-financial measures could yield different results. The fact that paper’s sample consisted only of Jordanian restaurants further limits its generalisation potential.

The paper reinforces the importance of sound marketing culture to Jordanian tourism restaurants. It further underlines the importance of several marketing culture dimensions, particularly those related to employees’ selection, development and communication. Further, the paper emphasises the particular importance of front-office employees to the success of Jordanian restaurants. Tourism restaurants’ managers and executives can benefit from such findings for designing their marketing culture strategies to achieve long-term performance objectives.

This paper represents the first empirical attempt to examine the interrelationships between marketing culture dimensions introduced by Webster (1990). Accordingly, it should shed more light on the dynamics of marketing culture within service organisations, and how such dynamics affect organisations’ performance. Further, the paper is the first of its kind to study marketing culture dynamics in the context of Jordanian tourism restaurants industry. International tourism restaurants planning to expand their operations in Jordan’s tourism industry have now valuable empirical evidence concerning the marketing culture dimensions and their effect on performance.

Receiving Michelin stars is considered an effective marketing tool and a prestigious certification in the restaurant industry. However, the direct effects of Michelin stars on restaurant performance remain unclear. To bridge this gap, this study aims to empirically validate the “Michelin effect” on the consumption values of restaurant patrons before and after receiving Michelin stars.

The data, collected from OpenTable, consist of over 160,000 reviews written for 218 restaurants, including 109 Michelin-starred (treatment group) and 109 nonstarred restaurants (control group). The authors measure perceived consumption value using the collected user-generated review data. The authors estimate fixed-effect difference-in-differences regressions to validate the Michelin effect.

Michelin stars enhance social, hedonic and service quality values, which are nonfunctional values. However, no significant effects on functional consumption values, such as economic, food quality and ambience quality values, are observed, even though Michelin stars are pure awards for kitchen performance.

Michelin stars can be an effective marketing tool for fine-dining restaurants because customers consider emotional and nonfunctional benefits such as hedonic and social values, which are more important than functional benefits such as food value. Furthermore, Michelin effects are heterogeneous depending on the number of stars awarded, price range and customers’ gastronomic involvement. These offer a strong rationale for monitoring social media, which may help managers better understand their customers and improve their performance.

This study extends the current literature on the Michelin effect by quantifying consumption values using user-generated review data. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study offers the first empirical evidence that directly validates the Michelin effect.