Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim
Speaker 2: Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio. You might remember our recent weekend
Speaker 2: show and podcasts. We talked about some big news in
Speaker 2: the member. But I loved it. I'm not talking to you, okay.
Speaker 2: Michelin is capitalizing on its renowned as an arbiter of
Speaker 2: fine dining through its annual Star awards for restaurants. Remember
Speaker 2: those max out at three stars. What they're doing is
Speaker 2: they're making further inroads into the hospitality sector. So Carol,
Speaker 2: to that end, The Michelin Guide this month awarded its
Speaker 2: first honors for hotels, giving just twenty four establishments in
Speaker 2: France the highest three keys rating. So instead of thinking
Speaker 2: about stars for restaurants, think keys for hotels.
Speaker 1: Makes sense.
Speaker 2: And now these keys are coming to the US.
Speaker 1: We've got a great guest with us. Grendel Paulinek is
Speaker 1: the CEO of the Michelin Guide. He joins us here
Speaker 1: in our Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio. First of all, is
Speaker 1: it Michelin or Michelin? How are you supposed to say it?
Speaker 3: In France we say Michelan.
Speaker 1: Michel Okay sold it's just so funny, like when you
Speaker 1: talk about the new Yroom. First of all, welcome, so
Speaker 1: nice to have you here with us. You know, it's
Speaker 1: interesting to see how you guys have done. Is that
Speaker 1: a pivot because you're still doing restaurants, but talk to
Speaker 1: us about what you're thinking was of expanding into the
Speaker 1: hospitality further into the hospitality industry.
Speaker 3: Member for sure, and what people know of obviously of
Speaker 3: the famous Michion stars highlighting the best restaurants in the world,
Speaker 3: as well as famously unanimous inspectors. But what people don't
Speaker 3: know is that Mission has been rating restaurants for the
Speaker 3: beginning of the last century, because first it was both
Speaker 3: an hotel and restaurant guide and we are really back
Speaker 3: in this industry with recommend selection and recommendation of the
Speaker 3: best hotel in the world. Two weeks ago we revealed
Speaker 3: the first distinctions with the Hotel Keys in France because
Speaker 3: it's obviously the first in the world.
Speaker 1: So we talked about for our weekend broadcast. Yeah, as
Speaker 1: courtesy of our Pursuits team who covered it. It was great.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and yesterday, because the US is the main tourism
Speaker 3: market as a destination, but also because American people are
Speaker 3: traveling the world, we decided to disclose the first keys
Speaker 3: for the US. So one hundred and twenty four properties
Speaker 3: I've been awarded with one, two or three keys, and
Speaker 3: eleven with at a three key level.
Speaker 2: Okay, take a step back and just you know, the
Speaker 2: history of the Michelin Guide has been one of there's
Speaker 2: this like lore when you talk about the history of
Speaker 2: it and the idea that the whole motivation for creating
Speaker 2: this guide was to get people to travel to restaurants
Speaker 2: more so they could sell Michelin could sell more.
Speaker 3: Tires and absolutely and today the mission God is still
Speaker 3: part of the Cork Michelin and the original idea was
Speaker 3: just to lead people to travel more to help the
Speaker 3: motor is fine that way, and to find the best
Speaker 3: places to stay and to eat.
Speaker 2: Is that philosophy still say?
Speaker 3: I think the philosophy is still the same, and also
Speaker 3: the value because what it's called for the Mission Guard
Speaker 3: is independence. We have a team of professional inspectors so
Speaker 3: working full time for Micheland it's great and selecting restaurants
Speaker 3: and hotel paying their bill in full to make sure
Speaker 3: that we share the most trustworthy reliable and up to
Speaker 3: date information to the footage and travelers.
Speaker 2: So you can get a job. Just go into restaurants
Speaker 2: and hotels, sign me yeah to report on this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have actually some new Desert Kid creator. It
Speaker 1: goes to restaurants. Having said that, do you feel like
Speaker 1: we've got about thirty forty seconds and then we've got
Speaker 1: to do some news and we'll come back and talk more.
Speaker 1: But do you feel like it's almost a sweet spot
Speaker 1: in terms of what's going on in hospitality because it
Speaker 1: does feel like what people might cut back. It just
Speaker 1: feels like everybody is out there traveling, and especially Americans,
Speaker 1: but in general, yes.
Speaker 3: And definitely we feel that there is a need because
Speaker 3: there is basically too much information today in the travel industry,
Speaker 3: so people need an advice to make up that choice.
Speaker 3: And michelin is is really a selection so to ease
Speaker 3: your life and also to be a n antidote to
Speaker 3: boring travel, because we are recommending places that have truly
Speaker 3: that are truly authentic, you know, that have a superanre
Speaker 3: done so that have something as specific to offer to
Speaker 3: ensure a memorable experience.
Speaker 1: Well, that's what we want to get into when we
Speaker 1: come back on the other side, like what is it
Speaker 1: that gives someone you know, three keys, two keys, one key,
Speaker 1: same things with the starts, like how you how you
Speaker 1: recreate it, and how you decide where you're going to go.
Speaker 1: Because there's so much out there. We're going to come
Speaker 1: back with Grendel Paul Neck. He is of course the
Speaker 1: international director of Michelin the Guide, joining us. Actually he
Speaker 1: is the CEO forgive me of the Michelin Guide and
Speaker 1: joining us here in our studio. Gwendel Paul Neck is
Speaker 1: with the CEO of the Michelin Guide. Back here still
Speaker 1: with us in our studio. We were kind of talking
Speaker 1: off air. John was part of this too and talking
Speaker 1: about first of all, how somebody becomes an inspector in
Speaker 1: terms of really for the restaurants. It's rigorous. Talk to
Speaker 1: us about that.
Speaker 3: Well, let's say last year I received more than eight
Speaker 3: thousand applications to be an inspectors. People say, don't realize
Speaker 3: that it's a full time job, so that we only
Speaker 3: recruit people that have a formal training in the industry
Speaker 3: hospitality or resurance back off house, front of house. Then
Speaker 3: there have been working in a resturance or in a
Speaker 3: hotel and then we have a training process about two
Speaker 3: three years with more senior inspectors on the field. And
Speaker 3: as an inspector you have to eat out lunch and
Speaker 3: dinner about three hundred times a year.
Speaker 1: Me.
Speaker 2: I know, look at it sounds great, but it's a lot.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of.
Speaker 1: Food, and you're not around in the evenings.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a lot, of course, But what is important
Speaker 3: is they have to remain anonymous also just to ensure
Speaker 3: they have a regular customer experience, because we work for
Speaker 3: the customers, so they pay the bill in full as well.
Speaker 2: Eight thousand applications for how many spots?
Speaker 3: So today we rec men worldwide sixteen thousand raturans, six
Speaker 3: thousand hotels. But there are also a lot of rations
Speaker 3: and hotels to visit without retaining them as part of
Speaker 3: all selections. So there is plenty of raturans and hotels
Speaker 3: to visit. But I won't share the number of inspectors
Speaker 3: working for me.
Speaker 1: Okay, well how many they are called inspectors.
Speaker 2: I want to get an idea undercover of the rate
Speaker 2: of acceptance. So if you have eight thousand applicants, like,
Speaker 2: are they only.
Speaker 1: Like getting it hard?
Speaker 3: Only very few?
Speaker 2: And are we talking like a dozen. I'm not.
Speaker 3: What I can tell you because today we are covering
Speaker 3: the world and we have Russian selection in more than
Speaker 3: fifty different countries, that we have the more than twenty
Speaker 3: different nationals of inspectors men and women. And what is
Speaker 3: important also is to be able to have a proper
Speaker 3: understanding of all the hospitality and food culture of the world, because,
Speaker 3: for example, inspectors bathed in the US, they also contribute
Speaker 3: to the selection in France, in Europe or in Asia
Speaker 3: as well as we have European or Japanese inspector coming
Speaker 3: to the US to contribute to the selection.
Speaker 1: You definitely obviously have standards. I get it, and you're
Speaker 1: being very you know, you're very secretive because you want
Speaker 1: to make sure that what is reported is just very
Speaker 1: true and accurate. And I'm curious. Then, as a result,
Speaker 1: is there a cap on the number of guides of
Speaker 1: places you would put out because you are expanding a lot,
Speaker 1: so do you to make sure that you are getting
Speaker 1: it right? Is there a cap?
Speaker 3: No, we are very consistent with the approach as well
Speaker 3: as the value, so we have a no quota approach,
Speaker 3: so we recognize the quality where it is and whatever
Speaker 3: the style of the cooking, whatever the style of the place.
Speaker 3: So it's really the depending on what the destination has
Speaker 3: to offer and what can be sayd is you know
Speaker 3: the Qulian every scene of the world as well as
Speaker 3: the hospitality offer is really booming in terms of quality
Speaker 3: and diversity.
Speaker 2: Is there any chance that expanding can dilute the brand?
Speaker 2: Are you concerned about that?
Speaker 3: I would on the contrary, because one of the strengths
Speaker 3: of the Mission Guide is first that it is the
Speaker 3: reference for the local people and got Japanese people will
Speaker 3: consider the Mission Guide as the ultimate reference for Japanese food,
Speaker 3: the French as the ultimate resturance for French food, whether
Speaker 3: creative or traditional. So we have the local reference and
Speaker 3: that's the reason why the international travelers that trust the
Speaker 3: Mission Guide because they will have access thanks to the
Speaker 3: recommendation of the Mission Guide to an authentic local experience.
Speaker 1: Like I think people would be surprised that you guys
Speaker 1: are in Colorado? Right? You launched is it last year?
Speaker 3: Will launch it the last year?
Speaker 1: Last year?
Speaker 3: Okay? So today, yes, we are covering I would say
Speaker 3: only seven men destinations in the US with all Russian selection,
Speaker 3: but definitely the plan is to cover the US as
Speaker 3: a whole, and to be able beyond the US to
Speaker 3: recognize all the culinary culture and the hospitality culture of
Speaker 3: the world.
Speaker 1: So even if it's a place like Colorado where there's
Speaker 1: only maybe a handful of places that actually got to
Speaker 1: start from you guys, that's that's okay, that's that's valuable
Speaker 1: to you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, But the point is, you know, more than ever
Speaker 3: there are great places to recognize everywhere.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So because we don't come provide on the value of
Speaker 3: the ratings and we need the resources to make it,
Speaker 3: we are expanding gradually, fast, but gradually. And the plan
Speaker 3: remains the same. It's in the years to come to
Speaker 3: be able to cover the US as a whole, to
Speaker 3: make sure that we left no stone on turn.
Speaker 2: So on that how do you choose the cities that
Speaker 2: you're expanding to and when do you expand to them?
Speaker 2: And talk about detailed deals that you guys have with
Speaker 2: local tourism agencies now.
Speaker 3: But first of all, it's always the missing decision first
Speaker 3: based on the culinary potential, Okay, so we will in
Speaker 3: all priority. Of course, we take into account also whether
Speaker 3: it's a tourism hotspots as well, and what's the value
Speaker 3: of the Mission Guide, because I think your question is
Speaker 3: related to the to the business model is let's say,
Speaker 3: or qualify audience. Okay, so discerning foodies and travelers and
Speaker 3: basically for the for the guide, we have the revenues
Speaker 3: from rations, booking from hotel and bookings of course, and
Speaker 3: we have also partnerships with you know, brands, fashion, food
Speaker 3: and beverage that are willing to be exposed to our
Speaker 3: discerning tourism agencies and tourism agencies or governments that are
Speaker 3: willing to leverage on the Mission Guide as a platform
Speaker 3: to promote their destinations.
Speaker 1: But you're not going to do it if you don't
Speaker 1: like the place.
Speaker 3: Obviously, you know, we have a lot of demand to
Speaker 3: expand today. We have to manage expectations because inspectors are
Speaker 3: scarce resources. We need to hire them, we need to
Speaker 3: train them, so we expand only when there is a
Speaker 3: very mature culinary potential.
Speaker 2: Is the micheline guy profitable on its own?
Speaker 3: On its own, it's really sustainable. But I won't be
Speaker 3: able to share the detail of the results because it's
Speaker 3: Michelin as a group, don't share the details of the
Speaker 3: different business lines results.
Speaker 1: I want to know what an inspector makes.
Speaker 2: It doesn't an inspector. You know, what an inspector doesn't
Speaker 2: mean doesn't food for themselves as an inspectors eating every meal.
Speaker 3: But is that a good point? You know, today sometimes
Speaker 3: it's quite a challenge to get access to some of
Speaker 3: the retaurants that are almosto A good so there are
Speaker 3: nobody and they have to to blend in the crowd.
Speaker 3: So we do not have VIP treatments, so we have
Speaker 3: to queue.
Speaker 2: We have to make sure that we.
Speaker 3: Are pushing the doors. But we also have to change
Speaker 3: the fond numbers and the credit cut numbers to make
Speaker 3: sure that we remain unanimous.
Speaker 2: How many times does an inspector have to eat at
Speaker 2: a restaurant to make a determination?
Speaker 3: So one of the rules is that the same inspectors,
Speaker 3: it's never going back twice to the same reference and
Speaker 3: stayed another inspector or several inspectors. We come again and again,
Speaker 3: but then it's up to them to decide how many
Speaker 3: times they have to come back. You know, it's depending
Speaker 3: on the instancy of the food offer. And it's the
Speaker 3: same for the hotel. You know, we come as often
Speaker 3: as necessary, but it's truly a human approach. It's not
Speaker 3: an algorithm. It's about leaving the experience yourself.
Speaker 2: How many stars do you think he's going to give
Speaker 2: us after this?
Speaker 1: I'm a little afraid, but I know of you give us.
Speaker 1: How many stories would.
Speaker 2: You give us?
Speaker 3: Or at least three? For the smile, This has been.
Speaker 1: So cool and so interesting. Promise you'll come back as
Speaker 1: you guys continue to expand the brand.
Speaker 2: And yeah, next time in disguise though mercytus lovely.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Grendel. Paulinaki is the CEO at
Speaker 1: the Michelin Guid joining us here in our studio. I
Speaker 1: want to go travel makes.
Speaker 2: Me want to go on vacation. Make someone to neet
Speaker 2: some good food and restaurants.
Speaker 1: I'm hungry. We're always hungry, all right. This is Bloomberg Radio.