What does a tire company know about food?

# Michelin Star Guide: From Tire Company to World's Most Prestigious Restaurant Rating System

Did you know the company that makes your car tires also publishes the world's most famous restaurant guide? This episode explores the wild origin story of the Michelin Guide, starting with brothers André and Edward Michelin who created it in 1900 to get people driving more and buying more tires. Josh and Chuck dive into how the guide evolved from a simple listing to an incredibly complex rating system with stars, symbols, and mysterious anonymous inspectors who eat hundreds of meals per year—all alone—to determine which restaurants deserve three stars and eternal fame. Along the way they tackle controversies like the stress the ratings place on chefs, challenges to the guide's fairness and French bias, and how Michelin has reinvented itself in the 21st century to become less stuffy and more globally inclusive, even awarding stars to humble street food stalls.