This week saw the end of the Michelin Guide Green Star, an accolade awarded to restaurants restaurants ‘pioneering sustainable practices across their menus and operations‘. Since its introduction in 2020, the Green Star has been awarded to hundreds of restaurants globally in recognition of their efforts across ethical sourcing, waste reduction and environmental responsibility. The Green Star raised awareness of the importance of sustainability with restaurants and diners alike – something which can be a tough challenge.

While we’re all for raising the profile of sustainability, the Michelin model fell down on the fact that it lacked any transparency. The system is purposefully ‘invisible’ -the reviewers must maintain anonymity, which means they can’t ask questions or request data, as this would reveal their identity. So the Green Star was awarded on the base of an educated guess by the reviewer.

This might have been acceptable as a start point, but times have changed considerably in recent years. Sustainability has moved long beyond aspiration and surface signals, to a place where a sustainability accolade must be based on substance: clear information, real data, and real change. This is not just being demanded by legislation, particularly in the EU, but also staff, diners and in some instances shareholders.

So if Michelin was to stick to its ‘invisible’ approach, Green Stars were doomed.

The good news is our friends at the Sustainable Restaurant Association which emerged from Good Business fifteen years ago have the answer! The Food Made Good Standard used by over 15,000 restaurants in over 45 countries works with the restaurant to assess all the data on the full breadth of sustainability impacts.  This accreditation not only helps the restaurant focus on key stress of improvement but it provides a clear third party review of their current performance which the public can trust.

And on the other wise, Michelin has introduced Mindful Voices, a replacement initiative that will function as a global platform designed to champion the ‘stories and pioneering practices of chefs, hoteliers and wine producers’, part of an effort to create an initiative that recognises the efforts across the three pillars of gastronomy, hospitality and wine. The Michelin Guide’s director commented that the initiative serves ‘those who are rewriting the rules in their respective fields’.