How Do Restaurants Get a Michelin Star?

Updated October 5, 2026 · Star counts and prices checked October 2026

Restaurants get a Michelin star by impressing the MICHELIN Guide’s anonymous inspectors, who book under false names, pay their own bills and judge only the food. They return as often as needed, the team decides together, and new stars are revealed once a year at each guide’s ceremony.

There is no form to fill in, no fee and no shortcut. That is what makes a star so valuable to chefs, and so mysterious to everyone else. Here is how to get a Michelin star, step by step: who the inspectors are, how many visits it takes, what they judge, how stars are announced and how restaurants lose them again.

Who Michelin inspectors are

Michelin inspectors are full-time employees of the MICHELIN Guide, not freelance critics or volunteers. Most come from the restaurant and hotel trade, and the Guide says they need years of solid experience in the industry, a fine palate and a deep knowledge of produce, regions and culinary traditions before they start. New inspectors train alongside experienced colleagues before they judge on their own.

Anonymity is the core of the job. Inspectors book under assumed names, order and eat like any other guest, and pay the bill in full. That way, what they experience is what a reader would experience, and no restaurant can lay on special treatment for them. Michelin says a single inspector eats more than 250 anonymous meals a year, from grand hotel dining rooms to street-food stalls, and writes a detailed report on each.

Inspectors also travel widely. A restaurant in a small country may be visited by inspectors from other countries, which helps keep a star in Lisbon level with a star in Chicago or Seoul.

How many visits does a Michelin star take?

There is no fixed number, and that is deliberate. A restaurant under consideration for a star is visited several times, often by different inspectors, at different times of year and at different services. The higher the possible award, the more visits it gets: a restaurant being considered for two or three stars can expect repeated meals from inspectors who have eaten at the very best tables in the world.

When the visits are done, the decision is made as a group. Michelin says stars are awarded unanimously, at meetings attended by the Guide’s international director, the local editor and the inspectors who know the restaurant. If they can’t agree, more visits are arranged until they do. One inspector, however senior, can’t hand out a star alone.

Moving from one star to two or three

Every starred restaurant is reassessed every year, so moving up uses the same process. A one-star kitchen earns a second star when inspectors find the chef’s personality and talent shining through in refined, inspired dishes, and a third when the cooking reaches the level Michelin calls its highest honor. The jumps take years for most restaurants, and many excellent kitchens stay at one star for their whole lives. Of the 3,883 starred restaurants in the world today, only 546 hold two stars and 161 hold three.

What inspectors judge

Inspectors apply the same five criteria everywhere: the quality of the ingredients, the harmony of flavors, mastery of technique, the chef’s personality expressed through the food, and consistency across the menu and over time. We explain each one in What is a Michelin star?

Just as important is what they ignore. Decor, table settings, the style of service and the price don’t earn or cost a star. A tiny counter with a dozen seats can hold three stars, and a street-food stall can hold one, if the cooking is good enough. That is also why consistency matters so much: a dish that dazzles on Friday and disappoints on Tuesday won’t get a restaurant over the line.

Can a restaurant apply for a Michelin star?

No. You can’t apply for a Michelin star, pay for one or campaign for one. The MICHELIN Guide says restaurants already in the Guide don’t apply for stars, because inspectors reassess them continuously. A restaurant can ask to be considered for the selection, and readers can send recommendations, but inspectors decide for themselves where to eat, and asking makes no difference to the outcome. Inspectors don’t accept free meals either, so there is nothing a restaurant can offer to tip the balance.

How and when Michelin stars are announced

Each MICHELIN Guide publishes its stars once a year, usually at a ceremony in the country or region it covers, with the chefs in the room. France, Great Britain and Ireland, Japan, the US states and every other guide each have their own date, so new stars arrive in waves through the year rather than all at once. The changes take effect straight away, both in the Guide and in its app.

Inspectors keep eating between ceremonies, and the Guide adds newly discovered restaurants to its online selection during the year. A restaurant can therefore be listed in the Guide months before it is considered for a star. Stars and Bib Gourmands themselves are only revealed at the annual ceremony.

How restaurants lose Michelin stars

A star lasts one year. If inspectors find the cooking has slipped when they reassess a restaurant, the star simply isn’t renewed in the next edition. Stars also go when a restaurant closes, moves or changes its concept, and a change of head chef triggers fresh visits. In 2026, two of the world’s most famous restaurants lost three stars at once: Tokyo’s Sézanne, after its chef left, and Copenhagen’s noma, which Michelin removed while it was operating abroad without a permanent home in the city. Our list of every three-star restaurant tracks those changes each year.

A few chefs have chosen to give their stars back. The most famous case is Sébastien Bras of Le Suquet in Laguiole, France, which had held three stars for 18 years. In 2017 he asked to be left out of the Guide, saying he wanted to cook without the pressure of knowing any one of hundreds of plates might be judged. Michelin agreed, and the 2018 edition was published without Le Suquet; the Guide told The Local it was the first public withdrawal of its kind. Others have stepped back more quietly by closing a fine-dining room or turning it into something more casual, which ends the star in the next edition.

Does the chef or the restaurant hold the star?

The restaurant. Michelin awards stars to an address and the cooking that happens there, not to a person, so a chef who leaves doesn’t take the stars with them. People still talk about chefs “having” stars, and a chef who runs several restaurants may be described as holding all of their stars combined, but each star belongs to one restaurant. When a new chef takes over a starred kitchen, inspectors come back as often as needed to decide whether the star stays.

That is why you will see the same chef’s name next to restaurants with different ratings, and why it is worth checking the current guide rather than a chef’s biography before you book. Every restaurant on The Starred Bill shows its current stars from the latest edition, along with what dinner, lunch and wine pairing cost.