Editor’s comment: Women deserve more than a ‘well done’ from Michelin

As one operator put it to us in a DM on Instagram, “Very sad to see women to publicly patronised by [Gwendal Poullennec] and get away with it… No other brand, platform, business in today’s age could get away with the sorry VT they share to excuse themselves. Very sad state of affairs.”

Seconds after the video was shown, the first green star was then awarded to Homestead Kitchen. The restaurant in Goatland, North Yorkshire, is run by another husband-and-wife-team, Peter and Cecily Neville, who are chef and restaurant manager respectively, and they both featured in a short video about their sustainability efforts.

The words “Peter, do you want to come up to the stage?”, with a slight afterthought of “and Peter is joined by Cecily” rang through the room. Because emblazoned on the giant screen behind the stage was the name of the restaurant with the chef’s name underneath – as is the format with all the star announcements.

As Michelin state themselves: "Michelin stars are awarded to the restaurant and not the chef”.

Chefs can leave and, if the standards of cooking are kept high, the restaurant can retain its star after their departure. However, in recent years it feels that Michelin has been putting more of a spotlight on the chefs themselves.

And rightly so – the talent on stage in Glasgow on Monday evening was outstanding. I was cheering along with the rest of The Caterer team as many of the people we have interviewed over the years had their well-deserved moment in the spotlight.

Peter and Cecily Neville on the stage at the Michelin ceremony

But by only highlighting the chef on that giant screen under the name of the restaurant, I feel Michelin is missing an opportunity to recognise some incredible female talent. Restaurants are often partnerships, with many women leading the service front of house or taking on a managerial role – take Jasmine Sherry and Cecily Neville (although the latter didn’t actually get her name in lights).

Other women who missed having their names in lights when their restaurants won stars included Keeley Haworth, who co-founded Plates with her brother and chef Kirk; Alice Bussi, who opened newly two-starred Hide & Fox with her chef-partner Allister; Imogen Davis who co-founded Native with her chef-business partner Ivan; Desiree Chantarasak, who co-founded AngloThai with chef-husband John; and Mary Wilson, who opened farm-to-table Wilsons with chef-partner Jan.

A restaurant’s success is not built on the shoulders of a single person. And where a restaurant has been co-founded through the collaboration of two or more creative individuals striving to reach Michelin standards across food, service and design, could we not provide the space to showcase that?

We all know it takes an incredible team to run a restaurant. As John Williams said when he took to the stage to pick up the (long overdue) second star for the Ritz Restaurant: “[All] of the staff back in the Ritz, whether it’s the service staff, the kitchen staff or the hotel staff, it’s one big team in every sense of the word.”

In my opinion, a nod to this with a Service Award isn’t enough, we should be celebrating the amazing work of front of house and GMs – regardless of gender – because without their leadership these top restaurants would stop in their tracks.

And if Michelin were to recognise the collaboration behind these restaurants by putting an additional name in lights when stars are awarded next year, I have a feeling there would be significantly more female talent on stage in 2026.