Our Michelin star? No, thanks, it ate up our profit

FOR most restaurants, a Michelin star would be the pinnacle of achievement.

But one family-run establishment in Scotland has complained about the pressures the accolade brings, saying it is too exacting and left them running at a loss.

Boath House, near Nairn, in the Scottish Highlands, which has held a Michelin star for the past 10 years, said the guide’s expectations were simply “at odds with achievable profit margins”.

Don and Wendy Matheson, Boath House’s owners, told The Daily Telegraph they accept it may cost them their star, but say that as well as being less stressful, it is what modern customers want.

The move follows a request by the French chef Sebastien Bras for his restaurant to be dropped from the guide. He said he dreaded knowing Michelin testers could appear at any time and that meeting their standards was putting him under “huge pressure”.

Mr and Mrs Matheson, who have run the Boath House, for 20 years, say they are giving up the six-course fine dining experience associated with Michelin in favour of a more relaxed cuisine.

Mrs Matheson said: “The Michelin guide will have to reassess us on that basis at some time and it may result in the loss of our star. Then again they may like what we do and decide we should retain the star, which would of course be very nice.”

She said the economics of running a restaurant to Michelin standards had meant it had run at a loss for years and they only stayed in business because of Boath House’s guest rooms.

‘All this puts an enormous stress on a small family-run business like ours’

“With Michelin dining you might need one chef spending his entire day preparing a single dish. You need incredibly attentive service and certain types of ingredients,” she said. “All this is very expensive to maintain and puts an enormous stress on a small family-run business like ours.”

Rebecca Burr, editor of the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland, said: “There is no formula for winning or retaining a Michelin star. There has certainly been a trend towards more informal dining over the past 10 years or so, and Michelin has been at the absolute forefront of recognising and celebrating that.”