The international tire company is coming to rate Minneapolis restaurants. After years of hand-wringing as to whether it made sense to pay the Michelin Guide’s reviewers to come to Minnesota to rate our restaurants, Michelin announced it is coming to the Midwest. But it’s only coming to six specific cities—and St. Paul isn’t one of them.
Michelin will create its new “American Great Lakes” edition, to be released in 2027, which will cover Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh. (The money for Michelin’s visits comes from those six cities’ visitors and convention bureaus, and so reviewers won’t be going to St. Paul to see Myriel, or to Robbinsdale to see Travail.)
How much did Minneapolis pay to get the Michelin guide? $250,000 per year for a three-year partnership running through 2029, according to Meet Minneapolis, who told me the investment is from the Minneapolis Tourism Improvement District (MTID), ”whose boundaries are that of the City of Minneapolis, and only restaurants within Minneapolis will be included.” (The MTID is new, funding by a 2% service charge on hotel room revenue. It’s expected to generate about $7 million a year, so $250,000 is 3.5% of their annual budget. The website states the money is supposed to go to “supplemental tourism marketing, sales and events. These funds will be governed by a committee of local hotel leaders to ensure strategic investment and community impact.”)
One chef told me that non-Minneapolis restaurants need to think about their locations right now, because they will be left out of the conversation about the best restaurants in our area—not just Michelin’s iconic star rating system, but maybe more importantly the Bib Gourmand category, which honors accessible and often casual spots. Not cheap places, but moderately priced.
In Milwaukee on Wednesday morning, Meet Minneapolis CEO Melvin Tennant said, “It’s an exciting announcement. For years our culinary scene has earned national acclaim, but we’ve still been called underrated, unexpected, and even the best kept secret. We want to change that.” He added, “If there any secrets about Minneapolis as a top food city, joining together with the Michelin guide will remove that.”
Much attention and speculation will focus on the famous one, two, and three Michelin stars. I’ve written about this many many times over the years. But many of our Minneapolis restaurants will be excited to be named a Bib Gourmand—that’s for restaurants that offer good quality food for a good value, and they’re often known as personal favorites among the inspectors when dining on their own time. They’ll also honor Green Star restaurants “that are pioneers in mindful gastronomy,” and the Great Lakes guide may have Michelin-recommended restaurants as well.
Michelin Guide has been expanding across America since its New York guide was the first stateside edition in 2005. We’ve seen tourism boards in Chicago, Texas, Atlanta, and other cities bring the guide to their towns. Why? The allure of bringing food tourists to town. “74% of travelers consider the presence of the Michelin Guide to be a chief factor in determining a destination worth traveling for,” says Gwendal Poullennec, international director of Michelin Guide.
At Wednesday’s news conference in Milwaukee, it was revealed that Visit Detroit’s CEO Claude Molinari met with all of these visitors bureaus together at a trade show to gauge their interest. That’s what got the ball rolling. There’s been hesitancy to spend the money in Minnesota that’s required to bring the guide here, which is understandable; however, the amount of money reportedly required is a small portion of the overall spend on tourism marketing for Minnesota.
It will be controversial that the guide is coming only to the cities, but if you don’t pay, you don’t play. That’s the deal with Michelin, and the state tourism board and other regional cities—like Madison and St. Paul—were either not invited to participate or declined. (I’ve reached out for comment and haven’t heard back as of this writing.)
Update 2:35pm: Saint Paul and Minnesota were not invited, according to Meet Minneapolis CEO Melvin Tennant. Visit Saint Paul CEO Jaimee Lucke Hendrikson wouldn’t answer my direct question as to whether Saint Paul passed on participating or if they weren’t invited. “We know that increased awareness and recognition in the region can benefit all of us. It will be great to see this roll out and we look forward to exploring opportunities for expanding awareness of the culinary offerings in Saint Paul and the region.” Tennant told me on WCCO Radio that Minneapolis was invited. “Even before this affiliation took place, their anonymous graders have already been in the area so they so see who would warrant a partnership.” To me that says: you’re not going to invite Saint Paul to pay $250,000 just so Myriel gets a star.
Who will be considered in Minneapolis? I’m betting on Demi in the two star category, Kado no Mise, Oro by Nixta, Bucheron, and certainly others. At the news conference, Meet Minneapolis nodded to the impact of the immigration surge on this community and the timing of this positive news. “Through it all, our culinary community has risen to the occasion. That resilience and the passion and commitment to our community is the story we’re proud to share with the world,” says Tennant.
