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Zagat and Michelin Hit Pause on New York City Guides
New York TimesRestaurant ratings traditionally land in November, with the annual release of the latest guides from Michelin and Zagat. Not this year. Both companies have put their 2021 New York guides on hold, and both are pivoting in other directions.
“We’ve postponed the New York guide until there’s a recovery,” Gwendal Poullennec, the international director of the Michelin Guides, said in a recent phone conversation. “Ratings are not appropriate when so many restaurants are closed.”
For now, struggling restaurants have enough to worry about without losing sleep over ratings. (Pete Wells, the New York Times restaurant critic, has been writing reviews, but not assigning stars, for the last several months.) Michelin inspectors are still out in the field, dining as their jobs require, and the group plans to issue a guide as soon as it feels appropriate.
Instead of publishing a guide for California as planned in June, Michelin held an online fund-raiser in late October called “Virtual Family Meal” to help the restaurants.
“We’ve postponed the New York guide until there’s a recovery,” Gwendal Poullennec, the international director of the Michelin Guides, said in a recent phone conversation. “Ratings are not appropriate when so many restaurants are closed.”
For now, struggling restaurants have enough to worry about without losing sleep over ratings. (Pete Wells, the New York Times restaurant critic, has been writing reviews, but not assigning stars, for the last several months.) Michelin inspectors are still out in the field, dining as their jobs require, and the group plans to issue a guide as soon as it feels appropriate.
Instead of publishing a guide for California as planned in June, Michelin held an online fund-raiser in late October called “Virtual Family Meal” to help the restaurants.