Travelers use the Michelin star system to choose where they will eat and where they will stay when traveling to unfamiliar regions. Guides are produced each year and include detailed ratings for every budget and every palate. Michelin may be best known for their tires (and the tyre-man mascot) but the company has also been producing its guide for over a century. This experience has allowed the company to hone the inspection process in order to provide the very best recommendations.

Michelin employs full-time professionals to inspect both restaurants and hotels. The inspections are always done anonymously and according to a pre-determined (but unknown by all but the inspectors) set of criteria. Becoming a Michelin restaurant judge is a great way to travel the world. Most people would enjoy just having the opportunity to eat in some of the finest establishments around the globe. Getting paid for the experience seems too good to be true.

Traits of a Michelin Judge

Michelin looks for inspectors that understand the industry and have a palate that can assess a wide range of cuisines. The Michelin website suggests that those seeking to become Michelin judges need to have five to ten years of experience in the food or restaurant industry.

Traveling is an important part of being a Michelin inspector. Michelin produces around 24 guidebooks that cover restaurants and hotels in 23 countries. Each Michelin inspector will work in a given region or location but traveling to all the different restaurants is a full-time job in itself. Michelin inspectors are required to dine out for about three weeks out of each month.

The stamina necessary to eat so many meals can be a challenge. Michelin inspectors do not eat lightly when visiting a restaurant. Most often an inspector will order the house specialty. This helps with uniformity in reviews since stars are not issued until more than one inspector has visited the location.

A delicate palate does not work in favor of someone looking to become a Michelin inspector. The wide range of cuisine reviewed in the Michelin guides means that an inspector will be eating from almost every available cuisine. Diners need to have adventurous palates to survive.

What a Michelin Judge Does

Getting the job of a Michelin inspector means spending most of your time eating out and/or staying in hotels. Even before the journeys begin, training must take place. Each Michelin inspector receives extensive training to insure adherence to the criteria set up for the Michelin guides.

Most inspectors eat out around five times each week on average. That means a total of around 240 meals each year. A Michelin inspector can expect to work hours from about 7 am to as late as 11 pm each day. The commute can be painful as well. Most Michelin inspectors drive almost 19,000 miles each year.

Getting a job as a Michelin restaurant judge could be as simple as visiting the website and filling out your application. The company has plans to expand their guides to more cities and as they do the team of inspectors will also expand. You could be a future Michelin restaurant judge.

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