S Y N O P S I S

The aim of this work is to investigate why German Michelin Star restaurants offer organic food. The purpose was to examine the motivation and reasons of German Michelin Star restaurants for offering organic food to their customers.

This work is divided into five main parts of study, namely literature review, methodology, results, discussion and conclusion.

Both primary and secondary researches were undertaken for the study. The secondary research focused on both organic food and Michelin Star restaurants.

The Guide Michelin is a well known ranking system focusing on quality gastronomy; hence it becomes obvious that restaurants mainly focus on high quality and customers’ choice.

The German market is nowadays the most important market for organic products in the world. Further, it is quite hard to define organic food as standards differ worldwide.

The primary research consisted on carrying out an email questionnaire to 225 German Michelin Star restaurants, which has been limited by having conducted the questionnaire during the busiest time period resulting that only one Star Michelin restaurants responded; hence the aim of this study can not be answered completely.

Considering the customers view, it is noticeable that the majority of consumers demanding organic food are younger, educated, sophisticated customers, who are willing to pay premium prices for high quality products.

The results found out, that Michelin Star restaurants are focused on both improving their product quality and on achieving a high level of customer satisfaction. This indicates a main reason why German Michelin Star restaurants offer organic food with their aim to improve the quality of their products and flavour.

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A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the following people who helped to guide me towards the completion of this dissertation.

My tutors Jane Wellbourne and Carol Rogers, especially Carol for contributing her time, patience and inspiration.

Personal thanks to my Mum and Dad who have encouraged me to achieve my best.

Special thanks to my girlfriend Natalie for her sedulous patience and overwhelming support in all questions, especially in improving my grammar and writing mistakes.

C  O N T E N T S  

LIST  OF FIGURES  V

LIST  OF APPENDICES  VI

1.  INTRODUCTION  1

Background  to the study  3

Aim  and objectives.  4

2.  LITERATURE REVIEW.  5

2.1.  Michelin Star restaurants  5

The  Guide Michelin.  5

Rating  of Michelin Stars  6

Growth  and development of the German Michelin Star  

restaurant  market.  7

Demand  and demographic structures.  9

2.2.  Organic Food.  10

Definition  of organic food  10

Organic  food in Germany and its growth and development.  11

Certification  process and local food.  13

Consumer  behaviour and organic food  14

Mainly  used organic products in German hospitality  15

Conclusion   15

3.  METHODOLOGY  17

3.1.  Introduction.  17

3.2.  Research Process  17

3.3.  Secondary Research.  18

Secondary  Research Limitations.  20

3.4.  Research Ethics.  21

3.5.  Primary Research.  21

Data  collection  22

III

Sample   22

Interpreting  and Analysing the Data  23

Primary  Research Limitations  23

4.  RESULTS  25

5.  DISCUSSION  33

Is  organic certification important?  33

How  important is it for restaurants to use organic products?  35

Is  quality defined differently?  36

How  much do the customer and the culture in Germany  

influence  the offer of Michelin Star restaurants?  38

6.  CONCLUSION  40

7.  RECOMMENDATIONS.  43

Recommendations  for further studies  43

Recommendations  for the industry  44

8  R E F E R E N C E S A N D B I B L I O G R A P H Y  45

IV

List  of Figures  

Figure  3.1 Research Process Steps  

Figure  3.2 Types of secondary research  

Figure  4.1 Location of restaurants  

Figure  4.2 Propotions of organic food products  

Figure  4.3 Main reasons for organic food products  

Figure  4.4 Organic food ingredients  

Figure  4.5 Proportions of different organic food  

Figure  4.6 Quality of organic food ingredients  

Figure  4.7 Position in organisation  

V

List of Appendices

Appendix A Blank Questionnaire ............................................................ a

Appendix B Results Questionnaire .......................................................... g

Appendix C German Michelin Star restaurants.......................................... n

Appendix D Ethic Form ..........................................................................t

Appendix E Dissertation Proposal ...........................................................w

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BA (Hons) MIH - Organic Food in German Michelin Star Restaurants

1 . I N T R O D U C T I O N

This research study aims to investigate why German Michelin Star restaurants offer organic food. With the author being the first one who links organic food together with the use in German Michelin Star restaurants, this study is not only aiming to contribute to research in this area, but its main purpose is to examine specifically the motivation and reasons of German Michelin Star restaurants for offering organic food to their customers.

In order to investigate why German Michelin Star restaurants offer organic food, this work consists of primary and secondary research methods and is divided into five main parts, namely literature review, methodology, results, discussion and conclusion.

Firstly, the literature review aims to provide the background for investigating German Michelin Star restaurants, organic food and its definition and the growth and development of organic food in Germany.

For achieving the investigation of German Michelin Star restaurants, an introduction to the Guide Michelin, which is a well known ranking system focusing on quality gastronomy, will be given. By further considering the rating of Michelin Star restaurants with the different Star categories, it becomes clear that the main purpose of Guide Michelin is to work with the industry by having high respect for chefs and industry professionals (Johnson et al., 2005). In addition, the development of the German Michelin Star restaurant market is outlined by considering the amount and proportion of German Michelin Star restaurants, their main location and the importance of gaining, loosing and/or holding the Michelin Stars in terms of attracting their main consumer group.

For investigating and defining organic food and its growth and development in Germany, the literature review further considers a brief history of the development of organic food and shows that Germany is the most important market for organic food products in the world. Besides, the certification process for organic food is described and compared with local food products.

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BA (Hons) MIH - Organic Food in German Michelin Star Restaurants

Moreover, significant criteria for consumers demanding organic food, the consumer-focused response from restaurants and the main organic products used by restaurants are considered. This will lead to outline a definition for organic food and its importance in Germany.

Secondly, the methodology outlines the research process taken by analysing and investigating both primary and secondary research methods and their importance for this particular work. Further, the limitations and the ethical reasons for writing this research study are considered.

Thirdly, the main results of the primary research will be presented in form of graphs, figures and short summaries. The main purpose of the conducted questionnaire has been to determine the reasons why German Michelin Star restaurants use and offer organic food and to identify the most frequently used organic food ingredients.

The presentation of the results leads to the fourth main part of this study, the discussion, where the findings from the secondary and primary research are discussed and analysed.

The main discussion points cover the concern of the importance of organic certification for German Michelin Star restaurants and the overall importance of using organic products in their offer to their consumers. It is further discussed how subjective quality of food products can be defined from both the chefs and the consumers and how the consumer behaviour and the culture in Germany influence the food offer of German Michelin Star restaurants.

Lastly, an overall conclusion is drawn for providing suggestions of why German Michelin Star restaurants offer organic food and for giving recommendations for future studies and for the industry.

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BA (Hons) MIH - Organic Food in German Michelin Star Restaurants

Background to the study

This study was carried out due to the author’s interest in food and F&B development, and because organic food is an increasing trend.

Most importantly, organic food and the goals of the Slow Food movement hold a great fascination to the author and attract more and more consumers worldwide.

Germany is the author’s homeland in which he worked as a chef in the haute cuisine. Also, the author is fascinated by good food products which are offered especially in Michelin Star restaurants. Further, the German haute cuisine and naturally grown food attract the author’s career goals.

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BA (Hons) MIH - Organic Food in German Michelin Star Restaurants

Aim and objectives

Aim

⇒ To investigate why German Michelin Star restaurants offer organic food.

Objectives

To firstly carry out secondary research:

to investigate German Michelin Star restaurants

⇒ to investigate organic food and to define organic food ⇒ to investigate the growth and development of organic food in Germany

To secondly carry out primary research by conducting a questionnaire:

⇒ to determine the reasons why restaurants offer organic food ⇒ to identify what are the most frequently used food ingredients ⇒ to identify the reasons why restaurants use and offer organic food

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BA (Hons) MIH - Organic Food in German Michelin Star Restaurants

2 . L I T E R A T U R E R E V I E W

M i c h e l i n S t a r r e s t a u r a n t s 2 . 1 .

The aim of this section is twofold: firstly, a general introduction about haute cuisine restaurants and the Michelin Star rating system. Secondly, the work profiles, the development and the demand of German Michelin Star restaurants.

The Guide Michelin

It has been stated that “the Michelin Star system in Europe is the best-known and most respected ranking system for high-quality or haute cuisine restaurants” (Johnson et al., 2005 p. 2). In other words, quality gastronomy in Europe is synonymous with the Michelin Guide. Johnson et al. (2005) cited in Ottenbacher and Harrington (2007) point out that the Michelin Guide or also called Guide rouge are “respected institutions for fine gastronomy and cuisine” (p. 4). Further, the guide is important for chefs, restaurateurs, culinary experts and the followers of haute cuisine. Therefore, a chef describes the haute cuisine as: „best products, best preparation, best logistics and consistency. Consistency means training your employees so that the operational procedures are consistent and that if they cook a dish a 100 times - it always tastes the same.” (Ottenbacher and Harrington, 2007, p. 454) This quote states another claim which the haute cuisine has to achieve: best products, best preparation and above all consistency in the performance.

The Guide was introduced in 1900 in France by the Michelin Tyre Company. It began as a map for people to travel, which included helpful instructions about petrol stations, garages and telegraph facilities. After the Second World War the guide had developed into a tourist guide and in the 1950s it had transformed into a gastronomy guide. The guide is based on anonymous inspections and independence with providing a selection of the best hotels and restaurants in all comfort and price categories. Further, who gets in is checked by a “selected, independent and trained team of inspectors who frequent the restaurants regularly” (Ottenbacher and Harrington, 2007, p. 446). Against some competitor

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BA (Hons) MIH - Organic Food in German Michelin Star Restaurants

guides like Gault Milliau all consumed meals and accommodations are fully paid by Guide Michelin.

Rating of Michelin Stars

The Michelin Guide introduced a system of symbols with the aim to identify consistently high-quality hotels and restaurants across a range of styles and cuisines. The main criteria for awarding a Michelin Star “are assessed in five categories:

⇒ The quality of the products ⇒ The mastery of flavour and cooking ⇒ The “personality of the cuisine” ⇒ The value for the money ⇒ The consistency between visits”

(Norton-Smith, 2008; Johnson et al., 2005 and Michelin, 2009a).

Michelins’ purpose is to work with the industry by having high respect for the chefs and industry professionals (Johnson et al., 2005). Therefore, Michelin Stars are given to restaurants which offer high end cuisines regardless of the cuisine style. The Stars represents the taste, and the “picture of the dish” and also the innovation of the chef. Further, a chef describes the haute cuisine as: „best products, best preparation, best logistics and consistency”. Furthermore, they have certain other criteria like the interior design, service quality and table settings (Ottenbacher and Harrington, 2007). These criteria are described within categories of one and three Stars. One Star is considered “a very good restaurant in its category”, two stars reflect “excellent cooking, worth a detour”, the highest category display “exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey” (Norton-Smith, 2008; Caterer, 2010).

In addition, a fourth category is introduced which is called “Bib Gourmand”. This category is for restaurants which offer good meals at moderate prices. “Bib Gourmand” is named after the Michelin Man whose name is Bibendum (Norton-Smith, 2008).

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BA (Hons) MIH - Organic Food in German Michelin Star Restaurants

According to Ottenbacher and Harrington (2007) “the guide has a strong influence on consumers’ choice of haute cuisine restaurants” (p.4). Further, the consequences of gaining or losing stars results in an enormous change in a restaurant’s turnover and profitability (Johnson et al., 2005). In other words, to lose or gain a Star has a huge influence on the restaurants reputation. To give an example, Juan Amador with his avant-garde restaurant in Langen, Germany, increased its occupation by 20% with receiving his third Michelin Star (Dougherty, 2008).

Growth and development of the German Michelin Star

restaurant market

According to Datamonitor (2008) approx. 88.000 restaurants exist in Germany. However, only some restaurants are proud holders of the Michelin award. The anniversary edition of the Guide Michelin, first edition published 100 years ago, lists 225 Star restaurants in Germany. Under these are unchanged nine three Star restaurants and 18 two Star restaurants and now 198 establishments with one Star (Michelin Guide, 2009). Germany is with this rating number two in Europe behind France (Gunther, 2009).

Further, Germany gained 179 Stars in the year 2000 with holding 176 Stars in the previous assessment in 1992. Consequently, the number of the Stars increased accordingly by around 20% in the last 16 years (from 1992 - 2008) (Kruse, 2008). The rise on the number of Stars can be declared in the increasing demand on restaurants in the haut cuisine. Another reason is the increasing amount on qualified and ambitious chefs in this category (Ottenbacher and Harrington, 2007). However, it is outstanding that there has been no variation in the percentage amount of awarded two and three Star restaurants in the last 16 years. Hence, the percentage amount varied between 88% and 90% for restaurants awarded with one Star, between 8% and 9% for restaurants awarded with two Stars and 1% to 4% for restaurants awarded with three Stars (Kruse, 2008). In other words, over the last decades there has been less change in the percentage variation of the amount of Stars. However, 15 restaurants lost a Star in the latest Michelin guide. For a better understanding, a list with all German Michelin Star restaurants is attached in Appendix C. The main reason for

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BA (Hons) MIH - Organic Food in German Michelin Star Restaurants

that can be seen in the economic crunch and not the decline in the art of cookery.

There are some restaurants which hold their Stars over years for example the one Star restaurant “Talmühle” in Sasbachwalden or the three Star restaurant “Dieter Müller” in Bergisch-Gladbach who owns the third Star already since 1997. Another example which is often mentioned in the literature is the “Schwarzwaldstube” in Baiersbronn included in the Hotel Traube Tonbach. Up to date, the “Schwarzwaldstube” has three awarded Stars with their head chef Harald Wohlfahrt who gained his first Michelin Star 1982 as youngest head chef in Germany (Traube Tonbach, 2009). Harald Wohlfahrt is one of the most ambitious chefs in Germany and the leader on the German Star heaven. He also has 19.5 out of 20 Gault Millau points (Restaurant-ranking, 2009).

Furthermore, twelve restaurants lost a Star from 2008 to 2009 because the establishment was closed or the quality was no more corresponding with the Michelin standards (Michelin Stars, 2009). Germany is number two in the European comparison with nine three Stars behind France with 26 three Star establishments. On the third and forth place are Spain and Italy with six and five three Star restaurants (Hickley, 2009). In other words, the two and three Star awarded restaurants occupy only a small part in each European country. Comparing the awarded Stars with England, it is noticeable that the United Kingdom gained now 140 Michelin Stars for 2010 which is the highest number since first being published (caterer, 2010). Compared with Germany, it can be seen that there are quite a few differences.

Therefore, it is noticeable to point out that in Germany in 2008 29 out of 145 restaurants have their establishments located in cities with more than 100.000 inhabitants. The other restaurants are located in small towns and in country sides with a few thousand inhabitants or less. Berlin and Hamburg have with 11 Michelin Star Restaurants each the most stars in one city associated; followed by Munich and Stuttgart with seven, Cologne with six and Dusseldorf and Frankfurt with each five Star restaurants (Michelin Stars, 2009).

Interesting is that Baiersbronn in the Black Forest, a small town of 16.000 inhabitants, has seven Stars in total, which are the restaurants

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BA (Hons) MIH - Organic Food in German Michelin Star Restaurants

Schwarzwaldstube and Barreiss with three each and Schlossberg with one Star Michelin, which resulted in the federal state Baden-Wurttemberg to be a gourmet region (Michelin Stars, 2009). For instance, “Chef Claus Peter Lumpp at Hotel Bareiss” earned his third Star in 2008 while “Harald Wohlfahrt at the Schwarzwaldstube” has held on to three Stars continuously since 15 years and was listed as one of the “10 Best French Restaurants in the world outside of France in 2009” (dininginfrance, 2009).

Demand and demographic structures

The demands of the Michelin Star are difficult to understand in their entirety. Generally, there is not much written in the literature about the demand of the Star gastronomy. As described earlier there is an increase in the Michelin Star gastronomy. It can be said, the customer expects harmonic, luxuries surroundings with undivided attention and attendance of the head chef and its staff considering the customers expectations at all times in the Michelin Star gastronomy (Johnson et al., 2005).

Aiming to filter out the main customer group visiting Michelin Star restaurants in general, the demographic structures in the gastronomy in Germany can be considered. It is noticeable that 42% of the customers are older than 60 years. Further, 24% are between 40 and 60 years old (Kruse, 2008). This basically means that a major part of the customers visiting a Michelin Star restaurant are elderly people. Further, it can be said that they are a target group for the restaurants who are be able to visit a high price restaurant.

The review of the available literature presented in this section has aimed to provide the basis and understanding to fulfil the first objective of the secondary research of investigating German Michelin Star restaurants.

In order to achieve the second objective of investigating and defining organic food and its growth and development, the next section considers various definitions from the literature and aims to outline the different reasons for its growth and development in Germany and the most frequently used organic food ingredients.

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