Last week saw the launch of the Michelin Guide UK and Ireland 2017, the guide that no chefs claim to cook for, yet, all worry more about than any other!
This year the Michelin Guide UK and Ireland decided to change the format something that was new for them here in UK but not for the Michelin Guide as an organisation, which had held award style ceremonies in other countries. It saw the great and good of the Michelin food scene all congregate on the North Bank of the Thames at IET London: Savoy Place.
The day began with networking and stunning views across the river, key event partners offered their fair and wares for the chefs and their entourage who all tried to look less nervous and who were all were keen to understand how this event was actually going to work.
As ever the rumour mill was like a super car on speed as chefs speculated about new three stars and deletions. Where was this chef? Why were they not there? Were they being de-listed, surely not? Perhaps they were getting three stars, on and on it went. The nervous energy just kept building, only broken by an appearance of the Michelin man for photos.
Did it feel somewhat 50 Best? I certainly felt that it did, perhaps all live awards will generate this feel, a host of top chefs, sponsors, coffee, champagne and swanky venues. Are Michelin looking over their shoulder?
The ceremony itself took place on the ground level, chefs in the front block of seats, media behind them, and sponsors to the right of the stage. I have to be honest here and say that getting chefs on stage and to be celebrated in front of the peers is, I believe, a good thing. This was I thought let down by a less than polished delivery. All eyes were on the Fat Duck regaining three stars after it closed and travelled south. Rather than a huge X-Factor style build up, the cat was let out the bag with a bang when the restaurant was named prematurely which really took the shine off what should have been the highlight of the show.
A great idea to celebrate new stars, new chefs that had retained stars and as in the case of James Close at The Raby Hunt moving into the two star club. I'm just not sure the Michelin man really worked here did it, am I just getting too old and serious?
This year here at The Staff Canteen we decided use Facebook Live as our key tool to deliver the awards direct on to our fan page. This is something we as a team have been trailing and Facebook certainly driving. Live content is very much on demand and this event certainly seemed to lend itself to that format.
The stream reached over 74,000 people, it generated over 400 interactions, 100 shares and more than 250 comments, some of which shaped our interview with Rebecca Burr. Our overall Facebook reach on Michelin related content reached over 250,000 impressions with over 3,500 interactions such as likes or comments and this then saw over 12,000 link clicks back to The Staff Canteen. We believe this was a huge success. Of course it meant a possible drop in traffic using Facebook as the main hub, but with over 15,000 to the site via the desktop or mobile site and further 8,000 through the app, throw in 72,000 twitter impressions that in turn provided 91 retweets and 198 likes the whole picture of over 350,000 reach and volume of traffic around Michelin becomes clearer and shows the impact this little red book has on the industry on that single one day.
It also shows that as The Staff Canteen with over 110,000 social followers across Facebook and Twitter combined (more than any other UK B2B media platform print or digital) linking to our social media channels, gaining access into those huge audiences, combined this reach with The Staff Canteen platform and Chef + APP, the full extent of our reach over one day in the year becomes just a little clearer!
