Ex-Michelin inspector tastes sour

guido · Site Admin Joined: Oct 18, 2004 Posts: 381 Location: Italy

By Joelle Diderich

PARIS (Reuters) - A French restaurant inspector who lifted the lid on the secretive inner workings of the Michelin guide has lost his claim for unfair dismissal, but says he will appeal the decision.

In his book "An Inspector at the Table", published in France in May, Pascal Remy alleged that a third of top-rated eateries in France's foremost gastronomic handbook were not up to scratch because there were too few inspectors to review all the venues.

Michelin denied the accusations and placed full-page advertisements in newspapers to defend its reputation. France's food guides have the power to make or break a restaurant in this gastronomy-obsessed country.

A labour arbitration court found on Tuesday that Remy, sacked in December 2003 after 16 years as an inspector at the guide, was not illegally dismissed and ordered him to pay 1,000 euros (690 pounds) in costs.

Remy said he would appeal the ruling.

"It's David against Goliath," he told Reuters.

Remy had said previously he was fired for refusing to shelve the planned publication of his diaries, filled with anecdotes of the trade. He had asked the court to award him damages of 145,000 euros.

Michelin said Remy was sacked for breaking a confidentiality clause in his contract and making exorbitant cash demands to keep the manuscript quiet.

"He argued that because the book was published after he was sacked, there was no offence. The problem for him is that the intent to publish was very clearly established well before the sacking," said Georges Kiejman, a lawyer for Michelin.

Remy denied on Wednesday that he ever demanded money to suppress the publication of his diary, and said he had no plans to publish it before he was sacked. He also denied that his contract contained a confidentiality clause.

"I am particularly surprised that in a country like France you can sack somebody when they have yet to commit an offence," he said.

The court rejected a counterclaim from Michelin demanding damages from Remy for disparaging it, saying it was not qualified to rule on the matter. Michelin has yet to decide whether it will pursue its claim in another court, Kiejman said.

"An Inspector at the Table" generated widespread publicity worldwide. The book has been translated into Spanish and a Japanese translation is in the works, according to publishing house Editions des Equateurs.

Note: there is a similar issue in Italy, regarding some guides (including the Michelin one). Someone started to wonder how they can review 5000+ restaurants with a very limited number of inspectors...
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