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Michelin Man's New Business Plan: Give Stars to Faraway Restaurants to Force Tire Sales
(thelemmy.club)
this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2026
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Yeah. I always assumed the name Michelin was just a coincidence. I was incredulous when I found out that it's the same company. Genuinely weird thing for a tire company to do.
Nah, originally it was just a complementary map for those who bought tires. They ended up just being the most reputable reviewer with their star system that it became a prestige thing afterwards.
They did not start it for the reason in the comic. That is a complete fabrication.
It was an internal list of restaurants to wine and dine fine clients, and it was a massive success and many people who wanted to know where to take their own clients kept trying to find out about the Michelin list
I always knew because my parents had this book with the tire guy on it:
I don't remember if it mentioned restaurants in it as well, but the association with them and travel guides made the connection for me, I guess.
Nah that’s the green guide. It’s focused on sight seeing and cultural attractions.
The red guide is the restaurant one.
That's a cool looking booklet.
Michelin also edited road maps and built milestones to help early time drivers find there way on the roads !
I mean, when you're a tire company and not a lot of people have cars or good reasons to put lots of miles on them...