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A renowned French chef gave up his Michelin Star because he can't afford it
A renowned French chef gave up his Michelin Star because he can't afford it
Dec 28, 2017, 00:09 IST
Le France restaurant and hotel is located in Montceau-les-Mines, Burgundy, one of France's primary wine-producing regions.
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Brochot was raised in a family of cattle farmers. After training under French chefs like Bernard Loiseau, Brochot returned to his hometown to begin cooking professionally nearly 20 years ago.
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Six years later, he was awarded his first Michelin Star for the restaurant, which also offers cooking classes. "A star in a workingman’s town, what a beautiful symbol," he recalled to the Times.
Up until November, Le France offered a $130 prix-fixe menu, a steep price tag in any city. All the meat and produce comes from local farms, including his own brother's cattle ranch.
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But Brochot began to realize that local diners, mostly working class, couldn't afford to eat there. "There was a lot of waste," he told the Times. He had to cut his kitchen staff from six to three to afford the ingredients required to create Michelin-quality dishes.
With unemployment in Montceau-les-Mines around 21% and local businesses closing all around him, Brochot wrote to Michelin, saying "The economic situation here in the ex-mining basin is a disaster. What I'm doing today, I’m not doing lightly, but because I have no other choice."
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Without a Michelin star, he's been able to cut prices and offer inexpensive versions of his best dishes. "Since we changed the formula, we’ve gotten a lot more people," he said. "In the heads of people, a one-star, it's the price."
But the town's mayor sees it differently, telling the local paper, "He's hurting the whole region" by giving up his spot in the Michelin Guide.
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Many locals supported his decision, though. One butcher who has "lots of little grandmothers and old people as customers" said it was "hardly a safe bet to keep a one-star open in this town."