Top chefs worried by slide in France's restaurant reputation launch new stamp of quality

Two top French chefs, worried that France’s reputation for excellent restaurants is declining, on Monday launched a new award for establishments which prepare their own food and give diners a proper welcome.

RFI/Agnieszka Kumor

The "quality restaurant" label, dreamed up by star chefs Alain Ducasse and Joël Robuchon, will be granted to eateries in any price range that meet the standards set by the Collège Culinaire de France, a 15-member industry group founded by the country's leading chefs.

"Of the 150,000 French restaurants, three quarters of them do only industrial cooking. The others struggle to cook using fresh products and those are the ones we are looking to," said Ducasse, who operates restaurants in eight countries, including three-starred eateries at the Plaza Athenée hotel in Paris and the Dorchester in London.

Ducasse said the label would be granted to restaurants that provide information on the origins of their products, prepare their own food and offer a warm welcome.

"These days, the average person has no idea what they are in for when they open the door to a restaurant," Ducasse said, noting that recognised establishments would need to have an in-house chef and not "someone who reheats a frozen bag".

The culinary group will grant the label to restaurants by request if the establishment meets its standards. To maintain the designation, it will need to score a client satisfaction level of at least 75 percent on a website set up for the initiative.

"We want to use our reputations and experience as top chefs to serve the whole profession," Ducasse said, accusing the French government of "doing nothing" to help the restaurant industry despite its significant benefits to tourism and the economy.

"We cannot wait for things to get worse," he said. "We cannot continue to let media in the English-speaking world say 'France is not what it was' in terms of cuisine."