Everyone’s favourite finger-lickin’ good fast-food KFC will not be earning a Michelin Star at the hands of that dedicated Alice Springs franchise owner.
A few weeks back, Sam Edelman was the talk of the town. The Alice Springs franchisee began a campaign to earn his restaurant the Michelin Star. He even travelled all the way to Michelin’s door in Paris and asked them to consider his store for the coveted award.
Sam’s establishment is said to be the most remote KFC in the world, located around 1200km from the nearest Kentucky Fried Chicken. Sam believes his store’s remoteness and the high quality of his fried chicken are why his Alice Springs franchise deserved a Michelin Star. Sadly, Michelin did not award Sam’s KFC a Star, although they didn’t say it could never happen.
Michelin Stars are the rating system presented by the Michelin Guide that advises on some of the Northern Hemisphere’s finest restaurants and hotels. The guides are like refined versions of Lonely Planet guides with a whiff of French snobbery.
https://www.facebook.com/sam.edelman.98/videos/10156068456956945/
Stars are only allocated in regions of the world where the Michelin Guide is published. So there are no starred restaurants in Australia, New Zealand or much of the Southern Hemisphere.
To earn between one and three Michelin stars, a restaurant needs to have excellent cooking and be worthy of the detour. If Sam’s campaign were successful, he would not only own and operate the only Michelin-Starred KFC but also the only Starred restaurant in Australia.
Sam documented his Michelin journey across France via his Facebook page: Kentucky Fried Chicken deserves a Michelin Star. That’s where we found this video of Sam sitting down and pitching his idea to Gwendal Poullennec, the International Director of the Michelin Guide, although the Michelin rep failed to acknowledge that dirty bird is the word.
When Sam invited Gwendal Down Under to check out his fried chicken, Gwendal said maybe. That it is all a “question of priorities.”
Upon returning home, Sam gave away some free tenders and merch to his hungry patrons and reminded everyone that Alice Springs is still up there.
Then, Michelin posted this to the Facebook page:
Dear Sam, thank you very much for visiting us in France! The MICHELIN Guide’s mission has always been to encourage dreams and adventures; you’ve embodied that spirit by coming all the way from the other side of the world to meet us. We hope it was worth the trip!
All the best,
the MICHELIN Guide team
No Michelin Star, but there’s still time for Sam to pitch his KFC to the Good Food Guide and earn a hat in 2020.
