Most people know Michelin as the French-based tire manufacturer. In fact, being the world's largest tire plant, by far, Michelin is basically the only name in tires for most countries. Their annual revenue exceeds 15 billion on average. Michelin is also famous for their Red and Green travel guides.

In the Red Guide, the company is famous for the Michelin Stars awarded to the top restaurants. This guide isn't so much a bible for the haughty, well-to-do diners; it's more of an information guide to the everyday traveler. Even still, the Michelin Guide has become a legitimate authority in world-class cuisine.

The Michelin Guide isn't your run-of-the-mill, foldable, pocket-friendly travel guide that you can pick up from the gas station counter. It's a series of annual books that are released in over a dozen countries. The guide has more restaurant listings than rival guides, with over 9,000 in France alone. Although, the restaurants are specific to the country the book is released in, as well as the language it's printed in.

Until recently, diners used a glossary and a key to decode various symbols listed by the restaurants. While it may seem elementary, the Red Guide is rather extensive in its knowledge. The goal is to keep the descriptions as short as possible, usually around 2-3 lines, while being very detailed and informative.

For each star rating a restaurant receives, the guide lists three specialties. Today's Michelin Guides also include a short text summary of the various restaurants, written in an easy-to-understand language. However, the symbols are still there and are universal.

In order to compile a thorough and honest list of restaurants from across the globe, Michelin goes through a painstaking process of visiting restaurants. Their inspections are anonymous and they do not charge for entries. What this means for the consumer is that the restaurant does not pay Michelin to list their establishment, so you can be sure that everything listed in the book is honest and how the inspector viewed the restaurant overall and without bias. To keep the information dated, Michelin revisits each listed restaurant at least once every 18 months.

The Michelin Red Guide, though offering a plethora of restaurants, acts sparingly with their stars. Only the best establishments earn a star rating, and stars are given out from one to three based on the overall quality of the establishment. Three, of course, being the highest that any restaurant can rate, but even one star means that the restaurant is a quality place. Out of 5,500 restaurant listings in the UK, only 3 restaurants earned three starts, and only 112 earned stars in total.

Restaurants are also rated on scales other than stars. For example, there is an extensive section of the guide that highlights the restaurants offering great food at affordable prices. This feature is called “Bib Gourmand.” The “forks and knives” scale is also a varying scale used to rate restaurants. Restaurants can earn from one to five forks and knives, with one being a “comfortable” restaurant and five being “luxurious.” To round the guide off, coins are given to an establishment based on their prices, and grapes are a symbol of the wine selection.