Protection of culinary knowledge generation in Michelin-Starred Restaurants. The Spanish case

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Abstract

Restaurants with Michelin stars are places for culinary creation and innovation. Scientific literature has provided increasing attention to gastronomy and this type of haute cuisine establishments. However, the treatment that scientific literature has given to knowledge protection in these restaurants is still not enough, especially regarding the influence of three fundamental aspects of its strategic definition: the type of gastronomic experience, the means of managing creativity and the type of innovative process. Therefore, the aim of this research is to analyse the influence exerted on the protection of knowledge by the three referred aspects, specifically in Spanish restaurants with Michelin stars. The main conclusion reached is that the protection of knowledge (of a contextual nature) is stimulated by two factors: the application of a process of innovation based on techniques (beyond mere trial and error) and the design of gastronomic experiences guided by excellence of the customer service. This specifies a certain archetype of a more complex restaurant from the point of view of its way of conceiving innovation and the creation of experiences.

Introduction

“Ingenuity and insanity is continuing to do the same thing as ever and expecting different results from those achieved until now.” This quote, attributed to Albert Einstein, advises us, definitively, about the need to manage change; and innovation means change. It is the sign of the time we live in.

Gastronomy and the culinary process have been transformed into a reference for creativity and innovation all around the world in recent years. In this way, chefs and their teams are an example of how both are applied to something as ancestral as food. In this way, Messeni Petruzzelli and Savino (2014) indicate that there are five factors which specify the birth of gastronomy as a social and cultural element: first, the new social and cultural conditions which involve more participation and enthusiasm towards the product; second, the specific places (restaurants) devoted to production and consumption; third, the recognition of the authorities that validates the legitimacy of the individuals who operate in this field; fourth, the continued adaptation of new ideas and positions that involve a constant evolution of this field; and, fifth, the relationships between individuals and organisations, as well as complementarity with other fields. Definitively, gastronomy generates feelings and experiences in people (Hurtado Justiniano et al., 2017).

In recent years, the concept of innovation has had a strong presence in this field. As such, in gastronomic activity, innovation has been understood as a process of searching and recombination of the existing components (Messeni Petruzzelli and Savino, 2014). And all this because, as stated by Ottenbacher and Harrington (2007a), the best benefit that innovation provides is being competitive, something that is fundamental in the demanding world of haute cuisine. In this line, it is important to single out that the development of innovation happens in different phases of this process, from when the chef has an idea (creativity) to when it becomes reality in the restaurant (Ottenbacher and Harrington, 2007b).

In this context, the goal of this research is to analyse the influence that three fundamental aspects have over the protection of knowledge when approaching this type of haute cuisine establishment: type of gastronomic experience, culinary creativity and culinary innovations. They were chosen to be considered fundamental in the strategic definition of this kind of business.

In this way, we try to contribute to bridge the existing research gap in this field, trying to better understand which type of gastronomic experiences are those which motivate a greater interest in the protection of knowledge, as well as the impulse that creativity (from the diverse means that can be used to manage it) and innovation (considering the different directions the process may take) provide. The study of this inter-relationship is that which specifies, mainly, the novelty of this article.

Its layout includes five more sections: Literature review, Methodology, Results, Discussion and Conclusions. References close the paper.

Section snippets

Literature review

After a generic introduction on innovation (which links with creativity), this section presents the variables under study in the following order: gastronomic experience, culinary creativity, culinary innovation and protection of knowledge in restaurants, as the latter is considered the result to be explained by the other three, contemplated as inductors.

Methodology

In this section, the design of the survey is presented first, followed by a description of the population, the sample (data collection) and how the data analysis has been performed.

Results

Consistently with the literature review, the results gathered and their corresponding analyses have been organized in the following subsections: firstly the attributes of gastronomic experiences; secondly the management of creativity; thirdly the types of the innovation; fourthly the knowledge protection and, finally, the explanatory model, in which all the previous variables are combined.

Discussion

The protection of knowledge resulting from a chef's creations is fundamental for the development of innovation in the field of gastronomy. However, knowledge that comes from these restaurants is more than just a culinary recipe, as it comes from a combination of cognitive and affective experiences by the diners. It deals with knowledge that cannot be separated from its context, as the elements that are to be protected are more than just the recipe itself.

This research is conducted based on

Conclusions

In recent years, gastronomy has become one of the most analysed topics in scientific literature, due to its important social, cultural, economic and environmental implications. Culinary establishments which present different food and where the diner not only goes to feed themselves but, most of all, to have a memorable experience have become a major force within the world of gastronomy.

This article presents the results of research conducted in restaurants in Spain that have been recognised with

Acknowledgements

Evidently, this research would not have been possible without the collaboration of the chef who dedicated a few minutes of their precious time to answering our questionnaire. We express our recognition of this and everything that this has allowed us to learn.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Alfonso Vargas Sánchez is Ph.D. in Business Administration, Full Professor at the University of Huelva (Spain). Research interests mainly focused on strategic management, in general, and particularly on tourism companies and destinations. Author of a number of scientific articles published in the top-ranked international journals. Editor-in-Chief of Enlightening Tourism: A Pathmaking Journal (ET).

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    Alfonso Vargas Sánchez is Ph.D. in Business Administration, Full Professor at the University of Huelva (Spain). Research interests mainly focused on strategic management, in general, and particularly on tourism companies and destinations. Author of a number of scientific articles published in the top-ranked international journals. Editor-in-Chief of Enlightening Tourism: A Pathmaking Journal (ET).

    Tomás López-Guzmán holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Business Studies and is an Associate Professor in Applied Economics at the University of Córdoba, Spain. He has undertaken various exchanges with universities in Europe, Latin America and Africa. His main areas of interest are the economics of tourism and environmental economics, and he has successfully published several articles in this field

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