Ad description
A paid-for TikTok ad for Simmer, seen on 7 June 2025, featured a clip of a segment from the ITV show This Morning in which a consumer expert discussed various meal kits with the programme’s hosts. During the conversation, the on-screen expert stated, “All of these dishes […] curated by Michelin starred chefs”.
Issue
The complainant challenged whether the claim that Simmer’s meals were curated by Michelin starred chefs was misleading.
Response
Simmer Ltd t/a Simmer said they had not scripted or commissioned the statement featured in the clip, but had featured it in the ad to highlight their inclusion in the programme’s discussion.
Simmer believed the statement “curated by Michelin starred chefs” was factually correct because it reflected the calibre of chefs they worked with. They provided the ASA with details of a professional chef who had worked on the development of their menu, who had in the past worked at various restaurants which held multiple Michelin stars. They thought that the term “Michelin-starred chef” had, over time, developed a broader meaning in the culinary industry and among consumers. They believed the term had become widely used in media, marketing and the restaurant trade to describe chefs with significant experience in Michelin-starred kitchens, not solely those who held the title of head chef at the point of award.
They said the reference to “Michelin starred chefs” reflected the direct involvement of a chef with Michelin-star experience in curating their menu, and had not been presented as a standalone claim, or intended to suggest that Simmer itself held a Michelin star.
Assessment
Upheld
The ASA understood that the term “Michelin starred chefs” was an inaccurate way to refer to the Michelin Guide’s rating system, because stars were awarded to a restaurant, rather than an individual chef. A chef could therefore not personally hold a Michelin star. Nonetheless, the term had become widely used in the culinary world and beyond. While we acknowledged Simmer’s view that the term was widely used to describe chefs with significant experience in Michelin-starred kitchens, we considered that consumers would generally understand the term to mean that the chef in charge of a restaurant had been chiefly responsible for the award of one or more Michelin stars.
We therefore considered that consumers would interpret the claim “curated by Michelin starred chefs” to mean that Simmer’s meal kits had been designed and planned by chefs who the public would view as having been awarded a Michelin star, either through their role as the restaurants head chef or position as owner, or chef patron.
Simmer provided us with details of the chef who had consulted on the development of their meal kits. We noted from their CV that they had undertaken unpaid work experience at restaurants which held Michelin stars at the beginning of their career, and had later spent nine months working at a restaurant which held two Michelin stars. While we acknowledged that the chef had experience of working in Michelin starred kitchens, we noted that they had been a relatively junior staff member when they worked at the relevant two-star restaurant. We also considered that a relatively short period of time in such an environment did not justify referring to them as a “Michelin starred chef”, in the context of how consumers would interpret that phrase.
Because the claim “curated by Michelin starred chefs” would be understood to mean that Simmer’s menus had been designed and planned by a chef consumers would view as having been awarded a Michelin star, when that was not the case, we concluded that the claim was misleading.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rule 3.1 (Misleading advertising).
Action
The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told Simmer Ltd to ensure their future advertising did not misleadingly give the impression that their menu was curated by chefs who had been primarily responsible for the award of a Michelin star, if that was not the case.
