NZ’s Michelin Moment: Will Nick Honeyman and Zennon Wijlens of Paris Butter Win A Star?

Michelin’s arrival is not just about who gets a star. But secretly, it is!

The first MICHELIN Guide Restaurant Ceremony New Zealand 2026 takes place on Tuesday 30 June 2026, with New Zealand’s inaugural restaurant selection set to be revealed to local and global audiences. The ceremony can be watched live via the official MICHELIN Guide Restaurant Ceremony New Zealand 2026 livestream.

For chefs, restaurants and the hospitality industry, this moment matters.

The arrival of The MICHELIN Guide gives New Zealand food culture a new international reference point. It places Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown into a global dining conversation that has historically been dominated by Europe, Asia and North America.

But the real story is bigger than a list of restaurants. Food is culture. Food is memory. Food is identity. Food is performance, generosity, skill and storytelling.

That is something Collaborate Management understands deeply. Our work with chefs, speakers, presenters, creators and public-facing talent is built around the idea that great talent does more than appear. They connect.

In New Zealand’s food world, that connection is everywhere. And for Collaborate, this moment is especially exciting because Nick Honeyman and Zennon Wijlens of Paris Butter are connected to the kind of restaurant story MICHELIN’s arrival has brought into sharp focus.

Nick Honeyman brings a rare international perspective to this moment. His restaurant Le Petit Léon in the south of France has already been awarded a MICHELIN Star, giving him first-hand experience of what that level of recognition can mean for a restaurant, a team and a chef’s wider profile.

That connection is significant. Nick is not looking at the arrival of MICHELIN in New Zealand from the outside. He understands the discipline, consistency and creative clarity required to operate in that world. Through Paris Butter, his influence is also part of Auckland’s own modern dining story.

Paris Butter has long held a place in New Zealand’s fine dining landscape as a restaurant that balances polish with personality. It is elegant without feeling cold, technical without losing warmth, and ambitious without losing sight of the guest experience.

Zennon Wijlens, co-owner and head chef of Paris Butter, represents the next generation of chef leadership in Aotearoa. His work speaks to modern New Zealand dining: produce-led, precise, confident and quietly inventive.

Zennon’s role is an important part of the Paris Butter story. A restaurant is never just one name, one dish or one service. It is built through consistency, leadership, team culture and the ability to deliver at a high level again and again. That is exactly the kind of work that often sits behind the glamour of international recognition.

That matters in a MICHELIN context because the best restaurants are not only technically strong. They have personality. They have a clear point of view. They tell you something about where they are from, who is behind them and why the food exists in the first place.

That is why New Zealand’s MICHELIN moment should be seen as more than a hospitality award ceremony.

MICHELIN tells the world that Aotearoa New Zealand has chefs worth following, restaurants worth travelling for, and food stories worth sharing. It also creates new opportunities around the table: television, brand partnerships, hosted experiences, speaking engagements, live events, tourism campaigns, editorial content and social storytelling.

A MICHELIN Star may belong to a restaurant, but the halo travels further. It reaches the chef, the restaurant team, the producers, growers, hosts, sommeliers, creators and storytellers who shape the full experience.

For Collaborate, this is the exciting part. The spotlight may begin in the kitchen, but it does not stay there. It moves into stories, stages, screens, campaigns and conversations, exactly where great talent belongs.

Roll on Aotearoa New Zealand’s first ever MICHELIN awards night. The team at Collaborate will be watching and cheering for Zennon, Nick, the team at Paris Butter and the wider New Zealand hospitality industry.

#MichelinGuideNZ
#MichelinStar26