The le'Chef Seal is a private quality award for restaurants across four tiers – Bronze, Silver, Gold and Diamond. It is granted against 10 published criteria, protected by knock-out thresholds for hygiene and allergen labelling, and kept alive by genuine community reviews in the le'Chef app.
The le'Chef Seal is a private quality award for restaurants, issued by le'Chef. It rates exactly two areas, each weighted at 50 %: the quality of the kitchen, and nutrition and labelling transparency. Not an official inspection, not an accredited certification – but criteria anyone can read.
Does it not just taste good – is it honestly made? These five criteria assess the craft:
Eating out means handing over control. These five criteria give it back:
Four tiers, clear thresholds: Bronze from 60 out of 100 points, Silver from 72, Gold from 84 and Diamond from 92. From Silver upwards a restaurant also needs at least 3 community reviews, Diamond requires at least 10 – with no open complaints.
from 60 / 100 points
All knock-out criteria met
The entry level: solid quality, hygiene and allergen thresholds passed.
from 72 / 100 points
min. 3 community reviews
Elevated quality – carried by real guest voices.
from 84 / 100 points
min. 3 reviews + in-depth audit
Top-level quality, confirmed by an in-depth audit.
from 92 / 100 points
min. 10 reviews, no open complaints
The highest award – reserved for the very best.
Important: knock-out criteria must reach their minimum score – otherwise no seal is granted, regardless of the total score. And a freshly awarded restaurant starts at Bronze at most, until enough community reviews have come in.
The rating follows 10 pre-defined criteria in two equally weighted areas. Two of them are knock-out criteria: if hygiene standards or allergen labelling score below 60 out of 100 points, no seal is granted – no matter how good the rest is.
Freshness, seasonality, origin transparency
Freshness of the dishes on the plate
Kitchen skill you can taste
Hospitality and a well-kept dining area
Honest value for your money
A hard minimum threshold – no seal without it
Correct labelling under EU food information rules
Open information on ingredients and preparation
Sugar- and salt-conscious choices on the menu
Cooked in-house instead of convenience
All weights, thresholds and the full procedure in detail: Criteria & awarding procedure
Every seal starts with a documented assessment by the le'Chef team – no self-declarations. From then on, community reviews from the app keep the award alive: every review recalculates the score automatically, and after 12 months a full re-evaluation is due.
The le'Chef team rates the restaurant on all 10 criteria with 0–100 points – pre-defined, documented and logged in an audit-proof way. Mere self-declarations by the restaurant don't count.
From 60 out of 100 points, with all knock-out criteria met, the restaurant receives its seal – starting at Bronze at most, until enough community reviews have come in. That's by design, not a bug: tiers have to be earned.
Guests rate in the le'Chef app on 5 dimensions with 1–5 stars each. Newer voices count more; with few reviews the value is statistically stabilised, so outliers and manipulation are damped.
Every new, edited or deleted review recalculates the score immediately. Each award is valid for 12 months; in case of violations or substantiated complaints the seal can be suspended or revoked at any time – and disappears from the directory right away.
Want your restaurant to be awarded, or want to appeal a rating? Write to us – we'll get back to you with the next steps.
The le'Chef Seal is a private quality award for restaurants across four tiers: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Diamond. It rates 10 published criteria in the areas of Quality (50 %) and Nutrition & Transparency (50 %). It is not an official inspection and not an accredited certification.
Bronze starts at 60 out of 100 points, Silver at 72 points plus at least 3 community reviews, Gold at 84 points with an in-depth audit, and Diamond at 92 points with at least 10 reviews – and no open complaints.
No. Tiers cannot be bought, and payments to le'Chef have no influence on the rating or tier. Any assessment fees only cover the effort involved. There are no paid placements in the ranking either.
Community reviews only move the score within the ceiling set by the documented le'Chef assessment – bought reviews cannot grant a tier. In addition: sign-in required, one review per account and restaurant, review limits, statistical stabilisation when reviews are few, and a reporting and moderation process.
Honestly: we do not systematically verify whether a visit actually took place. We publish positive and negative reviews alike – removal only happens for rule violations, never for bad grades.
Each award is valid for 12 months and is then re-evaluated. In addition, every new, edited or deleted review recalculates the score immediately. Expired, suspended or revoked seals disappear from the directory and the verification lookup right away.
From Silver upwards at least 3 community reviews are required, Diamond needs at least 10. A freshly awarded restaurant therefore starts at Bronze at most – even if the assessment results would allow more. Every new review triggers an automatic recalculation; from 3 reviews onwards the tier lifts by itself.
In the seal directory of the le'Chef app: with radius search, tier filters (All, Silver+, Gold+, Diamond) and sorting by tier and score or by distance. Every restaurant shows its score breakdown across all criteria.
No. The le'Chef Seal is a private quality award based on published criteria and community reviews. It does not replace official food safety inspections, and le'Chef is not an accredited certification body under ISO/IEC 17065.
You'll find the seal directory with radius search, tier filters and genuine reviews in the le'Chef app – free of charge, of course.
