Mealy par Michou, street food born of travel and brought to you by digital technology

Mealy was born in Bali, in between shooting on a film set. Behind the project is star youtuber Michou, followed by over 10 million people, who wants to offer accessible, generous street-food inspired by what he's tasted (and loved) around the world.

From Dakar to Mykonos, Santa Monica to Sydney, the brand slips into a sandwich the flavors that mark a journey. Each recipe has its starting point in a city and what it evokes.

And the gamble paid off. The first restaurant opens in Amiens, Michou's home town, in 2024. Mealy will then open in Paris, Le Mans and Plan de Campagne, and is preparing other locations in Orléans, Lorient and Nantes, with the ambition of reaching 60 addresses within 5 years. Rapid progress, supported by an effective concept and a mobilized community.

In the space of just one year, Mealy has established itself as one of the new players in the fast food to be followed closely.

Mealy faces a situation rarely encountered by a young retailer: enormous visibility even before opening. With an ultra-connected community of over 10 million people, every address is expected and tested from the moment of inauguration. We can't count on a gradual "running-in" period. We need to absorb a large flow of traffic right away, with teams ready to go on the first shift.

This pressure requires us to go beyond the traditional organization of a sales outlet. Mealy has to limit unnecessary handling, streamline movements at each workstation and create efficient processes, especially when the team is growing and needs to be trained in a rush. 

Franchise development accentuates this need for a structured operational structure that's easy to pass on. Mealy needs to structure a reproducible model, where each new outlet can be aligned with a common standard: order taking, flow management, internal communication, customer journey... Failing this, growth can produce the opposite effect, creating gaps between restaurants.

Added to this is a multi-channel strategy. Mealy wants to be present wherever its community consumes: on site, takeaway, delivery, Click & Collect. 

A multi-channel offering opens Mealy up to a wider audience and captures more sales, but can quickly become a technical challenge if the flow is not properly absorbed. Multi-channel creates value only if everything is automatically aligned and organized: up-to-date menus, stocks, orders sent to the kitchen in the right order, and a stable cadence even at peak times.

Mealy must therefore combine 3 parallel dynamics: immediate traffic, rapid franchise development and a multi-channel model that must function as a single environment. 

To support Mealy in its development, Obypay has deployed 3 tools to absorb the influx and provide a framework for multi-site management.

Visit terminals quickly become a key support in Mealy's organization. They handle a large proportion of orders, take the strain off cashiering, and help to keep a steady flow right from the opening, even when the queue starts up before the service begins.

They also enhance the brand universe: visuals, recipes, strong graphic identity. The experience is consistent from one restaurant to the next, which helps to build a standard, especially in a phase of rapid development.

For teams, it's a fixed point of reference. Bollards limit handling, reduce errors and enable new team members to be trained more quickly. And because they are directly linked to the kitchen, they guarantee stable organization, even during peak periods.

With Michou's visibility, Mealy benefits from a significant advantage: a massive influx of visitors on the opening night, driven by a young, committed community. It's an opportunity not to be missed to create a direct link between the customer and Mealy, and to ensure that the second visit is for the brand, not just to see "Michou's restaurant".

Visit loyalty program captures this craze from the very first order. Customers enter the Mealy world straight away, with an itinerary specially designed for the Gen Z. This is what allows us to transform the influx of visitors linked to the designer's reputation into customer base committed to Mealy. A real advantage for supporting new openings and structuring the network as it grows.

The loyalty program becomes a management tool, and also opens the way for targeted campaignsadapted to a young and volatile audience:

➜ follow-up with customers who have not been back for some time
➜ push offers linked to a featured destination
➜ create local campaigns for new openings
➜ test ideas (limited editions, collaborations, events) on specific customer segments

Whatever the city, the customer finds the same route and the same advantages. This is a strong point for a brand that is expanding into franchising, and a powerful argument for potential franchisees.

Visit Click & Collect completes Mealy's multi-channel offering. It meets the needs of Gen Z (busy, mobile and used to online ordering).

For Mealy, the benefits are twofold. 

➜ On the one hand, this captures sales that would have been lost for lack of an acceptable wait. 

➜ On the other hand, Click & Collect enables flows to be distributed over several entry points while remaining in a single management environment. Orders arrive in the same system as those for kiosks or delivery, avoiding time lags between preparation, collection and dispatch.

In a phase of rapid development, Click & Collect is becoming a real balancing point. It's equally suited to high-traffic areas and compact restaurants, where a long line that stretches out (even briefly) can be enough to drive some customers away. 

Like other channels, Click & Collect automatically feeds the loyalty program. Each pick-up becomes an opportunity to maintain the link with the customer and strengthen Mealy's foothold, regardless of how the order is placed.

✔ Deploying the kiosks changed the day-to-day life of our teams from the very first weeks. In a concept like Mealy, where the queue forms before opening, they absorb a large part of the flow without putting pressure on the counter. Teams spend less time taking orders and more time keeping up with the pace in the kitchen, which remains decisive with young customers who expect speed and clarity.

✔ This stability also helps to train faster. Teams often rotate during opening hours, and having a clear, identical order path from one restaurant to the next reduces the adjustment period. 

✔ In the kitchen, centralized flow provides a real gain. Orders arrive in the right order, shipments are regular and teams are not dependent on several separate systems (room, takeaway, Click & Collect). 

✔ The loyalty program, launched from the very first service, allows Mealy to capitalize immediately on its natural affluence. The first visitors (often for Michou) enter the Mealy ecosystem and are identified, recontactable and re-engageable. New openings in turn benefit from this base, giving a real advantage in such a rapid roll-out.

✔ Click & Collect plays a key role in busy addresses like Paris. It captures a portion of the orders without saturating the room, and offers a path aligned with the uses of Gen Z, which remains reluctant to wait. The flow is better distributed, helping to maintain a consistent experience from one restaurant to the next, even when the configuration or surface changes.

Thanks to Obypay's all-in-one solution, Mealy has structured a stable model that is easy to replicate. An indispensable foundation as the brand prepares for large-scale deployment.

Are you entering a multi-site phase? Obypay already supports networks such as 3 Brewers, Krispy Kreme or Beer's Corner. Let's talk about your next openings.