Eye on Small Business: Méli-Mélo Celebrates with In Greenwich and Greenwich Foody
Message in a bottle? Well, kind of. Since Westfair cultural writer and luxury editor Georgette Gouveia wrote about Méli-Mélo Créperie, Juice Bar & Café back on Valentine’s Day, six months ago and I reviewed it a month later, the much-loved, enduring Greenwich restaurant has initiated a community giveaway to celebrate its 30th anniversary year.
Here’s how it’s been working. Every month a limited edition, reusable glass bottle bearing Méli-Mélo’s 30th anniversary logo is placed in a high-traffic area in Greenwich for someone to find, with clues to the hiding place given on Instagram. The lucky (or perhaps clever) person who finds the bottle gets to keep it but needs to return the certificate inside the bottle to redeem the prize – a $30 Méli-Mélo gift card certificate and a free Méli-Mélo juice or smoothie.
The giveaway is on through the end of the year, with a double prize being offered in September.
While Méli-Mélo’s story is itself remarkable as a blueprint for establishing, growing and maintaining a successful business in a fiercely competitive market, the giveaway also highlights two other businesses, namely the social platforms In Greenwich (@ingreenwich), and Greenwich Foody (@greenwichfoody), both of which have partnered with the restaurant in the fun prize initiative.
In Greenwich was set up in 2017 by marketing specialists Craig Jones and Jessica Reid as a commercial project to curate and promote events happening in and around Greenwich. Primarily supported by advertising, it has grown into a resource in which you can find where to go and what to do in Greenwich and the town’s many neighborhoods and surrounding communities, including Old Greenwich, Riverside, Cos Cob, Glenville and Byram. Jones and Reid’s parent company is Greenwich Point Marketing, an agency specializing in social media marketing and advertising as well as design and content creation.
The giveaway initiative’s other partner – with 10,000 followers and rapidly heading northward – is Ashley Grudzinski, the “Greenwich Foody,” who shares her epicurean adventures through Instagram and Tik Tok, promoting the area’s best eateries. She launched the platform in 2019, and it continues to grow. (Grudzinski often makes her visits with real estate agent and influencer Mike Parelli, founder of yet another local food review platform, the YouTube channel “Tell ‘Em Mike Sent You.”) She also has been developing a new content-creating business, in which she focuses on producing high-quality, mostly food, photography reel-style video content and “social media management for businesses that are looking to grow organically and locally,” as she relayed to the Westfair Business Journal.
Back at Méli-Mélo, founder and owner Marc Penvenne said he was excited to partner with both In Greenwich and Greenwich Foody. “I love what they do and I’m happy to also interact with the community in this way. It’s a fun way to celebrate our anniversary and highlight our beautiful town.”
Beautiful town indeed. And now, through the end of the year, there is all the more incentive to explore it, looking for that elusive “message in a bottle.”
For more, visit melimelogreenwich.com., ingreenwichct.com., greenwichpointmarketing.com and @GreenwichFoody.