Olla Oasis Urbaine

Can you introduce Olla Oasis Urbaine?

Olla Oasis Urbaine is a healthy-eating restaurant and coffee shop brand specialising in gourmet bowls. Our concept stands apart from the traditional poke bowl, with recipes that are more creative, more indulgent and more elaborate.

It all started in Montauban, where we opened our first restaurant. On the strength of its success, we started franchising, with a first opening in Montpellier, and today we're expanding across France.

What is your role at the brand?

I'm Laura Affre, co-founder of Olla Oasis Urbaine. My job is to grow and organise the network, and to set the site selection strategy for our franchises.

We use Gini by MyTraffic mainly for our expansion and to select the areas where we'll open next.

Before using Gini, how did you choose your locations?

Our first restaurant is in Montauban, so we relied on our knowledge of the area. We knew the city, local shopping habits and the retail environment very well.

That approach worked because we were on home ground, but it hit its limits as soon as we wanted to expand to other cities.

What were the limits of that approach?

Once we launched our franchise network, we could no longer rely only on intuition or experience.

We needed reliable data to analyse cities we didn't know inside out and to compare several areas. Our gourmet bowl and coffee shop concept needs prime city-centre locations. We had to be able to justify each site with objective data, to ourselves and to our prospective franchisees.

What has Gini actually changed in the way you analyse and select future sites?

We now analyse every location in detail, so each decision is clear and well-founded.

We look at pedestrian traffic, footfall, local demographics, nearby businesses and how well the area matches our target customers. That lets us compare several units objectively.

What benefits have you seen since adopting Gini?

The first is the time we save.

We get quick access to hard data that lets us rule out some locations and confirm others. It also gives us much more credibility when we present a project to a landlord or a partner.

Do you have a concrete example of an opening that Gini directly influenced?

Our Montpellier franchise is a real success story.

The analyses we ran with Gini confirmed our choice of location. The results have followed, and this first opening gave us the confidence to keep growing.

Which data or indicators are most useful?

We mainly use the pedestrian traffic heatmap, footfall by time of day, and the area's demographic and economic data.

These indicators help us understand the potential of a city and where its best locations are.

How do these analyses change the way you talk with landlords and expansion partners?

Our discussions are far more fact-based.

We can present objective data that backs up our choices. That reassures landlords, and also prospective franchisees who want to understand why we recommend one area over another. The tool gives us a real understanding of the local market before the restaurant even opens.

That reduces the risk in each decision and helps us make the most of an area's potential.

Which new markets are you considering, and how could Gini help you explore them?

Since the Montpellier opening, we've received franchise applications from candidates all over France.

Gini lets us quickly assess each market's potential and identify the best-suited areas. It's also very useful in our discussions with prospective franchisees, because it shows them which areas make the most sense for their Olla franchise.

This partnership with MyTraffic saves us time on analysis and brings rigour to our site decisions. Above all, it helps us base our choices on evidence and take a more professional approach to growing our network.

Would you recommend Gini to other growing brands?

I recommend Gini without hesitation. From the start, we were convinced by the credibility of the data and the quality of the tool.

It was a real investment for a young brand like ours. Even so, we chose to invest early, because you need the right tools from the very start of your growth. Today, Gini is part of our day-to-day work: it helps us support our franchisees and de-risk our location choices.