How Miss Mai grew a 30-seat café into a citywide brand with Wolt

Mai didn’t set out to run one of Dortmund’s busiest hand-pulled noodle spots. When she opened her café, the plan was to serve coffee, cakes, and a handful of Asian-inspired dishes. 

The noodles were almost an afterthought.

But the customers decided otherwise. “People kept coming back for the noodles,” she says. “That’s when I realized, this isn’t really a café anymore.”

So the menu shifted. Word spread. And before long, her 30-seat space was overflowing most nights. Good news for any restaurant owner, except when there is physically no more space to fit customers in.

Then came the pandemic in 2020. The doors may have closed, but regulars kept calling. The question was simple: could Miss Mai get their noodles into homes when people couldn’t get to their tables?

“No guests, doors closed … customers still called. That’s when delivery became essential.”

When capacity caps growth, delivery is your extra seating

At first, she tried arranging deliveries herself. Three staff members were running deliveries, juggling dine-in orders, and answering the phone. “We’re not pros,” Mai says. “It was chaos. You need a professional partner.”

That partner was Wolt. 

Almost immediately after partnering with Wolt, the 30-seat cap disappeared. Delivery meant a single service could reach hundreds of homes across the city. And with each order, new people discovered her restaurant. People who would never have walked past her front door.

“Delivery brought in far more guests,” she says. “And many now come by to enjoy the place.” 

Photos and promotions make all the difference

With Wolt managing delivery, Mai felt encouraged to refine how her restaurant appeared in the app.

The first change? Professional photos. “Good pictures make a huge difference,” she explains. “When you’re scrolling in the Wolt app, that’s the first thing you see. You eat with your eyes.”

Next came in-app promotions. Initially, she was hesitant: would discounts cheapen her brand? But she gave it a try. “It doesn’t hurt,” she says. “In fact, many people are surprised by the results. You test an offer, and suddenly you have all these new customers who come back again.”

The combination of great photos, timely promotions, and Wolt’s advice gave her confidence that online customers could get the same warm welcome as those sitting in her café.

“I recommend Wolt. The customer service is great. If something happens, they solve it. And that protects my restaurant too.”

Delivery as marketing, not just logistics

What Mai didn’t expect was how delivery would affect her dine-in traffic. Customers who first encountered her restaurant through the Wolt app started showing up in person.

And that changes how she thinks about growth. “We don’t have to worry so much about space anymore,” she reflects. “Delivery gives us flexibility. We can reach more people without needing a bigger room.”

Looking ahead

Mai is clear-eyed about where dining is headed. “In China you can order anything at 3 a.m.,” she says. “That’s where the trend is going. People expect fast, simple, convenient. And if you can meet that need, you’ll stay in business.”

For her, Wolt is a way to keep pace with changing habits, while protecting the heart of her restaurant. “I never imagined delivery would become such a big part of what we do. But without it, we’d still be stuck at 30 seats.”