Sweet Memories
By Hailey Stangebye
Photos courtesy of Paul Freeth
A few years ago, an American woman waltzed between the aisles of a train as it trailed across the landscape of India. She stopped at each cluster of people and asked simply, “Tea?”
The train passengers couldn’t help but grin at the sight: She didn’t know any of the languages, she didn’t know the terrain, but she stepped confidently into the unknown and sold tea because she was on a mission.
A mission for a recipe.
Michelle Allen had been traveling with her husband, Paul Freeth, through India, when they stumbled upon a tea vendor. He sold the most aromatic, heart-warming blend of chai. Michelle asked the man over and over again: “Show me how you do it.” To which, she received a defiant: “No.”
Finally, her persistence paid off, and the vendor gave her a chance to earn the knowledge she sought: “If you serve tea for me on the train for a few days, then I’ll show you how to blend chai.”
“If you serve tea for me on the train for a few days, then I’ll show you how to blend chai.”
So that’s exactly what she did. After a week, she emerged triumphant with a recipe for chai that hails directly from the source.
Michelle brings this level of exploration and flavor to everything she creates at her Short North confectionary boutique, MMELO. Inspired by European culture, MMELO is a cafe where people enjoy coffees and sweet treats across every olfactory and sensory spectrum.
“Typically, the recipes that I try are based on some kind of experience that I had,” Michelle says. “Like our lemon and thyme marshmallow is because we spent so much time in Greece. They do pears and lemons, and thyme and lemons, and lemons and thyme, with just about everything. I got that combination of flavors in my head, and thought I’d try it in a marshmallow.”
“Typically, the recipes that I try are based on some kind of experience that I had.”
To this day, her experience in India is the basis for her delectable chai marshmallow.
Each confection she creates holds the rich textures of a memory. A stop into MMELO is like stepping into a different culture and experience.
Columbus: A Latte Love
Michelle travelled all over the world, but Columbus is her hometown.
“I grew up off of Livingston Avenue. I went to Father Bishop Wehrle Memorial High School and Corpus Christi Elementary and Ohio State University,” Michelle says. “But I was dying to get out of Columbus. Dying.
“I grew up with this ethos from my mom that you are so lucky to be born on this planet. Go and look at it. Go and look at as much of it as you can. Go talk to people who don’t look anything like you,” Michelle says. “Go eat food that has nothing to do with the food that you eat.”
“I grew up with this ethos from my mom that you are so lucky to be born on this planet. Go and look at it. Go and look at as much of it as you can. Go talk to people who don’t look anything like you.”
After a stint at Ohio State, Michelle moved to New York to create a film production company in Tribeca — “before Tribeca was Tribeca.” Through that work, she met her husband, Paul.
“Then 9/11 happened and we were like, ‘We’ve got to get out of New York. Life is too short,’” Michelle says.
After some brief deliberation, Michelle and Paul decided to live in Spain.
“I went to my partners and said, ‘I’m going to Spain.’ And they said, ‘What do you mean you’re going to Spain?’ And I said, ‘I’m going to Spain. Life’s too short. I’m done,” Michelle says.
“And they said, ‘What do you mean you’re going to Spain?’ And I said, ‘I’m going to Spain. Life’s too short. I’m done.”
For more than a decade, Michelle and Paul thrived in Spain and spent their days “living and traveling and ultimately starting their family.” This is where Michelle fell in love with confections.
“Spain, Italy, France, they really are on the forefront of confectionary craft,” Michelle says. “At culinary school here, you might do four weeks of chocolate training. Whereas there, you choose chocolate training and you might spend four years studying chocolate work or sugar work. They also have robust apprenticeships where knowledge gets passed down.”
The more she practiced and the more confections she created, the more Michelle realized that she wanted to start a confectionary cafe of her own: MMELO.
“I started saying to my husband, ‘Maybe we should go back to the States and start this?’ We would come back to Columbus a couple times a year over the past 20 years, and I really saw the food scape evolving and changing,” Michelle says. “Also, the culture of Columbus was changing with the influx of people from other places. It was becoming more cosmopolitan and I just thought, ‘Something like MMELO could work here.’”
“Also, the culture of Columbus was changing with the influx of people from other places. It was becoming more cosmopolitan and I just thought, ‘Something like MMELO could work here.’”
From Barcelona to Buckeye Country
In 2015, Michelle took the leap to bring her scrumptious dream to fruition. For eight weeks, she ran a pop-up confectionary at Easton. Fast forward to today, and she’s managing a bustling brick-and-mortar confectionary in the heart of the Short North thanks to help from The Food Fort – ECDI.
“The one thing I will say about the community here in Columbus: Unbelievably supportive. And I’ve done business all over the world. Columbus is unique in that regard,” Michelle says. “If you have a really good idea and you show people that you care about it and you’ve thought it out, then you can make it happen here. You really can. Whether the public accepts it or not is another thing.”
“The one thing I will say about the community here in Columbus: Unbelievably supportive. And I’ve done business all over the world. Columbus is unique in that regard.”
Public acceptance proved to be a sticky challenge for Michelle.
In Europe, she grew accustomed to a culture that readily accepted and understood the concept of a confectionary cafe.
“We found that there was a bit of a learning curve involved,” Michelle says. “When we opened, we had tons of people ask us, ‘What’s a confectionary? What are confections?’ That was one of the big year-one takeaways.”
Despite the inherent growing pains of starting a new business, Michelle wouldn’t change a thing.
“I absolutely love doing this. I mean, I love it. My son, who is my heart and my core, said, ‘I actually think you like this more than me,’” Michelle laughs. “The thing is, if you don’t love it, there’s no way this would work. It would be hell. I love doing it more than the herculean effort it takes to actually get it off the ground.”
“The thing is, if you don’t love it, there’s no way this would work. It would be hell. I love doing it more than the herculean effort it takes to actually get it off the ground.”
Michelle knows that this is just the beginning for MMELO. She has a vision for her company that stretches throughout Columbus and beyond. Even as her company grows, their mission will always be to create real, beautiful food.
“There’s no high fructose corn syrup, there’s no white refined sugar, there’s no artificial flavors or colors. That’s quite difficult and rare for confectionaries here in the States,” Michelle says. “We want to contribute something really beautiful and pleasing to the culture. I love to make food that is both beautiful and delicious. I love the naturally beautiful design that makes up our world — both natural and man made. It’s truly a blessing. For me, it was a natural extension to try and contribute something to that dynamic.”
MMELO is located opposite North Market at the corner of Vine Street and Wall Street. For more information, visit their website or stop in for a beautiful treat.
