Case study · Beekeeping · E-commerce
Miel.mu by Ruchers de l’Est
Miel.mu is the online home of Ruchers de l’Est, a beekeeping business in Trou d’Eau Douce on the east coast of Mauritius. Jordan founded the apiaries and built the digital side of the business: a bilingual shop that takes orders online, explains each harvest and delivers anywhere on the island through Fretolia.
- Role
- Founder and beekeeper; product owner and developer of the online shop
- Status
- Live — taking orders at miel.mu
- Location
- Trou d’Eau Douce, east Mauritius
- Website
- miel.mu
The challenge
Small-batch honey is usually sold through markets and resellers, which separates the beekeeper from the people who eat the honey and makes seasonal harvests hard to explain.
The aim for Ruchers de l’Est was to sell directly from the apiaries: show where each honey comes from, let Mauritian families order online, accept the ways people in Mauritius actually pay, and deliver anywhere on the island without running a delivery operation in-house.
What has been built
- 01
A bilingual direct-to-customer shop
A shop in French and English, with localised addresses for every page: catalogue, cart, guest checkout, customer accounts with order history, product reviews, search and a newsletter. The catalogue covers raw and flavoured honeys, gift boxes and small honey-based care products.
- 02
Payments that fit Mauritius
Customers can pay by Juice by MCB mobile transfer, using an order reference that is checked in the back office, or cash on delivery. Card payment is planned.
- 03
A honey guide and seasonal stories
A six-chapter honey guide — terroir, flora, varieties, harvest calendar, beekeeping and how to buy honey — alongside a journal and recipes. Articles explain individual harvests, such as the limited pink-peppercorn honey gathered in Flacq each April.
- 04
Programmes that build loyalty
Customers can sponsor a hive, including a small donation at checkout, and a jar-return scheme credits customers who bring jars back. Both programmes can be switched on or off without a release.
- 05
A back office for the business
An admin area for orders, in-person sales with draft orders, stock, customer credits, sponsorships, jar returns, blog and recipe editing, and a delivery summary.
- 06
Island-wide delivery through Fretolia
Delivery prices are quoted live from Fretolia from the customer’s location, orders are registered with Fretolia automatically, and Fretolia sends status updates back so the customer’s order follows the parcel.
How it is built
- Stack
- Next.js 16 with the App Router and React 19, Tailwind CSS, next-intl for French and English, and a self-hosted Supabase database with row-level security. Email is sent with Resend; product analytics run on PostHog.
- Integration with Fretolia
- An API client requests delivery dates and location-based prices and registers orders. A signed webhook (HMAC-SHA256) receives Fretolia’s status updates and maps them to order statuses.
- Quality and security
- Every pull request runs formatting, linting, type checks, a dependency audit, unit tests with coverage and a build; database security rules are tested separately, and end-to-end and Lighthouse checks run against a preview. The codebase has 47 unit-test files and 30 end-to-end test files, plus dedicated tests for XSS, API and storage security.
- Search and AI visibility
- Structured data for the business, products, offers, reviews, recipes and FAQs, an llms.txt file for AI assistants, and logging of AI crawler visits.
Outcome and status
Ruchers de l’Est sells directly to customers online, in French and English, with the beekeeper’s story, seasonal harvests and loyalty programmes in one place.
Because delivery runs through Fretolia, one order flow reaches customers across the island.
Questions about Miel.mu
Where can I buy Miel.mu honey?
Honey from Ruchers de l’Est is sold online at miel.mu, with delivery anywhere in Mauritius. For gift boxes, events or larger orders, send an enquiry through this website.
How can I pay on Miel.mu?
Miel.mu accepts Juice by MCB transfers and cash on delivery. Card payment is planned.
Where is Ruchers de l’Est based?
The apiaries are in the east of Mauritius, around Trou d’Eau Douce.
Can I order honey for an event or corporate gifts?
Yes. Send an enquiry with the occasion, quantity and date, and you will receive a reply about availability. Seasonal honeys depend on the harvest.
