Mission Critical with Lance Chung – Details, episodes & analysis

What does it take to turn a simple product into a category-defining brand people obsess over?

In this episode of Mission Critical, Lance sits down with Mandy Wolfe, co-founder of Mandy's Salads, to break down how she and her sister transformed a tiny salad counter hidden inside a Montreal clothing store into one of Canada’s most recognizable lifestyle food brands.

But this conversation goes far beyond salads. Mandy shares the real playbook behind building customer loyalty, creating emotional connection through branding, scaling across new markets, engineering word-of-mouth growth, navigating hiring challenges, and staying relevant in an economy that changes by the day.

Whether you run a restaurant, retail business, e-commerce brand, or are just starting your entrepreneurial journey, this episode is packed with tactical insights on how to build a business people genuinely love.

In this episode:

• How Mandy’s got its first loyal customers
• Why customization became a growth advantage before it was trendy
• The importance of brand experience in driving repeat business
• What founders get wrong about expansion and scaling
• How Mandy’s built a lifestyle brand beyond food
• Why staying culturally relevant matters more than ever
• Lessons on hiring, partnerships, leadership, and longevity

If you’re building a business in Canada right now, this episode is a masterclass in creating a brand customers choose emotionally, not just practically.

Top 5 Key Takeaways

1. Great brands solve emotional needs—not just functional ones: Mandy’s didn’t just sell salads, it sold a feeling: wellness, escape, playfulness, customization, and belonging. The strongest businesses create emotional connection around everyday products.

2. Word-of-mouth growth can be intentionally designed: From customizable “secret menu” salads to instantly-recognizable pink takeout bags, Mandy’s built visual and social cues that naturally encouraged people to talk about the brand.

3. Expansion works best when it matches community culture: Instead of aggressively entering major downtown cores first, Mandy’s strategically chose neighbourhoods that aligned with the brand’s lifestyle positioning and customer base.

4. Scaling requires letting go of control: One of Mandy’s biggest lessons as a founder was learning to trust leadership teams and systems as the business expanded beyond what she and her sister could personally oversee day-to-day.

5. Staying relevant means staying curious: Mandy credits much of the brand’s continued success to surrounding themselves with younger talent, traveling frequently, observing culture shifts, and constantly evolving with customer behaviour.

About the Guest

Mandy Wolfe is the co-founder of Mandy's Salads, one of Canada’s most recognizable fast-casual restaurant and lifestyle brands.

What started as a tiny salad counter hidden inside a Montreal clothing boutique has grown into a multi-location business spanning Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, and beyond—along with a rapidly growing consumer packaged goods line carried in over 1,000 stores across Canada.

Known for its colourful branding, immersive restaurant design, customizable menu, and cult-like customer loyalty, Mandy’s has become a case study in turning a simple everyday product into a premium lifestyle experience.

Alongside her sister and co-founder Rebecca Wolfe, Mandy has helped redefine how Canadians think about healthy eating, hospitality, branding, and customer experience.

The wellness industry is exploding. But with that growth comes saturation, noise, and a hard truth: most brands won’t last.

In this episode of Mission Critical, Thom Tullo—founder of Face Pilates and Aman Spa—breaks down how he built a performance-driven wellness brand in one of the most competitive categories today.

From creating “addictive” client experiences to navigating product development, pricing strategy, and brand differentiation, Thom shares what actually drives retention, revenue, and long-term brand equity in wellness.

If you’re building in beauty, wellness, or any experience-driven business, this episode is a tactical deep dive into what it really takes to stand out—and scale—when everyone is competing for the same customer.

Top 5 Key Takeaways:

1. Wellness is No Longer a Trend, it's a Behaviour Shift: Post-COVID, consumers aren’t just spending on luxury. Rather, they’re prioritizing self-regulation, recovery, and mental clarity. The opportunity isn’t selling products—it’s solving for peace of mind.
2. Experience > Service: Thom didn’t just open a spa, he engineered a full sensory journey: scent, environment, pacing, and human interaction.
3. Retention Comes From “Addiction,” Not Acquisition: Thom’s philosophy is to create an experience so effective and emotionally resonant that it becomes part of someone’s routine.
4. Most Brands Misprice Themselves Out of Longevity: Many wellness brands overestimate what customers can actually afford long-term. High-ticket positioning may drive short-term hype—but kills repeat purchase behaviour.
5. You Don’t Need to Be the Expert, But You Need to Understand the System: From chemistry to product development, Thom didn’t start as an expert but he learned enough to lead. His edge wasn’t knowing everything; it was building the right team and asking the right questions.

About the Guest

Thom Tullo is a skin authority, entrepreneur, and founder of Face Pilates and Aman Spa.

Known for blending clinical precision with luxury wellness, Thom has built a reputation for performance-driven treatments that deliver visible, measurable results—without invasive procedures. He is the creator of Face Pilates™, a method that treats the face like a muscle system—combining lymphatic drainage, buccal massage, micro-current, and advanced techniques into a structured “facial workout.”

What started as a treatment has evolved into a multi-dimensional brand spanning services, products, and education, positioning Thom at the forefront of the next generation of wellness businesses.

Worth Knowing is your shortcut to the Canadian small businesses shaping culture and changing how we live.

In this episode, we spotlight Hetta, the Vancouver-based furniture brand founded by the team behind Sundays. Grounded in tradition and designed for modern living, Hetta creates timeless pieces meant to grow with you—and eventually be passed down.

Inspired by the old English name Etta, meaning “keeper of the hearth,” the brand is built around the idea that home is where connection happens across families, friendships, and generations.

With decades of industry experience, the founders prioritize craftsmanship, high-quality materials, and comfort, designing furniture that looks to the past while functioning for today. Pieces range from sofas and chairs to tables, beds, and storage solutions, all created to bring people together and make furnishing a home feel effortless.

As more consumers move toward buying fewer, better things, Hetta reflects a growing shift toward durability, heritage design, and future heirlooms. That is, furniture rooted in story rather than disposability.

If you’re tracking design trends, thoughtful entrepreneurship, or standout Canadian brands redefining home, this is one business worth knowing.

For 27 years, Jeanne Beker was the voice in fashion media—a trailblazer that earned her stripes by reporting on the industry’s most spectacular events and personalities. The host of Fashion Television, her show was syndicated around the globe to 130 countries, offering a glimpse into a pre-social media world that was often guarded and gated. It was her tenacity, warmth, and unapologetic pursuit of a story that led her to interview the likes of Karl Lagerfeld, Kate Moss, Jean Paul Gaultier, Naomi Campbell and so many of the industry’s icons and juggernauts.But looking past the sequins and the tulle and jewels, Jeanne’s reporting on fashion offered a perspective that translated the language of style into a larger dialogue around culture. Through her electric and supercharged interviews, she was also having a conversation about sustainability, commerce, politics, culture, and values. Fashion has always been a barometer of the times, and Jeanne always understood the assignment well. On today’s podcast, Lance is joined by the legendary journalist to talk about her foray into the business, the most entrepreneurial designers, and her best advice on fighting for your own opportunities. 

If the eyes are the windows to your soul, then what does a pair of eyeglasses say about you? For many, eyewear is an extension of one’s self. Quite literally, when you consider the fact that approximately 68 percent of Canadians wear corrective lenses, and figuratively as a reflection of personal style and expression. For years, however, the $160 billion global eyewear industry was controlled by a handful of companies that kept prices high and quality low. That is, until Warby Parker stepped onto the scene in 2010, shaking an entire industry up by offering high-quality eyewear at an accessible price directly to the consumer.  Founded in Philadelphia by Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt, David Gilboa, and Jeffrey Raider out of a Venture Initiation Program of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the company soon learned that there was a community clamouring for elevated design in prescription glasses that wouldn’t cost hundreds of dollars. Within a year of launching, Warby Parker had earned the interest of Vogue with a feature that caught the attention of both customers and investors alike. As of 2021, Warby Parker is valued at USD $6.8 billion and has distributed over 10 million pairs of glasses around the globe. But despite their commercial success, Warby Parker’s founders have set their sights on far more ambitious pursuits. In this episode, co-founder David Gilboa joins Lance to talk about how Warby Parker grew into a multi-billion-dollar company, his biggest lessons learned along the way, and their mission to revolutionize access to vision care around the world. 

When it comes to international studies, Canada is a top pick for students thanks to the quality of our education system and multicultural reputation. According to the Canadian Bureau for International Education, the years between 2010 and 2019 saw a 154 percent increase in international students visiting Canada, 60 percent of which planned on pursuing permanent residence. In 2021 alone, there were 621,565 international students in Canada across all levels of study. It’s true that Canada is a nation known for its diversity, and that extends to post-secondary campuses across the country. But for many who make their way over to pursue academic studies, the experience can be daunting. Such was the cause for Martin Basiri. After experiencing hurdles as an international student from Iran, he formed his recruitment platform, Applyboard, with his brothers Meti and Massi. Today, ApplyBoard has helped over 300,000 students in over 125 countries, secured over $50M in scholarships, and solidified partnerships with over 1500 schools in a bid to drive up diversity and international minds across campuses in Canada, the US, and the UK. With over 1500  team members around the globe and a valuation of $4 Billion, the vision has always been singular: to provide easier access to education. In this episode, I’m joined by Martin to talk about empowering future talent through education, his entrepreneurial journey, and how we can all embrace a student mindset. 

It’s a big responsibility when you’re given the keys to an international community platform with an audience in the millions. So, what do you do with that kind of power? That ability to influence both micro and macro community and industry change? Certainly, there are individuals out there that would take the opportunity to amass further growth by any means necessary and with reckless abandon, and then there are leaders like Erin Elofson.

In her role as Pinterest’s head of Canada and APAC region (which includes Australia and Japan), Erin’s philosophy around leadership means cultivating a platform through the power of positivity. But, what exactly does that mean? Unlike other platforms that have been slow to enforce change and policy, Pinterest took a stance against misinformation and problematic content before anyone asked them to do so and they did that through policy in an effort to create a safe and progressive space for its users. Today, what that means is a concise and intentional effort to build positivity into its platform by banning things like weight loss ads, political campaigns, and COVID misinformation so that users can feel safe.In today’s episode, Lance speaks with Erin about what it means to be proactive about building beneficial change, how to build a responsible community platform, and why Pinterest might just be the most positive corner of the internet. 

Food has always been a powerful way of exploring themes beyond its function as a means of sustenance. Think about the best meal you’ve ever had or your fondest food memory. Chances are they involved being in the company of others by breaking bread or engaging in long-held traditions. Food is culture—it brings people together, cements our most cherished memories, promotes powerful dialogue, and forces us to ask important questions about ourselves and our communities.It is through this perspective that entrepreneur Shiza Shahid created her company, Our Place. You may recognize them for their buzzy social media campaigns and kitchenware essentials that promise to make everyone’s lives easier. But beyond that, Shahid’s LA-based company has inevitably ignited meaningful conversations around racial identity, culture, and equality by inviting others into the kitchen.Building a mission-focused company isn’t new to Shahid. Before Our Place, the Pakistani entrepreneur co-founded the Malala Fund alongside Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai to provide better access to education for girls around the world. She also built her own investment company (NOW Ventures) that focused on supporting mission-driven and women-founded startups. Throughout her career, Shahid has devoted herself to not only creating more seats at the table but to building bigger, more inclusive ones altogether—all in an effort to provide others (women and people of colour, in particular) with a voice and opportunities of their own.In today’s episode, Shiza joins me to discuss her fondest food memories, her experience building Our Place, and the best way to support other women entrepreneurs.Registration for the ninth edition of the Veuve Clicquot Bold Awards in Canada will open on September 2022: https://www.veuveclicquot.com/en-ca/bold-by-veuve-clicquot/about

The year is 2016 and a new phenomenon has thrown the world into an absolute tizzy. People are out in the streets, running into traffic, and flocking to seemingly random destinations. They are zombies attached to their phones on a singular mission to catch them all. And what exactly are they looking to capture? Pokémon. If we rewind and look past the pandemic, you might remember the sheer frenzy that Pokémon Go sent the world into. Shortly after launching, it was almost impossible to avoid the topic entirely as friends, family, and colleagues became consumed in their quest to capture as many pokemon as possible. It was an instant hit that saw app downloads soar to the top of the charts, its popularity is driven largely by a mix of nostalgia and novelty. Unlike other video games, Pokémon Go harnessed the power of augmented reality (or AR) to offer users a heightened real-world experience. While it can be argued that Pokémon Go drove AR into mainstream popularity, the technology has actually been around for a while now. According to the Harvard Business Review, we saw the first commercial application of AR in 2008 when German advertising agencies used the technology to market a BMW Mini. Since then, it’s likely that you’ve used AR in your own experience as well, whether as a Pokémon Go user, viewing real estate listings, trying on a pair of glasses, or placing a filter over your face on a social media platform. The opportunities are endless not only for the end-user, but for the companies that operate directly within the space. Snap Inc is one of them. Joining Lance on today’s episode is Matt McGowan, general manager of Snap Inc. Canada, which bills itself as the “leader in Augmented Reality” and owns Snapchat, Spectacles, Bitmoji, and Zenly. In today’s episode, Matt joins Lance to talk about building community through technology, what the big deal is about AR anyway, and more.

Take a look inside the boardrooms of corporate Canada and you’ll find that over the years, they’ve largely stayed (and looked) the same. While it has been proven again, and again, and again that a diverse executive suite directly contributes to the growth of a company’s bottom line and overall performance (and is just generally the right thing to do,) straight, white cisgender men have kept the c-suite looking pretty much the same for a long, long time. Wes Hall is working to change that. One of Canada’s most powerful figures on Bay Street, Wes is the executive chairman and founder behind Kingsdale Advisors, an investor on Dragons’ Den, and the founder of the BlackNorth Initiative—a non-profit whose mission is to end anti-Black systemic racism in the corporate world.In the wake of the George Floyd murder and Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, Wes was moved to take action by doing what he does best—by using business as a vessel for change. Specifically, by having the country’s top executives and companies commit to diversifying key decision-making positions. Almost two years since he founded the non-profit, Lance chats with Wes on today’s episode about building BlackNorth, their Racial Equity Playbook, and how long it takes to make progress.