24: Secret Shoppers, Diversified Growth, & Running Two Businesses at Once | Mistie Boulton, Oren’s Hummus & EyeSpy

“You want more happy employees that are gonna turn to happy guests, and in order to do that you don’t want your team to feel overwhelmed.”

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Mistie Boulton is the CEO of Oren’s Hummus, and the President and Founder of EyeSpy Critiquing & Consulting, a mystery shopping and operations improvement business for the service industry. 

Mistie brings 20+ years of restaurant industry experience to this conversation, where we dive deep into why she decided to start a mystery shopping business in her 20’s, how she grew Oren’s Hummus to 6 brick-and-mortar locations, and her thoughts on scaling with diversified revenue streams. 

She shares her thoughts on virtual kitchens, storefront location selection, leveraging a commissary kitchen to help grow, counter service vs. full service business models, and much more.

Mistie is super sharp and accomplished, with decades of knowledge to share. Please enjoy my conversation with Mistie Boulton of Oren’s Hummus and EyeSpy!

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Where to find Oren’s Hummus:

• Website: https://orenshummus.com/
• IG: @orenshummus
• FB: OrensHummus
• Twitter: @orenshummus

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Where to find Mistie:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mistiecohen/

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Where to find Bryan:

• Website: https://www.myfirstrestaurant.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-tublin-03548910/
• Twitter: @btublin 

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Where to find Kitava:

• Website: https://www.kitava.com/
• Instagram: @kitavakitchen

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Referenced:

• CTUIT

In this episode, we cover:

• (01:15) How Mistie became CEO of two companies
• (06:45) Lessons learned from managing multiple locations prior to starting EyeSpy & Oren’s
• (10:41) Why she decided to start a business around Mystery Shopping
• (12:25) EyeSpy’s services explained
• (20:38) When they knew Oren’s was ready to expand
• (22:11) Their biggest obstacles to expansion
• (25:33) How CTUIT has helped Oren’s with wage and hours compliance
• (28:09) Building out the team at Oren’s Hummus
• (31:55) Building out the corporate “resource” team started at 3 locations
• (35:57) Oren’s Hummus location strategy – “be where the tech companies are”
• (37:55) Franchising as a growth strategy
• (39:25) How Oren’s chose their growth channels
• (41:50) Full service vs. counter service
• (45:40) The most common mistakes she sees brands make when trying to grow
• (46:55) How Oren’s tactically implements employee training
• (48:13) On The Fly Segment