Ep.74 The Mirror Test: How Do you Reflect Your Target Market?

This episode features Brendan Carr, Community Engagement Curator at Reading Museum, discusses his role, the museum's vast collections, and strategies for engaging audiences. Brendan was born and bred in Reading and has a wealth of experience in museums, including the last 25 years at Reading Museum.

The conversation delves into the evolution of Reading Museum, which is housed in the beautiful red brick Reading Town Hall and has been accumulating collections for over 140 years. He emphasises that the visible displays are just the "forefront," while the vast reserve collection acts as the town's "memory bank" for researchers worldwide.

The discussion touches on the vital topic of contemporary collecting and community engagement. Brendan stresses the importance of the museum acting as a "mirror," where people can see their own culture and background reflected. Engagement strategies focus on a balance of "old school" simple, tactile interactives and leveraging digital platforms for a growing global audience.

Finally, the conversation covers the challenges of funding, and the success of strategic partnerships and crafting "compelling" projects that align with the needs of funding agencies. Brendan concludes by encouraging listeners to visit the free museum for discovery and its positive impact on long-term wellbeing.

TIME CODES

00:00 Welcome

00:55 An introduction to Reading Museum

04:41 How large is the museum collection and how much is on display

08:19 How Reading Museum decides what stories and objects to collect

12:23 How Reading Museum staff keep the collection relevant over time

18:29 Brendan's role at the museum and what it involves: Community Engagement Curator

23:34 What works for engaging museum audiences

29:07 The data Reading Museum collect and how they're used

35:02 What challenges Brendan faces in carrying out his role

41:07 Brendan's final thoughts for listeners

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Be a "Mirror," Not Just a Platform: Customers must see themselves reflected in your product or service. Ensure your offerings and marketing reflect the diversity and current story of your target audience to establish identity and a feeling of belonging.

Craft Compelling, Aligned Partnerships: The museum augments its budget by raising funds through grant applications. The key is to craft partnership arrangements with communities and projects that fulfil the needs of the funding agencies/partners. Business owners should look for partners whose strategic goals align with their project's outcomes, creating a mutually beneficial relationship.

Proactive Asset Acquisition: Don't just save records—proactively collect items, stories, and data that reflect your current history. Business owners should be capturing the tools, narratives, and artifacts of their current success (e.g. prototypes, early marketing materials, customer testimonials, team stories) as they happen.

This episode features Alex Langlais, the owner of Café Yolk, discussing her background, the development of Café Yolk, and her philosophy on running a successful hospitality venture. The conversation delves into the diverse community it serves, and the detailed operational strategy behind its success.

The discussion begins with Alex's French-Canadian background and her upbringing in the restaurant industry, highlighting the essential need for passion and resilience in the field. She explains that Café Yolk was created to fill a market gap by delivering good quality food at an affordable price point, which is something she struggled to find when she first moved to the UK in 2007.

The conversation then moves to her practice of running the café, which focuses on intense attention to detail and consistency in execution. To maintain quality at scale, Alex developed Baby Yolk as a smaller, easier-to-operate "capsule" that can deliver consistency with less reliance on constant human presence, drawing parallels to the operational success of McDonald's.

Finally, the discussion touches on the constant operational challenges, which affect an industry operating on small margins. Alex advises other business owners to "be curious," stay open to new ideas, and be passionate about the business side of the industry to survive. She concludes by mentioning her plans for the future.

TIME CODES

00:00 Welcome to Alex Langlais

00:28 Alex's background

01:26 The gap that Café Yolk fills

02:19 Who are Café Yolk's audiences

04:28 What makes Café Yolk stand out/What is Café Yolk's USP?

06:04 How has Alex been able to get the details for Café Yolk right

07:48 How Alex's hospitality background has helped her to scale

08:46 What is 'Baby Yolk'?

10:04 Getting the correct operations in place for hospitality

10:50 The challenges Alex has faced over the years

12:38 Why you need to be passionate about the product and the business side

13:50 The tight margins in hospitality

14:16 The structure of Alex's week

16:03 Alex's advice for other business owners

17:28 You can't beat the classics!

18:02 Alex's plans for the future for Café Yolk

19:11 Alex's final thoughts

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Master the Micro-Details to Create a Premium Experience at Any Price Point

Alex demonstrates that quality is built on meticulous attention to every aspect of the customer journey, not just the core product. What are the "touchpoints" in your service or product that are often generic in your industry. How can you elevate them?

2. Design for Consistency and Scalability from Day One

Alex views her business as a "heavy machine to operate" and recognises that consistency is difficult to maintain with many people involved. Her solution was developing Baby Yolk, a smaller "capsule" designed to be easily replicated and deliver the same quality with less reliance on constant human error. What part of your service delivery relies too heavily on one individual or subjective judgment?

3. Be Passionately Business-Minded to Combat Slim Margins and External Pressures

In an industry with minimal margins, Alex stresses that passion for food is not enough; you must be equally passionate about business. This requires being extremely agile, constantly making hard decisions, and quickly re-adjusting the menu, operations, and pricing in response to volatile factors like government decisions, taxation, and ingredient shortages. How can you implement a routine for high-velocity decision-making regarding finances and inventory?

This episode features Tony Cowling and Tricia Marcousé of Draughtbusters, a community group dedicated to draught proofing the homes of people in energy poverty. Originating from a 2013-2014 initiative by Reading Borough Council, the service is provided free of charge. Despite the low overhead, the work is highly impactful: draught proofing can lead to annual savings of £150 to £250 and more on energy bills. Tony, a former builder, explains that common draughts are found in places like leaky trickle ventilators, under newly fitted doors, around pipes, and through floorboards.

Draughtbusters operates via a referral system through organisations like Reading Borough Council, Citizens Advice, and local hospitals, which helps establish the group's legitimacy and checks for energy poverty. Tricia manages the admin and promotion, noting that their biggest challenge is overcoming public suspicion due to scams and managing expectations. They stress that the purpose is to provide an essential service to those who cannot afford it, and that draught proofing is the vital starting point before investing in major projects like heat pumps.

Looking ahead, Draughtbusters is expanding its reach beyond Reading. They are actively training and setting up autonomous groups across the region and as far as Scotland, with 15 new groups forming in surrounding towns over the last two and a half years. They conclude by asking listeners to volunteer to help meet the increasing demand for their invaluable service.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Prioritise Simple, High-ROI Intervention

The most impactful solutions are often the simplest, not the most expensive. Draughtbusters proves that a £22 investment in draft-proofing materials can yield £150 to £250 (and sometimes up to £600) in annual savings for clients. This demonstrates that focusing on eliminating foundational inefficiencies (like draughts) delivers massive, immediate, and recurring returns before tackling major capital projects.

Leverage Credibility for Project Flow (The Referral Engine)

To overcome public scepticism and the challenge of appearing as a "scam", Draughtbusters established a trust-based referral system. By partnering with trusted institutions like the Reading Borough Council, Citizens Advice, and the NHS, they ensured a consistent and vetted flow of clients. This structure is a powerful blueprint for any business or CSR initiative requiring verified need and high-trust acceptance.

Build a Scalable, Autonomous Training Model

The project's structure is designed for growth without central micromanagement. Draughtbusters scaled by focusing on training and workshops to help others set up autonomous groups. This enabled rapid expansion, resulting in 15 groups forming in surrounding towns and others as far as Scotland. The lesson is that to scale community impact, you must provide a replicable framework and empower local leaders to run their own operations.

TIMECODES

00:00 Greeting to Tony and Tricia

00:16 What is Draughtbusters

00:36 How did Draughtbusters start?

01:20 The Impact Draughtbusters is making

01:32 The most common causes of draught in a home

02:45 What is the mix of new to old homes in Reading?

03:23 What is the process for how someone contacts Draughtbusters

04:24 Tony's background and how he became interested in preventing draughts

06:12 Tricia's role in draughtbusters and how she promotes Draughtbusters

10:38 Draughtbusters groups outside of Reading

12:24 Challenges the group has faced

16:24 Draughtbusting tips from Tricia

19:47 Draughbusters going forwards and economics of Draughtbusters

21:23 Final thoughts