Destination Profile: Smudge Publishing
Smudge Publishing is a digital and print publishing company based in Collingwood, Melbourne, set up by mother and daughter team, Jonette George and Daniele Wilton. They currently have 15 employees. The creators of Flavours of Melbourne and The Burger Book, Smudge have published 23 titles and in 2015 launched their website SmudgeEats. Smudge write on food, wine and coffee and the cafes, bars and restaurants they’re served.
Comet spoke to Managing Director Daniele Wilton about Smudge and its beginnings.
Read our Destination Review of Smudge.
How Smudge began
“I’ve been in love with food all my life. Mum has been in publishing all her life. When I finished my uni degree, we decided to go into business together and start creating books. We did one book, and it was so successful that we went on and did another one. Nearly eight years later we are still going.”
Smudge as a business
“There’s a print side and the digital side. We have published around 23 titles so far. In May last year, we launched our website SmudgeEats, because we felt we needed to be open to the digital world in today’s society. Print wasn’t enough. Since then everything has taken off.”
“For our books, we go out to cafes, restaurants and bars to ask them to pre-order a certain amount of books. That fulfils the print order because each café and restaurant are ordering 20 or so books to sell from their venue. That is why everyone sees our books everywhere.”
The Smudge team
“We are all friends. We are all into food, we kind of like the same things, so we have a lot to talk about. We organise lunches every week, and we always have wine on Fridays. I encourage people to bring their dogs to work. We have a lot of fun.”
What don’t people know about Smudge
“We get sent so many food products to test each week! Also that we’re not a big publishing company, but a small family business.”
The challenges
“Since we launched our digital side, it’s probably keeping up with the amazing restaurants and cafes that open each week — I think we average about ten a week in Melbourne — and be the first to get the story out.”
The employee endorsement
Penny, Managing Editor and Account Manager
“Smudge is really good at letting you follow your strengths and the things you enjoy, and letting that shape what you do. I’ve been given so much trust and responsibility that it pushes you to really step up. I love coming to work. I get up everyday, and I’m excited to come in and do what I’m doing with the team. They’re supportive of finishing on time and if you have to work overtime, getting that compensated sometime down the track. As long as we give enough notice, we can take all our leave in one big chunk and go overseas. I’m able to work from home at times as well. They’re really encouraging of personal growth and of us wanting to enjoy our jobs. We all feel so invested in the company and so passionate about what we’re doing.”
Find out more about what it’s like to work at Smudge in our Destination Review.
