Pellicle is not yet one year old. We are due to celebrate our first birthday on May 1st and were planning to host a little party, which sadly—like a lot of our current plans—we have decided to put on hold temporarily while we adjust to a slightly different way of life, for a few weeks or months at least.

We’re a very small business, run by two people who don’t yet take a wage from our income, ensuring these resources are available to pay our contributors a fair rate for their work. Although our plan remains to grow to a size where we can take a wage so that we can invest more time in our fledgling publication as it—hopefully—continues to grow slowly and sustainably.

We were able to establish ourselves last year thanks to an investment from my Dad, which was enough to cover our operating costs for six months. Following that, we have been supported by our sponsor, independent beer, wine, cider and hot sauce retailer Hop Burns & Black, and by our Patreon subscribers. This support has grown to a point where we managed to break even in January and February, which was hugely exciting for Jonny and me.

However, in light of the present circumstances, particularly those affecting the brewing and hospitality industries, we have decided to take a comprehensive look at our finances, and tighten our belts in an effort to prolong our existence during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our aim now is to survive for as long as possible and keep publishing joyful content about the food and drink makers, producers and sellers who inspire us in the meantime.

The majority of our income comes from our sponsor and pro-tier supporters on Patreon, all of which are in the brewing and hospitality industries. We also understand that the majority of our individual supporters' personal circumstances will likely be subject to change. As such, it is unreasonable to expect our current level of support to continue under the present circumstances.

We currently have enough money in our company bank account to keep the website running until around mid-July. This is based on us sticking to our current schedule of publishing one feature per-week, our monthly Pellicle Mixtape and Nelson and Goldy comic, plus admin/hosting fees. This is worst-case scenario stuff, but it goes without saying the greater the level of support we retain during this time, the longer we can keep going.

We’re also taking a number of other steps to preserve our finances for as long as possible during this time:

Regrettably (and this is tough to write) we’re putting plans for our first print edition on hold for now. Much of our current reserves were earmarked for this project, but we feel the best use of these funds at the moment is to plough them into creating more content for the site. The good news is the four features we’d already had turned in for issue one will now be published online in the near future. Once things begin to return to normal we will reassess this, as creating an immersive, beautifully put together print magazine is still one of our highest priorities.

We are not currently accepting new pitches. Our editorial schedule currently runs until Mid-June, with some commissions not yet submitted. Our priority is towards publishing these existing commissions and paying their creators the promised rate. We will not be commissioning any work unpaid during this time. We believe writing, photography and illustration is labour that deserves fair compensation, and not paying for this work contravenes our core principles as a business.

An advantage of this downtime is that we’ll be able to get our online shop up in a few days. We’ve got some excellent t-shirts designed by Tida Bradshaw and hand screen printed by Tom Delaney at Killer Tees over in Galway, Ireland, plus sticker packs for sale. Needless to say, every purchase made will help us keep the lights on. We’ll potentially look at other merch options should our finances allow this.

We have contacted all of our Patreon supporters and sponsor to let them know that they should feel under no obligation to support us during this time, as we feel under the present circumstances this is an unreasonable expectation. We’ve also contacted our network of writers, illustrators and photographers to let them know our plans for the foreseeable future.

However, if you are able to support Pellicle during this challenging time, please consider signing up to our Patreon if you haven’t done so already. Pledges start from just $1 a month and don’t forget you’re allowed to enter a custom amount if one of the existing tiers doesn’t quite fit your needs.

Please don’t worry if you’re not able to support us financially. You can help us by simply reading our articles, and sharing them with people you think might enjoy them. We’re still tiny in the grand scheme of things, so raising awareness is still the most effective thing folks can do in order to help us thrive.

Our present aim is to keep the site running for as long as possible, in the hope that we weather this period of uncertainty and still exist when things start to get back to normal. It’s our belief that great content, which provides escapism and promotes joyfulness is more essential than ever right now, and it’s our aim to keep doing that via our website for as long as we possibly can.

Cheers,

Matt and Jonny

Illustration by James Albon