Making labels in the UK since 1983
Four decades in one trade, in one country, for customers who mostly arrived because somebody recommended us.
Labelneeds started manufacturing labels in 1983 and was incorporated in 1986. The industry has changed a great deal in that time. What we are for has not.
We make printed, plain and film labels in the UK, at our own factory, on our own press. That is a deliberate position rather than a historical accident: it means short lines of communication, no import lead times, and a customer who wants to come and stand next to the press while their job runs can do exactly that.
Over time the work concentrated on food. Not because we decided to specialise on a whiteboard, but because food manufacturers kept coming back and kept sending other food manufacturers. Food is also the sector with the least tolerance for a label that is nearly right, which suits how we would rather work.
Company history
Three dates that matter.
The company starts
Labelneeds begins manufacturing labels in the UK.
Incorporated
The business is formally incorporated and settles into the pattern it has kept ever since: manufacture in the UK, sell on service, grow on referral.
A food label specialist
9-colour flexographic printing and Grade A BRCGS Packaging certification, for food manufacturers across the UK.
How we grew
Referral is a slow way to build a business.
Labelneeds has grown on trust, service and reliability, on long-term customer relationships, and on referrals and word of mouth. That is worth saying plainly because of what it implies: almost every customer we have arrived because somebody who already used us was willing to put their name to the recommendation.
It is a slower way to build a business than advertising, and a much harder one to fake. It also sets a standard, because the mechanism only keeps working while the last customer is still happy.
Today we supply food manufacturers across the UK, including businesses that pack for the major retailers.
The team
You will speak to the same people.
Long-serving people are the reason a specification held on file is worth anything.
When you ring about a reorder, the person who answers has probably run your job before, remembers what happened last time the material changed, and knows which of your lines is fussy. That knowledge does not live in a system. It lives in people who have been here a long time, which is the practical argument for keeping a team together.
It also means no ticket queue and no account manager who has never seen your label.
Managing Director
David is part of the account, not an escalation path.
David leads the business and is personally involved in customer relationships. For most of the manufacturers we supply, the route to a decision is one conversation rather than three departments.
Customers work directly with experienced people who understand their requirements and are committed to delivering reliable solutions.
Where we are
Everything we sell is made here.
Customers are welcome to visit. Seeing the press that will run your job, and the people who will run it, is worth more than any page on this website.
Reviewing your label supplier?
Let's talk.
Tell us what you make, how it is packed and what your current labels are not doing. We will come back with a specification and a straight quote.