Industries we supply
Food, in all the awkward forms it comes in. Every one of these sectors fails a label in its own particular way, and knowing which one you are in is most of the specification.
What we supply
One sector. Six ways a label has to survive it.
Food manufacturing is the whole of what we supply. The sub-sectors below are not separate businesses to us: they are the same held specification meeting a different fill temperature, a different store and a different shelf life. Find yours and you have most of the specification already.
Food manufacturing
Ambient, chilled and frozen production of every scale, from single-site manufacturers to businesses packing for the major grocers. Primary labels, back-of-pack, and the plain stock your coders run.
Honey and preserves
Jars, high-gloss stocks and labels that survive a warm fill and a cold shelf without the edges lifting.
PhotographyLabelled honey and preserve jarsA row of finished jars carrying labels we printed, lit warmly. The premium paper stock and the label edge on the curve of the jar should both be visible. Bakery
High-volume, short-shelf-life production where date coding and reliable plain stock matter more than anything else.
PhotographyBakery line, labels being codedBlank labels running through a date coder or being applied to bread, cake or morning goods packaging. The point of the shot is volume and speed. Chilled foods
Chill-grade adhesives and constructions that hold through condensation, damp stores and cold-room handling.
PhotographyChilled pack with condensationA chilled or frozen pack straight out of the cabinet, beaded with condensation, with the label flat and intact to the corners. Drinks
Bottles and cans where the label is the brand: clear film for a no-label look, and stocks that survive ice, chill and handling.
PhotographyChilled bottles, label intactDrinks bottles wet from an ice bucket or chiller, ideally one carrying a clear-on-clear label so the no-label look is visible against the liquid. Sauces and condiments
Oil and fat resistance, hot fill, and conformable film for squeeze bottles that would crease a paper label.
PhotographySqueeze bottle in the handA sauce or condiment squeeze bottle being held and squeezed, showing the film label flexing with the pack instead of creasing. Specialist food brands
Growing brands going into retail for the first time, where the label has to look like it belongs next to the national brand beside it.
PhotographyA small brand's full rangeThree or four products from one specialist brand photographed together, so the consistency of the labelling across a range is the subject.
Being a supplier, not a printer
Most of the value is in the second order, not the first.
Anyone can print a label once. The reason customers stay with us for decades is what happens on the repeats.
We hold your specifications - material, adhesive, die, reel spec, wind direction, core - so a reorder is a phone call rather than a fresh specification exercise. We hold your colour standards on file, so run forty is matched against the same reference as run one rather than against the last delivery. And where usage is predictable, we would rather agree a call-off against your real weekly consumption than have you ring us in a panic on a Thursday afternoon.
For a manufacturer running several sites or several coders, there is usually a tidy-up available too: one label specification that works everywhere, instead of four that nearly do.
Held on your file
- Specification, die and reel spec
- Approved artwork version and sign-off
- Colour standards for every repeat run
Agreed up front
- Call-off pattern against real usage
How we work
From application to delivery.
Tell us the application
Not just the size. What the pack is, where it is filled, how it is stored and what it has to survive. Most label problems are specification problems.
We specify and quote
Face stock, adhesive, finish and print, with the reasoning behind each choice and a straight answer on what it costs.
Proof and approve
Artwork proofed and signed off before anything runs, with the approved version held on record against the job.
Print, check and deliver
Printed at Cardiff, checked against the approved standard, wound to your spec and delivered to your production dates.
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.