Food Labels

[Sally44]

I want to get some food labels printed for the jams and chutneys that my husband makes.

 

Currently we are just using Avery type labels, but have had someone design a label for us.

 

But the quotes we are getting from printing companies is ridiculous, something like 40p per label!

 

There must be a much cheaper option out there. Does anyone have any ideas.

 

We just want a label with a printed logo, product name, and the legal requirement stuff relating to weight, use by, ingredients etc.

[LancsLad]

Hi Sally,

 

From a design perspective I think you are possibly stuck in a tricky position here. At one end of the design scale you could simply print out an A4 or better A3 sheet of paper on a lazer printer, take a pair of scissors cut out the rectangles and glue them onto the jars.In this way you will get your costs down.

 

On a comercial production run the labels would be printed onto a roll using lithographic techniques and the volume would again get costs down but you would have thousands of labels. Your product is fixed untill you use up the vast majority of them which could be years.

 

Personally given the processes involved if these are peel off self adhesive labels on a sheet then the price seems reasonable if a little bit high. From a bussiness perspective this leaves you with the issue of how can you incorporate this price into the product when you start to think of other things such as the price for the jars, the energy used in manufacture, any additional bougth ingredients such as sugar etc... thats before you factor your own time in.

 

The issue here is what message are you trying to portray and what is the price point you feel the product is worth. I am not trying to offend your husbands chutneys here rather make a profesional point. If they are a basic cheap and cheerful product to be sold on in farmers markets where a smile and a handshake from the producer are present labels are not that important beyond displaying the legal stuff and a low cost option works well, the customer does not want to pay 30p for the label in such situations.

 

If you are placing these products in local country stores which are populated in the main by tourists the game might be really fancy labels because of competition on the shelf but with again a basic product as you might not expecting are re-sale. They get the stuff home think its OK, nothing special, and put it down to a compulsive holiday purchase. In this situation they have paid the 40p and are not that bothered either.

 

In my opinion the position you might be going for and suspect you want to is a versatile product and that will be all about creating value added in as many places as possible starting with the product. If you have got a stand out product or better still a small range of products which are connecting in philosiphy and style then the next step is supporting and adding to those value points with labeling, jar proportions and form etc... Elegant and chic products tall thin and sexy, wholesome short round friendly. The whole package has to work together from fonts on the label through to paper types metalics, shiny gloss or textured recyled looks etc... if you get this right then absorbing £2 or £2.50 into the product might be quite feasable and include a linnen checkered fabric cover and a coloured elastic band, though I would throw in a cliche.

 

I think if really pushed there might be a half way house and that is in printing labels onto a sheet of paper and lazer printing them and cutting and gluing them on as a low cost option. You then add in value added by using high quality paper, cutting a wavy edge to the label to make it look a bit more up the price point all of which are basically distraction techniquest to throw the customer off the fact that this is a cut out clued on basic label.

 

I am not sure what your motives are can you see a good viable bussiness in this and have strong ideas of where it might go, or is it a bit of a hobby. What i would say is that if you want it to be a reasonable little earner then in the early days get things right. You might in the first year build up a little repeat consumer base in local stores never knowing who the customers are, to then change things to something different after a year or so looses this valuable work. You might in hindsight be of the opinion that the artwork done for you is not right. I think this happens a lot. Artwork should be done at the very end of the process and as such you should have been aware of its cost of printing even before a pen touched paper or a digital mark was made on a computer screen.

 

To conclude Sally farmers markets have been a really good thing in my eyes if they stick to their core concept of local people creating good value sustainably produced nutritious food and having some fun along the way and displaying to others their own values. Just as in every other aspect of life I believe your values are in the minority Sally. What happens is along comes commercial opperations understanding there is some cash to be made here. In our village we have a 'farmers market' and I have seen vans whoose addresses on the livery show a 200 mile round trip so much for sustainablility a low carbon footprints! If you want to sell against this type of organisation then you need to get professional and that means lots of control, planning and organisation, next thing you know you have something akin to a small bussiness. When you do you might think where is all the fun and where have my values gone but I do like the idea of a bit of cash next thing Harrods Christmas hampers, now that's an idea!

 

For me my choice would be a cut out glued on recycled paper label on the back containing the legal stuff. On the front again a simple label with a hand drawn picture of a flower or your house with a signature so everyone is slightly different and unique, thats low cost with massive added value, but then I am not interested in making money only in covering costs. Work out what the project is all about and the answers will come at the end of the day a good label costs the same to print as a bad one, your reaction to the 40p might be you do not think the label is good enough, just a thought. The problem might be a friend has done the art work and can't wait to see it in the local store how do you let them down, or was it done by a professional graphic designer if it was why were you not aware of the printing costs from the outset, maybee you were and my reply is covering old ground, if it is my appologies.

 

Best wishes.

[chris54]

How good are you at designing you own labels. If you have Microsoft Word it is relatively easy. Then you could print them of onto A4 label sheets.

 

If you have a logo, you can scan that in and re-size it to fit. You could print off small batches changing things like the use by date for each batch.

[Sally44]

How good are you at designing you own labels. If you have Microsoft Word it is relatively easy. Then you could print them of onto A4 label sheets.

 

If you have a logo, you can scan that in and re-size it to fit. You could print off small batches changing things like the use by date for each batch.

 

This is what I was wondering MUST be possible.

 

We are a small production unit compared to firms. But we make batches of 50-100 jars at a time. So there is no way I can spend alot of time handwriting etc on the label as others may do on a "one off" basis.

 

We just need something that is one step up from what we are doing at the moment, which is using small Avery type labels.

 

If we use a bigger label size we can fit all of the legal stuff onto it no problems, and the label design is quite good, and includes the brand name that we have used over the last 18 months.

 

My question is why doesn't this chap designing the labels know that this is an option. At the time we appointed him we told him that we had looked at commercial labels, and we said that those prices were just silly.

 

There is no way you can sell a £2.40 product, which costs about a £1 for the ingredients and 30p for the jar, and then pay 40p for a label. Then it is not worth doing.

 

When you say scan it in, do you mean scan it on the printer?

And then what? Do I save it as a word document?

[Special_talent123]

how about buying label things and making your own design using your computer?

[chris54]

When you scan something it is saved as a image, (Photo).

 

I don't realy know enough about doing this sort of thing to be of much help. I have to get my son to help me.

[Special_talent123]

u know how to make business cards on computer, using that version but edit it as food labels and type in what u need then print it on sticky labels

[Special_talent123]

yes when u scan it on the printer, it automatically scans into the pc as a photo

[chris54]

u know how to make business cards on computer, using that version but edit it as food labels and type in what u need then print it on sticky labels

 

I think it would be helpful if you could give a few pointers how to go about this.

Edited May 7, 2012 by chris54

[Special_talent123]

u know i think its publisher u can make business cards- well u can edit contact details and use it as a label with design. i cant describe properly this is the best i can explain

[Sally44]

Thanks for the info.

I'm going to see if I can find out how to do it.

I've got a few people in mind to ask.