Securing a sweet outcome on a career-making label project

Hailing from sunny Santa Monica, Dani Blanco has spent her entire career honing her skills in cost negotiations, procurement assistance, inventory control and merchandising management.

This expertise is why Taste of Nature, a candy and snack food manufacturer owned by the Chicago-based Candy ASAP, hired her in mid-2021. She reports directly to the owners, who have tasked her with many high-pressure responsibilities.

“I work directly with the Q&A team as well as the Research and Development team in Melrose Park. So I’m reaching out to vendors to get labels printed, get stuff here on time, keep track of all the projects in development, ingredient decks, deal with international customers — just making sure everybody stays on point and we keep our timelines.”

Quick-thinking is a must in this role. On just her second day, she faced a monster assignment: procuring 6,000 last-minute cover-up labels. Their edible cookie dough client, Doughlish, needed to change the flavor on a surplus of triple chocolate brownie tubs. The change required new wording, nutritional panels and colors — while fitting perfectly onto the container without drawing any attention to the cover up.

At the time, Dani didn’t know anything about label vendors. But while some people might have caved under the pressure, she turned to Google.

Close proximity was key, so she limited her search to label providers in the Chicagoland area. And in her results, Pamco Label offered the highest customer reviews.

“I just cold-called them and said, ‘Help!’”

In the end, she didn’t just secure an on-time quality product at a reasonable cost. She got a crash course in commercial label engineering, which was just what she needed to succeed. And that’s all because of Glenn Chelius.

“He made it so easy for me and taught me real quick about labels, how they work, what I was looking for, what kind of label we needed, how many colors were in it, what we could use, what we couldn’t, pretty much everything. I had never done that before. He really did teach me a lot,” she said. “Otherwise, it would’ve been a catastrophe.”

That failure wouldn’t have just been hard to swallow. It could have cost her job. Instead, partnering with Pamco helped Dani triumph in her first big assignment — and prove her worth in her new role.

Overview

Location — Melrose Park, IL

The problem — 6,000 mislabeled product containers

The solution — Digitally-printed white BOPP cover-up labels

Result — Perfect execution of concept and need within budget

Bonus — Earned a spot as a long-term vendor

“I just cold-called them and said, ‘Help!’”

Dani already had in-mold labels (IML) on 6,000 14-ounce Doughlish tubs. The problem: They said “triple chocolate brownie,” and she needed them converted to “chocolate chip cookie dough bites” instead. But cover-up labels are complicated — they must be opaque enough to change the design without drawing attention to the original misprint or causing barcode interference — and their regular vendor’s price exceeded the project’s budget.

“And then I found Glenn, thank you whoever you pray to for that, because he’s amazing,” she said. “I basically just told him what I was looking for: Can you do something like this? What’s your turnaround time? Here was the price we need to be at — can you meet it?”

To her relief, Glenn could do that and more. In that one phone call, he used his expertise to guide her through considerations like materials, colors and curves.

“Then I could go to my team and say, ‘Here’s our choices. Help me decide.’ He gave me the options I needed for me to make educated decisions.”

Dani would also later learn that Pamco, which gave her the friendly personal touch of a local business, is part of Resource Label Group. She had inadvertently partnered with one of the most wide-reaching label providers in the nation — and was about to directly benefit from the power of our coast-to-coast network.

Friendly, fair and fast

Dani faces two main challenges in her role: “Time and time. I’m not kidding. My biggest job is to get things done in a timely manner and turn things around quickly.”

But in this supply chain climate, “fast” is rare.

“Just trying to get stuff here or to our warehouse — whether it be raw materials, a sample, whatever — has been a source of contention,” said Blanco. “Everything, everything, is delayed.”

Dani was smart to zero in on Pamco for its locality, just seven miles from the Melrose Park facility. Throughout that first project, Glenn just got in his car and delivered samples to her partners in person.

“That’s how close he is. And he goes above and beyond.”

Their project moved fast. She sent art files at the end of July. Less than a week later, Glenn delivered mockups and price quotes.

“And by August 16, we had our final everything approved and ready to go. By September 9, we had our delivery. He was able to produce it quickly at a reasonable cost and it looked beautiful.”

Glenn achieved this by opting for digital printing, which reduced the cost-per-unit of the White BOPP labels and permitted the rapid turnaround. To ensure opacity, Pamco also used inks and printing processes to ensure maximum opacity.

Doughlish was thrilled by the speed, quality and cost of the cover-up labels. And as a result, Dani’s bosses were thrilled with her, too.

“It felt great,” Dani said. “You have no idea. And I can’t wait to get this next one done like that. Glenn is now definitely in our pool of vendors when it comes to labels and things of that nature.”

And when Dani was later instructed to secure 200,000 labels for Swirlz^TM cotton candy, she knew just who to call.

“He has been so wonderful, absolutely wonderful. I used to tell him all the time, ‘You’re my savior.’”

Dani started her search just looking for a cost-efficient label provider capable of fast turnarounds. With Glenn at Pamco, she got that and more — a friendly partner who didn’t just deliver, but someone she could trust and depend on time and time again.

Get a local partner with national reach

Dani Blanco needed a label provider who could meet her timelines and her budget. But after her Pamco Labels experience with Glenn Chelius, she learned the true advantages of working with a holistic label partner. That’s the value of the Resource Label Group.

With press sites across North America, RLG provides nationally scaled printing efficiency without sacrificing the personalized, one-on-one service of a local partner. Our capabilities include custom design and printing for a wide range of industries, including specialty label customizations.

When you work with our experienced team, you get a collaborative process that ensures design accuracy, proper material selection and a thorough evaluation of the best printing methods to achieve your vision.