“We needed to triple our SKUs without tripling our footprint,” says Marta K., Operations & Sustainability Lead at Coast & Cellar, a Europe-based wine and pantry start‑up shipping across the EU. “Labels were the lever we could actually control.” Early on, the team trialed sample packs from onlinelabels to prototype facestocks and adhesives before committing to suppliers in volume.
The scope was deceptively simple: a cohesive line for bottled wines and pantry jars with short runs, frequent seasonal updates, and a low-impact materials profile. The tricky part was aligning brand ambition with the realities of Digital Printing and finishing, while staying within budget and EU rules.
This is a transcript-style walkthrough of what they tried, what worked, and what didn’t—told through the decisions that shaped their label program.
Company Overview and History
Q: Give us the 30‑second history—what’s Coast & Cellar in a nutshell?
A: “We launched in Lisbon in 2021 with a dozen SKUs—three urban wines and a small pantry line. By year two, we were hovering around fifty SKUs spread across Portugal, Spain, and Northern Europe. Direct-to-consumer was our starting point, but retail placements came fast. We leaned on digital for agility, especially for personalized wine labels used in club releases and corporate gifting.”
Q: Why were labels so central?
A: “For a young brand, labels do the heavy lifting. We didn’t have budget for complex secondary packaging. We needed clarity at shelf and credibility in hand. For the pantry side, custom jar labels had to survive condensation, minor scuffs, and variable fill dates without looking tired.”
Q: Any early missteps?
A: “We underestimated how finish choices translate to perception. A matte paper that felt premium on wine bottles looked dull on jar lids under retail lighting. That pushed us to create distinct finish palettes for wine versus pantry, even when using the same press.”
Sustainability and Compliance Pressures
Q: You carry the sustainability remit—what were the non‑negotiables?
A: “Two pillars: materials with credible chain-of-custody, and inks/adhesives aligned with EU 1935/2004 and EU 2023/2006. We specified FSC paper on wine Labelstock and PP film for chilled jars, both compatible with low-migration UV Ink in a label application (no direct food contact). We also documented conformance to BRCGS PM. On the carbon side, moving to lighter paper stocks brought CO₂/pack down by roughly 8–12%, depending on SKU.”
Q: Where did you face trade‑offs?
A: “Adhesives and removability. Our custom jar labels needed to tolerate moisture and brief refrigeration, but we didn’t want residues that contaminate reuse or recycling. We evaluated a water-washable adhesive line—good on PET streams—yet availability in Europe for our volumes was tight. We settled on a permanent adhesive with documented recycling compatibility for PP/PET, while continuing trials on wash-off options.”
Q: A detail that mattered more than expected?
A: “Supplier documentation. We had a procurement note that literally read ‘Supplier: onlinelabels.’ during the pilot phase. It sounds tiny, but aligning Technical Data Sheets and Declarations of Compliance early saved weeks when retailers asked for traceability. Waste during set‑up came down by around 15–20% once specs were locked and operators knew the exact recipe.”
Solution Design and Configuration
Q: Walk us through the press and finishing stack.
A: “We run Digital Printing with UV‑LED Printing for flexibility—short‑run, On‑Demand, and Variable Data on a mixed paper/film Labelstock. Wines get tactile cues: Embossing where volumes justify, Spot UV on special editions, and a soft‑touch Varnishing on reserve tiers. Pantry jars rely on a PP film with a protective Lamination to handle condensation. Color is managed to ΔE 2–3 on key brand tones, which keeps our labels looking consistent across lots.”
Q: How do you handle personalization and traceability?
A: “For personalized wine labels, we use Variable Data with GS1 and ISO/IEC 18004 (QR) for batch info and stories from growers. Promotional runs carry seasonal graphics; we can swap data with near‑zero downtime. During prototyping, we even used an onlinelabels $10 off voucher on test consumables—handy for training without tying up capital.”
Q: Your team gets asked practical questions. One we hear a lot is ‘how to remove sticky labels from plastic’ for reuse.
A: “For our jars, a warm water soak with a mild detergent is step one. If residue remains, we advise a quick pass with food‑safe alcohol on the outside only. We also tested lower‑tack options for refill pilots, but they didn’t hold up in the cold chain. Changeovers for these variants are in the 8–12 minute range, so experimentation is feasible without slowing the line.”
Quantitative Results and Metrics
Q: What changed on the shop floor that you can quantify?
A: “First Pass Yield sits around 93–96% on steady‑state runs. Average line utilization rose by roughly 10–12 points once Digital Printing became the default for seasonal and short runs. Defect rates moved from the 1200–1500 ppm range down to roughly 600–800 ppm on our core SKUs. Color drift on brand reds stays within ΔE 2–3, so reprints are rare. Waste during set‑up and dial‑in came down by about 15–20% after we standardized materials and profiles.”
Q: And the economics?
A: “Unit cost per label on digital is higher than Long‑Run flexo, but we avoid overproduction and storage losses. When we modeled the full picture—short‑run agility, fewer obsolete rolls, and tighter changeovers—the payback period penciled out at roughly 12–15 months. CO₂/pack, as mentioned, edged down in the 8–12% band for certain SKUs. One caveat: when we cross a threshold on a hero product, we still move to Flexographic Printing for longer campaigns.”
Q: Last practical one: customers sometimes ask again about ‘how to remove sticky labels from plastic.’
A: “We keep a simple guidance page with three steps and a recycling note. It’s not glamorous, but it keeps jars in the right stream and supports circular goals. Looking ahead, we’re piloting wash‑off adhesives with European suppliers and will revisit specs as availability improves. Also worth noting: our early prototyping workflow with onlinelabels helped us test that guidance quickly before scaling.”
