Thermal printers for labels

Thermal printers offer an efficient, low-waste solution for your labelling needs. They’re fast, reliable and work well with the dynamic nature of ready-made meal services.

Why food labelling matters

Labelling is an essential part of your ready-made meal business. It ensures compliance, helps your customers make informed choices, and adds professionalism to your packaging.

Cookaborough makes labelling easy by automatically generating labels from your recipes – including ingredients, allergens (following the new Plain English Allergen Labelling guidelines), nutrition panels, preparation notes, serving suggestions and use or freeze by dates.

Benefits of thermal printers

Thermal printers are a smart choice for food labelling – especially if your menu changes weekly or you print labels in smaller batches.

Key benefits include:

• Less waste: Print only the labels you need. No ink cartridges, no half-used A4 sheets – just one label at a time, on demand.

• More flexibility: Thermal printers can handle a variety of label sizes and materials, making them easy to adapt for different containers or dishes.

• Fast and efficient: Thermal printers are quick. If you’re printing labels right before delivery or pick-up, this speed makes a big difference.

• Smudge-resistant: Thermal printed labels are more durable than traditional ink-based ones, and less likely to fade or smear with handling.

• More sustainable: Because thermal printers don’t use ink or toner, they create less waste – especially when paired with eco-friendly label stock.

Recommended thermal printer brands

To minimise waste and maximise efficiency, we suggest using a single label per print device (rather than A4 sheets with multiple labels). This approach gives you more control and avoids printing unnecessary extras.

These brands offer thermal label printers well-suited to Cooks using Cookaborough:

Brother

Dymo

Ausprint

We frequently recommend the Brother QL-700. It's widely used by our Cook partners, affordable, and prints at a reasonable speed.