Ordello

MODULE GUIDE Hospitality

Date labels and use-by printing guide.

Turn date labels into a tap-and-print kiosk workflow that defends every use-by, every batch and every prep moment.

Sections
11
Written for
Head chefs, prep team leads and venue owners replacing handwritten day dots or a separate label-printer app.
Type
Module guide

YOU WILL LEARN

What this guide covers.

Date labels are the smallest piece of compliance — and the one most likely to fail an audit. Wrong use-by, missing prepared-by, illegible handwriting: each is a fine waiting to happen. Ordello turns the sticker book into a structured kiosk workflow. A tap to pick the product, a tap to pick the batch, and the right label prints with the right date — every time, with a record that survives Tuesday morning.

  • Why labelling belongs at the prep counter, not in an admin tool a manager has to open.
  • How batch-aware use-by dates turn date labels into defensible compliance evidence.
  • How FSA 14 allergens travel on every grab-and-go label automatically — Natasha's Law without staff effort.
  • How bulk prep printing keeps a service team moving at the speed of the kitchen.
  • How wastage logged at the same kiosk feeds the food safety diary, never a separate clipboard.
  • How every label and every reprint becomes a permanent audit record.

01 — Stations

Labelling where prep already happens.

Date labels belong on the prep counter, not behind an admin login a manager has to remember to open. The station kiosk works on whatever device the team already trusts — a tablet on the wall, an iPad propped on the prep bench, a phone on the dispatch counter — and once unlocked, stays ready for the whole service. One tap from the next label. Speed of service stays where it should: in the kitchen.

  • A station for every prep counter or kitchen zone — labelling stays where the work is.
  • Runs on whatever device the team already uses — no new hardware to buy.
  • One sign-in at the start of service keeps the station ready until close.
  • Access updates instantly when staff change, without disrupting the rest of the kitchen.
Diagram · How a label happens Four inputs. One label. One record kept.

Product, batch, template and prepared-by come together at the prep counter the moment a product is tapped. The right label prints. Every detail is preserved.

PRODUCT Mushroom risotto

Shelf life 3 days · Default use-by

BATCH Prepped Mon 09:14

Use-by anchored to the prep date.

TEMPLATE Use-by label

Product name, use-by, prepared-by, allergens.

PREPARED BY Chef initials

Carried across every label in the run.

LABEL READY Right label, right date

Everything the printer needs, assembled in one tap.

STATION PRINTER Whatever the prep counter already has

Labels print to thermal, label, A4 or shared kitchen printers — the hardware that already lives on the counter. Swap printers without touching templates or retraining the team.

AUDIT TRAIL Every print preserved

Product, batch, template, quantity, prepared-by, station and time — kept indefinitely, ready when an inspector asks.

  • Product and template — defined once, drive every label.
  • Batch input — makes the use-by come from the prep date, not the print moment.
  • Audit trail — every print is preserved so reprints replay exactly.

02 — Label templates

The right label for every prep moment.

Five label kinds cover almost every scenario a kitchen runs — use-by, prep, thaw, batch and grab-and-go. Each one carries the right fields for the moment: a use-by leads with the date, a thaw with the timer, a grab-and-go with allergens front and centre. The right template appears the instant a product is tapped.

  • Five label kinds covering every prep scenario, from use-by to grab-and-go.
  • Every field appears only where it belongs, so the printed label matches the moment.
  • A live preview shows exactly how the label will print before it reaches the kitchen.
  • The right template is picked automatically the moment a product is tapped.

03 — Product menus

The most-printed products, one tap away.

Every station has its own shortcuts to whatever it prints most. Products are arranged by prep area — mise en place, sauces, dessert, line — so the team taps the product they need at the speed of service. Top movers stay at the top. The kiosk never slows a prep run down.

  • Curated product shortcuts per prep area, shaped around how the kitchen actually works.
  • Nested groupings keep large product lists navigable without scrolling.
  • Top movers stay where the team taps first.
  • Every product carries its template and shelf life automatically.

04 — Product setup

Shelf life and allergens, defined once for the whole kitchen.

Every product carries its own shelf life, its own default label and its own allergen summary. The kiosk reads them automatically — picking the template, calculating the use-by and printing the right label without an extra tap. A new starter is producing the right label on day one with no extra training.

  • Shelf life drives the use-by calculation across every station automatically.
  • Allergen information lands on grab-and-go labels every time, with no retyping.
  • Batch-tracked products surface a batch picker; the rest skip it.
  • A product update reaches every kiosk the instant it lands.

05 — Batch-aware use-by

Use-by from the batch, not the print moment.

A use-by based on when the label was printed is a guess. A use-by based on the actual prep or receive date is defensible. Every calculation in Ordello is anchored to the batch — so the label tells the truth about when food was prepared, not just when it was labelled. That single distinction is what turns the diary from paperwork into evidence.

  • Use-by always anchored to the batch's prep or receive date.
  • Tracked products surface a batch picker before the label prints.
  • Manual overrides require sign-in and a recorded reason.
  • The same calculation runs across every printing flow — no inconsistency.

06 — Allergens

Natasha's Law, on every grab-and-go label, automatically.

A pre-packed sandwich. A cold pasta tub. A grab-and-go cake. Every product sold for direct sale needs full allergen labelling — and the cost of getting it wrong is no longer paperwork, it's liability. Ordello carries the full FSA 14 allergen set on every product record. The grab-and-go label that leaves the kitchen has the allergens already on it, in the right order, every time. The kitchen meets the law without the kitchen having to think about it.

  • The full FSA 14 allergen set lives on every product record by default.
  • Grab-and-go labels render allergens automatically — no staff retyping, no missed entries.
  • An allergen update on a product reaches every kiosk and every station instantly.
  • Compliance evidence stays attached to the print record for every audit.

07 — Printers

Printing that adapts to the kitchen, not the other way around.

Every kitchen has its own printer story — thermal, label, shared kitchen printer or the A4 on the desk. Ordello prints to whatever the prep counter already has, no networked hardware required to get going. Swap a printer on Friday morning without touching a template or retraining the team.

  • Labels print to the printer the prep counter already runs — no special hardware required.
  • Hardware can change without touching products, templates or staff workflow.
  • The label preview matches the printed output exactly, so the team never guesses.
  • Standardise the kiosk flow across the kitchen while every counter keeps its own printer.

08 — Prep-run mode

Bulk-print a whole prep session in seconds.

A real prep run is never one label — it's twelve. Prep-run mode bundles them. One operator, one session, one prepared-by stamp — and every label prints in sequence. No twelve trips through the kiosk. No twelve sign-ins. The team gets back to the work that actually matters.

  • Multiple products bundled into a single prep session.
  • One prepared-by stamp carried across every label in the run.
  • Use-by and template logic match single-label printing exactly.
  • Cancel mid-run without losing the labels already off the printer.

09 — Reprint

Reprint without re-keying.

The printer ran out of stickers. A label got smudged. A sticker rolled off the counter. Every reason a kitchen needs to reprint, Ordello handles in one tap. Recent prints stay ready to go — same product, same batch, same use-by — preserving the audit trail at every step.

  • Recent prints stay one tap away, with the original detail intact.
  • One-tap reprint preserves the original use-by and batch.
  • Filter by product, staff member or batch when the list grows.
  • Every reprint is its own audit record — nothing silently duplicated.

10 — Wastage at the kiosk

Log waste at the same screen that printed the label.

A product expires. A batch goes off. A delivery arrives short-dated. The kiosk that printed the label is already where the team stands — and that's where the waste belongs in the diary. One tap from the same screen logs the product, the quantity, the batch and the reason, and feeds straight into the food safety diary. No second clipboard. No "I'll remember to log it later."

  • Wastage logged at the same kiosk that prints the labels.
  • Product, quantity, batch and reason captured in seconds.
  • Logged wastage flows into the food safety diary automatically.
  • One tap from labelling to logging — no second tool, no second login.

11 — Audit trail

A record for every print. No more paper that walked away.

Handwritten day dots disappear. Printed labels do too. The difference is the record. Every print Ordello produces — product, batch, template, quantity, prepared-by, time, station — is preserved indefinitely. When something needs explaining, the manager finds the label, the batch and the operator in seconds, not days.

  • Every print preserved with full context — no exceptions, no expiry.
  • Failed prints surface separately so nothing is silently lost.
  • Replays match the original print exactly, every time.
  • Per-station and per-staff activity views surface patterns the dashboard would miss.

SUMMARY

The shape of it.

Date labels look trivial until they aren't. Ordello replaces the sticker book with a structured kitchen workflow — labelling at the prep counter, batch-aware use-by dates, FSA 14 allergens on every grab-and-go label and wastage logged into the same diary — so the right label prints with the right date, every time, with the evidence to defend every prep session.

HOSPITALITY

Walk through your date-label workflow with us.

Tell us how labelling happens in your kitchen today. We will walk through how Ordello collapses the sticker book into a structured workflow that runs at the speed of service.