In the healthcare setting, accurate food labelling is essential. We caught up with Assistant Catering Manager Allan Ball to explore how Planglow helps the Trust deliver compliant allergen and nutritional labelling at scale - while also enhancing its retail offer through compostable packaging.   

Hospital catering customer snapshot  

• Customer Profile:  South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust
• Sector:  Healthcare and hospital catering  
• Scale:  Catering for 1,300 every day   
• Interviewee:   Allan Ball, Assistant Catering Manager (40 years in catering, 3 years at the Trust)  
• Solution:  LabelLogic Live labelling software plus Planglow’s compostable retail packaging  
• Account manager:  Stephen Ferguson, Account Manager, Planglow  

Catering = Care   

Allan Ball has spent 40 years in catering. After starting out in the Business & Industry sector with contract caterer Elior, he moved into healthcare in 2023. A self-confessed foodie with a love of Asian and Italian cuisine, he sees a direct link between good food and patient recovery:  

"I would say that healthcare is particularly rewarding, even more than business and industry. In my current role in the healthcare sector, food is nutrition. It's almost a cliché, but it's true - food is medicine. I watch people from when they are admitted and then follow the process of them getting better through the food they are served."  

That mission plays out every day across one of the Trust's largest support services, where around 900 patients and a further 400 staff and visitors are catered for daily.  Food is prepared centrally using a Cook Chill system the Trust has successfully operated for more than 23 years.  

The challenge: precision at volume  

Feeding a hospital of this size brings labelling requirements that simply cannot fail. Allergen and nutritional information must be accurate on every  label, every day. At the Trust, it is often medical staff, not the catering team, who serve the food directly to patients, making clear, reliable labelling even more critical.  

Beyond maintaining absolute labelling accuracy, the catering team also needed to:  

• Get ahead of Natasha's Law, the legislation requiring full ingredient and allergen labelling on prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) foods, well before it came into force.
• Balance rising food costs and tight budgets while supporting NHS England's sustainability objectives.  

How Planglow supports the Trust  

Allan's relationship with Planglow predates his time at the Trust. He first encountered the company's labelling solution at Elior, a multi-sector caterer and existing Planglow client. His relationship with account manager, Stephen Ferguson, has been a constant throughout:  

"Planglow was the established supplier and the relationship grew. Then when I moved to the Trust, they were working with Stephen, so I have continued the relationship."  

Planglow’s labelling software has evolved significantly over the past 40 years . Allan has witnessed part of that journey himself, from a CD-based system that was cutting-edge at the time, to the fully online LabelLogic Live used today:  

"The online version of LabelLogic Live was a godsend. It instantly updates the labels. If we have any issues, Stephen will dial in and sort it out. He is very responsive and gets back to us straight away."  

Allergen and nutritional information, built in  

As part of his role, Allan focuses on the wider picture of who he's feeding and what they need - both patients and staff/visitors:  

“We also have to be aware of menu fatigue, nutrition and calories, keeping things healthy and well balanced - as well as catering for different ethnicities and dietary requirements such as kosher and halal."  

Allergen and nutritional data are built directly into LabelLogic Live, making it straightforward for the admin team to maintain accurate  information that ultimately benefits patients.   

Every standard label carries allergens, nutritional information and the Trust's own logo, designed in collaboration with the Planglow team.  

For Allan, the value is the certainty it gives the entire catering team:  

"I know the dietary information is correct on the label. It's 100% easier, something we don't have to worry about. The team is extremely happy with LabelLogic Live.”  

Ahead of Natasha's Law  

When Natasha's Law came into force, Stephen supported the team in preparing for the new  requirements and helped manage compliance across the Trust, well ahead  of the legislative deadline. Allan recalls the impact:  

"Natasha's Law was a challenge, a shock, and it was essential to become compliant with this important piece of legislation for the sector. But Stephen talked us through it all, well ahead of time. With LabelLogic Live, we found it so much easier."  

Support you can rely on  

Responsiveness from the Planglow team is a recurring theme for Allan:  

“Delivery is fast too - it can arrive the next-day by courier, with a simple email to Stephen enough to get things moving. The products are all up to scratch and LabelLogic Live does exactly what it needs to do.”  

Sustainable packaging that pays off  

Beyond labelling, the Trust has worked with Stephen on Planglow's compostable salad bowls and lids for its retail catering offer. With NHS England sustainability targets to meet, and cost always a factor, reducing environmental impact is an important priority.  

Planglow supplied samples based on the Trust's budget and customer demographics, and the results have been encouraging:  

"The salad packs look appealing and sustainable, with the kraft aesthetic - it just looks right. We've seen an increase in footfall because of the packaging."  

Trusted relationships to meet the challenges  

Allan returns to one consistent theme: trusted supplier relationships matter. Whether preparing for Natasha's Law, trialling new packaging or responding to rising food costs, having responsive suppliers and contacts, like Planglow’s Stephen, helps the Trust make decisions quickly. As Allan puts it:  

"The biggest challenge is food inflation and budgets, and that's across the hospitality sector as a whole. I have great relationships with our suppliers. I'm on the phone on a daily basis trying to get the best price, and being in the NHS supply chain also helps."  

The result: one less thing to worry about  

For a catering operation fuelling patients, staff and visitors at scale, against a backdrop of food inflation and ongoing budget pressure, LabelLogic Live removes a significant source of risk and admin burden. Labelling is accurate, compliant and quick to update. The team trusts the system, and packaging upgrades have delivered a measurable commercial uplift on top.  

Allan's verdict is loud and clear:  

"The support is there 100% from the Planglow team and Stephen. No matter which sector, from healthcare to business and industry, he is there. I would recommend Planglow and LabelLogic Live to anyone in the hospitality or healthcare sector - or any business sector."  

Want the same confidence in your hospital catering labelling and packaging?   

To find out how Planglow could help with allergen compliance, nutritional labelling and sustainable packaging, get in touch.