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December 31, 2020 Biz Spotlight

Guilford label maker enjoys growth amid pandemic

PHOTO | COURTESY A Brook + Whittle employee works on label sleeves, found on popular brands like Muscle Milk and Malibu liqueur, at the company’s Guilford headquarters.
By Jean Falbo-Sosnovich

Whether it’s that bottle of Smartwater in your fridge, a Bath & Body Works candle scenting your home or the Dunkin’ iced coffee that gets you going in the morning, Guilford-based Brook & Whittle has been woven into the fabric of people’s lives since 1996.

As a manufacturer of pressure sensitive, shrink sleeve and heat transfer labels, Brook & Whittle is behind those eye-catching labels plastered across so many of the nation’s top consumer brands — from Barilla Pasta Sauce and Behr Wood Stain to Nivea and Nesquik.

The company was founded in North Branford in 1995 by Stephen Stewart and Anthony Collins, and expanded to its Guilford headquarters in 2011. Today, Brook & Whittle has grown to more than 500,000 square feet, employs 1,000 people and operates eight production facilities, including in Guilford and North Branford, and in New York, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Tennessee, California and Ohio.

This year alone, even during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Brook & Whittle has acquired five companies to further expand and boost its digital and online capabilities.

The acquired companies include Tri Point, which expands the business on the West Coast; Wizard Labels, an online custom label company; Ohio-based Innovative Labeling Solutions; Label Impressions Inc.; and Pennsylvania-based Wide Web Shrink & PS.

CEO Mark Pollard, a native of northern England, joined Brook & Whittle in 2017. He attributes the company’s product growth and ever-expanding manufacturing space to several factors.

“There are three things that hold the key to our success,” Pollard said. “First, we are the leader in sustainable labels in North America. Many of those small, plastic water bottles you can’t recycle because of the label, … the ink on it is a pollutant. We have the technology that makes labels with no pollutants, which you can turn back into water bottles.”

“Second, is our complex decoration,” Pollard continued. “We have some of the most complex printing presses in North America. Third, we have fast service and short returns. We can turn orders around really quickly. We have a digital business that prints and delivers anywhere in the nation in just four days.”

This year, when businesses across the globe have been forced to shutter due to the pandemic and tanking economy, Brook & Whittle is managing to buck the trend.

“Our employees have worked through very difficult circumstances,” Pollard said. “They have worked additional hours to meet the increased demand.”

Company accolades

Pollard noted how Brook & Whittle recently landed a contract to create labels for “a major hand sanitizer” manufacturer. While business is “absolutely booming” for home care, personal care and food products, Pollard said there has been a downside.

Sales of those single-serve beverages commonly found at airports and theme parks have plummeted during the pandemic, Pollard said, thus creating a decline in the need for labels for those products for now.

Because Brook & Whittle is majority owned by New York private equity firm Snow Phipps LLC, Pollard declined to disclose the company’s annual revenues.

Meantime, Brook & Whittle is no stranger to racking up numerous awards for its work. The latest accolades come from the Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute, which awarded the company “Best in Class” in North America for its Bath & Body Works candle labels.

With 9,000 label printing companies across the globe, and more than 2,500 alone in the U.S., Pollard said Brook & Whittle continues to stand out among the competition.

“We’ve invested heavily in acquisitions and lots of new equipment,” Pollard said. “We won’t stop growing, and will continue investing in what we already have.” 

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