Bin Inn is primarily a bulk product retailer, with 38 stores across New Zealand. Warren Hunter, Group Business Manager for Bin Inn retail says, "Bin Inn was founded in 1988 as a place where waste-conscious consumers could fill their own containers and reduce packaging. Today we sell around 50% of our goods directly from bulk bins, and the rest is either brought into the store in bulk and packed down locally or is part of an eclectic mix of supplier packaged goods from around the world." 

As primarily operating as a bulk product retailer, Bin Inn operates slightly differently to other stores, particularly when it comes to labelling, as Warren explains, "of course, clear labelling of goods, particularly of food items, is essential. But unlike retailers who mainly sell consumer packaged goods, which come fully labelled from the manufacturer, we have to manage much of our labelling ourselves. We create bin labels at head office, which the stores print and apply. For packed down goods, each store creates and prints its own labels. The labels give our customers information about the product, such as country of origin, ingredients and allergens. We’ve been using BarTender software for many years to create and manage our labels and it works really well."

In February 2024, Food Standards ANZ (FSANZ) brought in new, more stringent regulations governing how allergens are shown on food labels. The new regulations, introduced as FSANZ Proposal P1044 – Plain English Allergen Labelling, require allergens to be highlighted a lot more clearly than under previous rules. 

"There are strict guidelines about the way that allergen information is provided", says Warren. "The label must use ‘plain English’ terminology so that consumers can easily understand what is in the product. Where previously a label could group certain allergens, there are about 20 allergens that must be listed individually by name. So instead of referring to ‘tree nuts’ or ‘crustaceans’, the label must state the exact type of nut or seafood."

"Another change is in the way that allergen information is displayed", he explains. "Where there is an ingredients list, all allergens must be shown in bold, and in a font no smaller than that used for the other items. The label must also have an ‘allergen summary statement’, with the word ‘contains’, followed by a list of all the allergens, again in bold."

The new regulations could have presented quite a challenge for Bin Inn, but they spoke with BarTender and found that there was a solution at hand. "By upgrading our BarTender software to the Professional edition, we could automate functions such as bolding of certain ingredients, which was a massive time-saver when it came to ensuring that we complied with the regulations", says Warren. "BarTender Professional Edition includes Intelligent Templates ™ which meant that we could set up the rules to meet FSANZ regulations and be fully confident that they would be applied to every label."  

The solution is straightforward - every Bin Inn store has a PC, loaded with BarTender software. For bulk bins, the labels are designed and managed by head office, and the stores download the ones they need and print them locally. For packed down items, the store creates their own labels in BarTender and prints them in the store. 
 
"BarTender and their certified reseller, Ansutek Commercial Ltd, have made all the difference to Bin Inn in complying with the new regulations", says Warren. "It was a big time-saver and meant that we had the peace of mind of knowing we would always be fully compliant. Our store owners operate under licence, and they commit in their shareholder agreement to staying compliant with regulations, so they were delighted that we had a solution that could deliver that commitment for them. They already knew BarTender from having used the Starter edition for many years, so this wasn’t a big leap for them. Whilst they are not obliged to use the system, they all do, because it makes their life so much easier. Complying with the new regulations would have been a massive challenge without BarTender."