Mike and Margie Whitmarsh sought to establish their own label company – one that was built upon integrity and culture. Now one of the preeminent producers of wine and spirits labels in the US, this leading converter has just celebrated its 40-year anniversary. And yellow pads, Oreos and tuxes have all played a pivotal role along the way.

As an Upstate New York native, during his youth Mike worked part-time for a local label converter. While he took other jobs at a paper mill and in mail delivery, labels remained one of his passions. After returning to the converter and taking on a full-time position, Mike worked his way up to sales manager and eventually vice president.

Initially, Mike had a handshake agreement in place to purchase the label company. When plans fell through, Mike and Margie went in search of a new opportunity. He kickstarted Niagara Label in 1985, writing his business plans on a simple yellow note pad. It was a lean time for the young couple, and Mike recalls subsisting on chicken wings, Oreos, a lot of hard work, and a little bit of hope while trying to make ends meet.

Mike made the calculated decision to open the company in the Buffalo area. “It wasn’t the easiest decision to branch out on our own because the label company my father left behind was everything to us… even my mom worked there too,” says Chris Whitmarsh, president and second-generation owner of Niagara Label. “All of our income came from one place. Yet Dad took the risk and started Niagara Label in February of 1985. He rented a little corner of a building that was 600 square feet, and he put in an Arpeco Tracker and Webtron 650. He was teaching himself how to run the equipment in the evening, and in the morning he was selling and delivering labels. He was by himself for the first month before hiring his first employee.”

As Mike learned business ownership, he received strong advice along the way. During the company’s first 18 months, a customer advised him to not let any one client become more than 10% of Niagara Label’s portfolio. Mike continually stuck to the mantra of never saying no to a customer, but he worked hard to ensure no one customer held too large of a percentage of the revenue share. That meant adding as many clients as he could handle.  

Mike’s entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen paid off, as the company’s growth started and never stopped. In fact, Niagara Label has experienced yearly growth since its start 40 years ago, with two exceptions and not accounting for the spike associated with the pandemic.

“After the first year, things started humming at Niagara Label,” adds Chris. “My mom and I made the move to Buffalo and we all rented a little house, and she immediately started doing all the administrative work. Dad focused on sales and hired another person to rewind. Within a couple years, the company was off and running.”

Keith Hatswell joined Niagara Label in the summer of 1994. “I started out taking out garbage and sweeping floors, then eventually moved into rewinding and the finishing department,” he recalls. “Chris was working in that department at the time, so we became friends. I was young when I started, but even when I left for a few short-term jobs, I always stayed connected and I’d even come in on weekends if they were busy. After I graduated high school, I came back full-time, and that’s when I really became engaged in the company.”

He eventually moved into the prepress department, where he began making plates and learning the design software. When a few team members left the department, Keith suddenly found himself in charge. “It was a real trial by fire,” he recalls. “I was still relatively new to prepress, but there was no one else, so I was buried. Mike told me to find help, so I pulled Keith O’Malley out of the finishing department, and it was just the two of us running prepress.”

In 1998, Chris, who wanted to work outside the family business, headed to New York City for employment with a commercial printing company. “I was always thinking about what my next step would be,” states Chris. “I came to Niagara Label full time at 19, doing the same work Keith did – sweeping the floors, packing boxes, running a rewinder. And I thought I would do that for a while and maybe find another job. The company I worked for in NYC was ultimately purchased. Everything was status quo for two months, and then on a Friday afternoon they let 175 people go of 400 employees. It was devastating.”

Mike and Chris remained in constant contact, sending over data for analysis. “I started going through these sales reports trying to see patterns and learn more about the family business,” says Chris. “After doing that for a few months and not finding work in the city, Dad said, ‘Why don’t you come back home where you belong?’ It was pretty emotional, and the best move I ever made!”

While Chris was working in New York City, Keith began taking a deeper interest in the business, with Mike serving as his mentor. As the company’s work became more complex, he wanted to understand how he could make a bigger impact. Before long, he was offered a position in sales, an opportunity that ultimately led him into upper management.

“Mike asked if I had any interest in sales. I hadn’t really thought much about it up until that point because I’d never been in a sales role,” recalls Hatswell. “Mike kept it simple and told me, ‘Talk to people, try to be helpful, and don’t lie.’ 

“Sales was where Mike really excelled, so I feel I learned from the best,” adds Hatswell. “I spent two years in sales before Mike asked if I’d be interested in managing the company, since he no longer wanted to handle the day-to-day operations. He was a tremendous mentor to me – he was coaching long before we even called it coaching.”

Mike and Margie began slowly stepping away from the company in 2008, paving the way for Keith and Chris to formulate the management team. Keith now serves as the general manager. However, the triumvirate was incomplete. Michele Vanderlinden, Keith’s sister, offered a background in customer service and sales that Niagara Label had been lacking. 

“Mike and Margie knew I was looking to get out of my full-time line of work, and then also my part-time work, so I went and interviewed at their house,” remarks Michele. “They hired me for customer service in 2003, and at that time I was the only customer service rep. I learned a lot from Mike and Margie, and what Margie was doing I was inheriting.”

In 2010, Mike and Margie had a proposition for Chris, Keith, and Michele. “They took us to dinner and asked us if we wanted to buy into the company,” she says. “And we were honored and very excited to do that. We had to make them proud of us, and that’s truly what it was.”

“They weren’t retiring with large nest eggs,” Chris explains. “They had reinvested every dollar back into the company. That reality has been a major source of motivation for the three of us – along with Keith O’Malley, Mark Cinotti, and the rest of our leadership team. Mike and Margie were depending on us, and we had a responsibility to carry the company forward and secure its future.”

Their efforts paid off, and the company not only maintained its momentum but continued to achieve meaningful growth. Even when the three owners took over in 2010, they expertly navigated the recession.

“We decided to not participate in the recession, and we took that as a point of pride,” states Chris. “That was a rallying cry. If we run a little harder, and we hire another good salesperson, we don’t have to participate in this recession – and we didn’t.”

That success has spurred the need for significant expansion at the company’s facility. What originated as a 600 square-foot location on Wheeler Street in Tonawanda has transformed into a state-of-the-art facility in Akron, NY. Niagara Label initially purchased its current location in 1993, with the building standing at 13,000 square feet and housing three presses and two rewinders. Growth has necessitated five expansions at the company’s current address. With the most recent one, Niagara Label’s facility now occupies 33,000 square feet of space, where it is home to 60 employees. In addition to Chris, Keith and Michele, Mark Cinotti and Keith O’Malley are key members of the company’s brain trust. Cinotti serves as production manager, while O’Malley is the chief technical officer. 

O’Malley exemplifies the technical aspect of his role, too. Before Niagara Label’s most recent expansion, he downloaded a CAD program and taught himself how to use it in order to draft proposed building renovations. When the architects reviewed his work, they noted that his measurements and layouts were remarkably close to the final design. 

“We want leaders everywhere, in every department, at all levels,” explains Hatswell. “Regardless of the position, we want our people to treat this company like it’s their own…because it is.”

Family matters

A large part of Niagara Label’s success has been due to the strong culture Mike instilled in 1985, and it has lived on with the new leadership team. Chris, Keith, and Michele have prioritized a mission statement, with the goal, “To help nurture the success of our employees, their families, and our customers, we passionately deliver the highest value in every label, with trust being the cornerstone of everything we do.”

“Mike has always led with integrity, and everything starts from that foundation,” says Hatswell. “He consistently reminded us of the importance of honesty and of doing right by our employees. Our goal is to be a company that our people are genuinely proud to be part of.”

Family has also been a defining force in shaping the company’s culture. “Our mission statement centers on our people, they’re what make everything work,” says Chris. “We talk a lot about culture and tenure, because the people here truly have become family. And in many cases, they literally are. Someone joins the team, then brings in a niece, a cousin, a neighbor…that’s how our culture has grown from the
inside out.”

He continues, “Our very first two employees met here, got married, and their children later worked here for years. Both of them eventually retired from Niagara Label. Those are the things we take pride in.”

With a culture that prioritizes continuous learning, Niagara Label has drawn inspiration from a number of influential books, including The Four Agreements, How to Win Friends and Influence People, and Good to Great, among others. One book in particular, Find Your Yellow Tux: How to Be Successful by Standing Out by Jesse Cole, founder of the Savannah Bananas, has sparked some of the company’s most creative cultural initiatives.

Inspired by the book, the team now holds “Yellow Tux Meetings,” where they focus on finding new ways to improve the lives and workdays of every employee. The result has been a series of fun, positive changes that reinforce the Niagara Label’s commitment to culture, engagement, and employee appreciation.

The company’s cultural journey has led to several prestigious awards, including the 2021 Buffalo Niagara Business Ethics Award, which “celebrates Buffalo businesses that lead with integrity.” Niagara Label also earned a Best Place to Work honor in Buffalo in 2022. Plus, Niagara Label was named one of 19 multigenerational and family businesses recognized by Buffalo Business First. The acknowledgement focused on overall excellence, innovation, ethics, philanthropy, and contribution to the strength of Western New York.

“Those awards really mean a great deal to us,” says Hatswell. “The application process for the Business Ethics Award was extensive. We had to gather letters from vendors, customers, community members, former employees, current employees, along with detailed examples of how we’ve handled a wide range of situations, including ones where our ethics were tested.”

“As word spread through the building that we were being considered for the award, people came forward wanting to share their own stories and experiences. The submissions practically wrote themselves. Reading them was remarkable, both humbling and inspiring, and it gave us a chance to reflect on the culture we’ve created and the company we’ve become. Winning the award wasn’t the finish line. It was a reminder of the responsibility we carry, to uphold our values, protect our culture, and continue building a company people are proud of.”

The culture was on full display at Niagara Label’s recent open house, which commemorated its 40th anniversary. Nearly 250 people – including current and former employees – gathered to celebrate a long history of growth and success.

For Chris, the culture creates a strong workplace environment and leads to lengthy tenures. “You enjoy getting to know the people you’re working with, and you fall in love with this cool industry,” he states. “To this day, I’m probably way more jazzed about it than I was 30 years ago. We just love what we do.”

Digital touch

While culture and family have been key pillars, Niagara Label has emerged as a leader in its market, too. The company has become one of the label industry’s prominent providers of wine and spirits labels, which account for roughly 60% of revenue. The quality speaks for itself, as 50% of Niagara Label’s new accounts over the past four years have come from referrals within the wine and spirits sector.

The emphasis on wine and spirits dates back to the recession and the decision to not participate in the downturn. “It’s important to note that in 2008, when the stock market was struggling, we read an article in Label & Narrow Web on wine labeling,” explains Hatswell, adding, “We realized that we’re really well positioned for wine and spirits. We have the Finger Lakes and Niagara regions right here and Virginia regions not too far away. That was a market we felt was going to really stick around, was rather recession-proof, and we wondered why we weren’t doing it. So, we really made a concerted effort and leaned on our strategic planning.”

Niagara Label subsequently invested in state-of-the-art equipment to foster success. HP and A B Graphic International have played integral roles in Niagara Label’s growth, specifically in these markets. In 2008, an HP Indigo ws4000 digital label press was installed and was later upgraded to a ws4500. Those moves led to the investment in two HP Indigo WS6000 digital label presses and an ABG machine with silkscreen and stamping units. Today, 70% of Niagara Label’s jobs are produced digitally.

“I recall our silkscreen unit sat idle for a while. We received one request for a high-build label, and it was like a switch flipped,” says Hatswell. “Suddenly, we were producing labels every other day with high-build varnish, tactile finishes, hot foil, debossing, embossing – everything. The wine industry really took off for us, and we never looked back. We are not exclusively a wine and spirits label company, but it has become a major part of our business and an area where we truly excel.”

In addition to HP Indigo and ABG, Niagara Label has strong partnerships with UPM Adhesive Materials – formerly UPM Raflatac – and Wausau Coated Products. The company has also leaned on Nilpeter for its flexographic work and added an FA4 servo-driven press shortly after the pandemic. Niagara Label has developed a strong team of highly skilled press operators, who have excelled on the digital and flexo presses alike.

“We don’t see our employees as pressmen – they’re craftsmen,” comments Hatswell. “There’s a level of quality that we produce, not exclusive but particularly notable for our wine and spirits clients, and it’s really on another level.”

Strong outlook

In the future, Niagara Label will undertake several key initiatives. However, the focus remains building leadership from within. As a second-generation business, Chris, Keith, and Michele are actively developing the third generation. Part of the company’s growth has been giving all employees significant autonomy to make decisions and develop leaders in a variety of areas.

“There is no micromanaging in this building,” says Chris. “We, almost to a fault, want to give people a lot of autonomy to prove to themselves and us that they can do it.”

“We tell everybody that if they’re not happy with a label and the customer wouldn’t think it’s right, they have every right to stop that job,” adds Hatswell. “We give every employee the authority to oversee quality.”

Niagara Label has also served as a positive example for the rest of the industry. The company, which joined FLAG nearly nine years ago, hosted the Annual Member Tour as part of FLAG’s Annual Meeting in 2024. Attendees were able to see the inner workings at its facility, which has been revamped since that time.

Independence is crucial to this family-run business, too. “Maintaining our independence is important to us because there’s no way an acquiring company would keep this culture and take care of our people the way that we will,” says Chris. “No one is going to take care of them the way that they take care of us.”

Niagara Label could drive more growth by acquiring another company, though. If a converter serves as the right cultural fit for what the team has built in Western New York, it could expand its footprint into other regions.

In the meantime, Niagara Label will continue to examine new technological advancements that will help to better serve customers. “We will probably explore inkjet because digital is at the forefront of our business,” says Hatswell. “We’re always looking at different finishing options to complement our ABGs, which have been great for us. Wine and spirits have grown so much, and we know it’s going to continue to grow.”

Niagara Label is also anticipating the installation of a brand new ABG Digicon Series 3, complete with two stamping units, two flexo units, silkscreen, and a flexible die, set for delivery this quarter.

“We’re really excited about that press,” says Hatswell. “Demand is so high for our services that it’s been a struggle to keep up with turnaround times, but we’re rectifying that with this new addition to our fleet. We’re attacking our bottlenecks, and this ABG will create a tremendous amount of capacity.”