Profile: M&R Label

10100 Pacific Avenue, Franklin Park, IL, USA 60131
www.mrlabel.com

Strong leadership and an entrepreneurial vision have catapulted M&R Label, a converter that has seen substantial growth in recent years. Since acquiring the company – then M&R Graphics – in 2018, Steve Brownstone and Ross Samotny have invested in cutting-edge equipment, overseen a significant facility expansion, and nearly quadrupled the company’s workforce.

Both Brownstone and Samotny entered the industry at an Illinois label company shortly before 2010. However, the changing nature of labels and packaging sent them on different paths. Brownstone, who offered operations experience, and Samotny, who boasted financial expertise, decided to stay in touch in case an opportunity ever presented itself, as both aspired to one day own a company. Such an opportunity came in 2017.

“I started a brokerage company in August of 2015, as I always wanted to stay in labels,” recalls Brownstone. “M&R was a vendor of mine, and when the opportunity came to buy them, I reached out to Ross and we had a meeting. I always had a desire to be an entrepreneur, too. We had both worked for some really large, well-run companies and learned lessons on what to do and what not to do.”

“I think if you’re an entrepreneur and you work for a company – regardless of the industry – you see the blueprint or the playbook on how to do it,” Samotny adds. 

Brownstone and Samotny took over M&R Graphics on March 29, 2018, and rebranded to M&R Label. The new owners inherited nine employees and a stagnant operation. M&R Graphics didn’t maintain a customer service team and had no outbound sales effort. The technology was dated, too.

“Like any small business, we wanted to maintain the current relationships,” explains Brownstone. “In the first 3-4 months, Ross traveled and met with every customer. And slowly but surely, we started putting processes and procedures in place.”

Given that the M&R team hadn’t been growing under previous ownership and capital investments hadn’t taken place, Brownstone and Samotny faced a formidable task. M&R Label started by focusing on its existing business. In the early days of ownership, Brownstone and Samotny continued servicing existing accounts and expanding their work with them. Following the customer visits, Samotny realized that there was more work with M&R Label’s existing customer base from which to grow.

“We saw solid organic growth early on just from the existing customer base,” says Brownstone. “We were pounding the phones and sometimes stayed at the office until well into the night. Then we would talk on the phone the entire hour commute home about what to do next. We really relied on relationships we had in the industry to acquire new business, too. We would be doing well with customers in one vertical, then we would go after another vertical.”

Of course, there were challenges in the early days. “It’s like anything else when you take over a new business. You’re faced with the questions of, ‘How are we going to grow?’ and ‘How are we going to pay the bills?’” says Brownstone. “Not much capital improvement had been done. They had one magnetic cylinder at the time, now we have 80. We’ve made big investments, but that’s the right thing to do – so you can service your customers more competitively and much faster.”

One of the first investments came in the form of digital printing. Brownstone and Samotny were quick to identify the potential benefits of the at-the-time burgeoning technology. Back then, M&R Label outsourced its digital work, but growing lead times and quality issues necessitated an investment sooner than originally anticipated.

“We couldn’t wait, so in 2019 we bought our first digital press,” remarks Samotny. “We bought the press to support existing business, but we didn’t have the foresight to see how fast we could acquire some large digital customers. We outgrew that press pretty quickly.”

M&R Label has grown significantly since Brownstone and Samotny took over the company. Today, M&R Label has 35 employees and its new facility in Franklin Park, IL, boasts 35,000 square feet of space. Plus, the new facility has been optimized to handle continuous growth in the future.

“Now, we have three dedicated sales people,” comments Samotny. “There was no customer service department when we took over. For the first couple years, a lot of the job was managing our customers. Much of our growth has been based on relationships.”

M&R Label has expanded into new markets, as well. Upon acquisition, the company produced primarily food and beverage work. That book of business has grown into cannabis and nutraceuticals. In fact, today, cannabis accounts for more than 25% of M&R Label’s business.

Investing in Bobst

With the changing nature of M&R Label’s orders, the converter needed a solution that could handle new demands. Brownstone and Samotny began canvassing the market, exploring every digital label printing press available. An invitation to Digital Packaging Summit would soon connect M&R Label with a newer label industry player: Bobst.

“We met with Bobst, and they were not even on our radar before we went to the event,” recalls Brownstone. “We were talking to all the digital companies and were wide open with which direction we were going to go. We talked to everybody.”

M&R Label selected the Bobst Digital Master 340 hybrid press, which was installed in January of 2026. The hybrid inkjet label press is touted as a modular, high-performance “all-in-one, all-in-line” solution. 

“The press is night and day compared to what we had been running,” says Brownstone. “It handles a totally different customer base and applications. The Bobst is a full-on flexo press with digital. We ran samples with everyone. While a 600 x 600 dpi press would’ve been fine for us, we wound up with 1200 x 1200 dpi, and the quality is great. What it came down to was, based on our run lengths and our volume, we needed speed and we felt we needed inkjet.”

When it came to hybrid printing, Bobst also held a distinct advantage. “In talking to numerous people in the industry, everyone’s biggest complaint about hybrid is manufacturers pointing fingers because no one is integrating themselves. Every company is working with another company. Then Bobst comes to the table and says the technology is all us. They’re a flexo company, they’re a diecutting company, and they bought a digital company previously – and they integrated all the technology into a flexo press.

“We also went with Bobst because their service agreement covered the entire press. If there’s a problem it’s with Bobst, and they fix it,” adds Brownstone. “The quality was great, and the decision came down to a great service agreement and ink costing. We call Bobst and get same or next-day service, which is really important to us. We also compared 30 or 40 jobs, and Bobst won on all of them with their ink coverage. It checked all the boxes.”

Bobst helped M&R Label navigate the installation during the converter’s building expansion, as well. 

“Bobst has been great with getting us up to speed,” notes Brownstone. “They came in and said they were going to double shift and be here 14-15 hours a day.  They’ve been a great partner for us and have gone above and beyond. In terms of responsiveness, we can’t ask for anything more – they’ve been fantastic.”

M&R Label has also benefited from numerous other supplier partnerships. When Brownstone and Samotny acquired the company, they inherited several legacy Mark Andy flexo presses. In 2020, M&R Label installed a Mark Andy Evolution Series flexo press to complement an existing fleet of a 13″, a 10″ 8-color press, and then two 2-color presses.

Substrate and ink suppliers have also been key partners. Following the acquisition, M&R Label primarily dealt with Green Bay Packaging and UPM Adhesive Materials. In recent years, M&R Label has expanded its relationship with Avery Dennison. Plus, M&R Label touts a thriving ink partnership with hubergroup.

“We’re in business, I truly believe, because of Green Bay Packaging,” states Brownstone. “They helped us through the handling of the many problems caused by the pandemic, which included face and liner shortages. They kept their allocations at 100%, and we were able to operate and not worry about material shortages. Green Bay Packaging is one of the reasons we bought the company. When I had my brokerage business I was looking for more capacity, and my Green Bay rep, who I had stayed in touch with, introduced me to M&R.

“Avery Dennison has been good to our growth, too,” adds Brownstone. “They wanted to grow with us, and they gave us good, competitive pricing and great service, so that relationship has
grown immensely.”

In the future, M&R Label will continue to explore new markets and equipment, wherever it may be a fit. “We’re constantly looking at new technologies,” says Samotny. “We’re not scared to invest in new equipment that makes sense for our business. Right now, for example,  we have a 20″ wide press in mind.”

Significant Expansion

M&R Label’s considerable growth necessitated a new building. Previously, the company occupied a 22,000 square-foot space in University Park, IL. 

However, the company had run out of space – and the capacity needed to support its continued growth. “We were out of space, and presses were running the wrong way, where we were basically doing figure eights in the building to get material to the presses. It was ugly,” remembers Brownstone. “We were also totally out of power, so in 2022 we started looking at new facilities.”

In August of 2024, M&R Label closed on its new building in Franklin Park, IL, which has 35,000 square feet. In addition to the extra space, the converter benefited from the ability to recruit from a better workforce area.

“Our goal was to retain every employee, and O’Hare Airport was the furthest we could come and keep all our people,” adds Brownstone. “We looked at this place early on but wrote it off because the roof was too low. I was driving to a vendor and I saw construction where the roof was being raised. The ability to raise the roof changed what we could actually do, and we realized we could make it work.”

For assistance with the move, M&R Label relied on its relationship with fellow members of Flexo Label Advantage Group (FLAG). In addition to making notes during previous FLAG Annual Meeting Member Tours, M&R reached out to SPL Consulting, LLC’s Brian Van de Water for help with the layout.

“We had a vision, and we needed someone to help us execute it,” says Brownstone. “I called up Brian, sent him the plans, and gave him an idea of what we wanted to do. And he said we were 90% of the way there, he just needed to fine-tune it. We were on the right track, so we brought Brian in for a week. By Friday morning, we had all our plans figured out. Brian was fantastic and instrumental in helping execute our vision to have a great workflow.”

The new facility allows M&R Label to further lean into label application, as well. Not only does the company manufacture labels, it can auto-apply labels to customers’ packaging.

“Everything about this facility was built for growth and speed,” continues Brownstone. “It would take a lot to get to a press in the old facility. Here, it’s not a problem.”

Leadership operated with an intentional mindset with the building’s design. The new, state-of-the-art facility had to present the company well to customers, but also to M&R Label employees who work there every day. 

“If they come in to a great facility that is well put together, clean and organized, I think you not only get better output but also better quality – because people take pride in what they’re doing,” explains Brownstone. “We were very intentional with how we expanded.”

“The same thing goes for the front-of-house,” adds Samotny. “Our previous office was old, and I don’t think our employees enjoyed coming into that office or took pride in it. The same way we looked at the back of the house, we looked at the front of the house. We set it up in a way where employees are excited to come to work.”

By reinvesting into the business, M&R Label has continued to tout culture and workplace atmosphere. The company also enjoys impromptu out-of-office activities such as barbecues, mini golfing, and the driving range, among others. “Culture is an ongoing project,” says Brownstone. “It’s something you’re always working on.”

“Our culture started to improve when we got a little bit larger and established a structure and hierarchy,” adds Samotny. “When we first started, we had no meetings. Then we moved it to once a month, then every other week. This way we can address issues and make sure everybody’s voice is heard.”