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Setting up your label printer

One sticky label per order, printed the moment the order comes in and ready to go straight on the bag. The printer talks to us over your internet connection by itself — no computer in the kitchen, nothing to keep switched on. It takes about twenty minutes from opening the box, and you only do it once.

What you need

  • A Star mC-Label3. It's the printer we've built this for and tested against. Other label printers won't work.
  • A network cable to your router. The mC-Label3 has no wi-fi built in, so it needs either a cable or Star's optional wi-fi adapter (the MCW10). Worth settling before you decide where in the kitchen it lives — it decides whether you need a cable run. This guide assumes the cable.
  • A roll of 80 mm labels. Either kind works: separate labels with gaps between them ("die-cut"), or one continuous strip with no backing ("linerless"). Which kind you have matters in step 4.
  • A computer, tablet or phone on the same network as the printer, for a one-off visit to the printer's own settings page.
  • The Pro plan. Label printing is a Pro feature.

What's on the label

One label for the whole order, rather than a label for each thing in it. Your shop's name at the top; then the order number, whether it's for collection or delivery, and the day; the customer's name; PAID or TO PAY £x.xx so whoever hands the bag over knows; the delivery address if there is one; any note the customer left; and the items, grouped the way your menu is, with their options — 2 × BLT on white rather than two labels. It goes on the outside of the bag and doubles as a packing list you and the customer can check against.

On a continuous roll the label is as long as the order needs. A long order simply prints a long label; we never cut one short.

Setting it up, from the box to a printed label

1. Add the printer in Pekkish first

In your shop admin, click Printing, open the Setup tab, and under How orders reach you choose Labels, then Save. A Label printing section appears — click Manage label printers, then Add label printer. Give it a name you'll recognise. If you have more than one kitchen, pick which one it sits in: orders print at the kitchen they were ordered from, and a printer with no kitchen set prints nothing.

You land on the printer's page, which shows a long web address under CloudPRNT URL. That address is what tells the printer where to collect its jobs from, and you'll paste it into the printer in step 7. Keep this page open, or come back to it.

Treat that address like a password. Anyone who has it can collect your shop's print jobs, so don't paste it into a screenshot, a group chat or a support message. If you ever think it has leaked, remove the printer and add it again — that gives it a new address.

Leave Also email me every order ticked while you set up. Until the printer is paired, orders won't produce a label, and the email is what catches them.

2. Get it onto your network

The printer, its power adapter and a network cable are all in the box. Plug the cable into your router first, then connect the power.

3. Switch it on, and only then load the labels

That's the opposite way round to most printers, and it matters. Hold Power for about two seconds to switch on, then open the cover, drop the roll in and close it — the printer feeds and lines the labels up by itself. Don't pull the paper through by hand.

Load it while it's switched off and it never learns where the gaps between labels are, so every label comes out the wrong length.

4. If your labels are die-cut, change the media type

The printer leaves the factory set to linerless, and that can only be changed from the free Star Quick Setup Utility app on a phone or tablet — not from the settings page you'll open next. Install it, let it find the printer, and set the media type to die-cut.

Skip this with die-cut labels and every label is the wrong length no matter what we send. If your labels are linerless, there's nothing to do here.

5. Make it print its own address

Hold Power for about two seconds to switch off. Then hold the Multi-Function button, switch it back on, and let go once it starts printing. It prints a test page; the address you want is under Current IP Parameters Status — four numbers with dots between them, like 192.168.1.50.

This model has no FEED button, so ignore any guide that tells you to hold one. Nothing printed at all? Go back to step 3. Printed, but no address? The cable or the socket isn't giving it one — check the cable is clicked in at both ends, or look the printer up in your router's list of connected devices instead.

6. Open that address in a web browser

On a computer, tablet or phone on the same network, type http:// and then the address from the test page — for example http://192.168.1.50. It has to be http://, not https://, which doesn't display properly. Sign in with the user name root and the password public.

It will make you choose a new password before it lets you change anything. Write the new password down. It is the only way back into the printer.

7. Point it at us

In that settings page go to CloudPRNT. Set the service to ENABLE, paste the address from step 1 into Server URL, and set Polling time to 10 seconds. Leave the user name and password boxes empty — the address itself is the credential. Then press Submit.

8. Save and restart the printer

In the menu: Save › Save + Restart device › Execute. Nothing you just typed takes effect until you do this. The printer restarts and prints a summary of its settings — keep it, it's the quickest way to check the address went in correctly.

9. Test it

Go back to the printer's page in Pekkish. Within about 30 seconds the status at the top should say Healthy. Then press Test print, and a label should come out within about ten seconds. It prints your most recent order, so it's a real label rather than a sample.

If it did, you're finished — every order from now on prints itself. Place one as a customer to see it happen.

What the status means

  • Pending pairing — the printer has never got in touch. Orders won't produce a label until it does; they'll still be emailed.
  • Healthy — it's checking in with us, and says when it last did. This is where it should sit all day.
  • Stale — it was checking in and stopped, more than two minutes ago. That's the network, not the printer: power, cable, router. It picks up where it left off the moment it's back, and anything that arrived in between prints then.
  • Error — the printer reported a fault on the last job, almost always the roll running out. It keeps checking in and orders keep queueing, so fix the roll and the next label clears it, or press Clear error.

Keeping an eye on it

Every label we've sent is listed under Recent label jobs on the label printers page, and every print of any kind is on the Print jobs tab under Printing. A label that says queued hasn't been collected yet; completed means the printer told us it came out. If a label is lost or damaged, open the order and send it to the label printer again from there, or press Reprint on its row in Print jobs.

It's the label that marks an order as having reached the kitchen. So if the printer goes quiet, you'll see it: orders stop being marked as printed, and the Print jobs tab warns you.

More than one kitchen

Add one printer per kitchen and tell us which is which. Orders print at the kitchen the customer ordered from, and only there — a second kitchen never gets a copy. Name each printer after its kitchen, because that's what you'll recognise in a list.

Common issues

  • The self-test won't print — the cover, the roll or the power. Nothing else matters until this works, and it's the Multi-Function button, not a FEED button.
  • The self-test prints but shows no address — the printer isn't getting one from your router. Check the cable at both ends and that the socket is live, or find the printer in your router's list of connected devices.
  • The settings page won't load — the device you're using has to be on the same network as the printer, and guest wi-fi usually isn't. Check it's http://, not https://.
  • It won't let me change any setting — you're still on the factory password. Finish the change-password screen first (step 6).
  • The status stays on Pending pairing — the address never reached the printer. Check the summary it printed after restarting: is the Server URL there, exactly? If not, repeat steps 7 and 8 — and make sure you pressed Save + Restart device, not just Submit.
  • Test print says queued and nothing comes out — the printer never collected it, which means the address is wrong. If it says completed and there's still no paper, that's the cover, the roll, or the die-cut setting in step 4.
  • Every label is the wrong length — the labels went in before the printer was switched on (step 3), or they're die-cut and the media type wasn't changed (step 4). Take the roll out, switch off, switch on, and load it again.
  • Labels print, but orders never show as printed — How orders reach you isn't set to Labels, or the change wasn't saved. Only your chosen route marks an order as printed.
  • It worked and then went quiet — Stale means the printer lost its connection: check it's on and the cable's in, and check the router. It reconnects itself, and anything that queued in the meantime prints when it does.
  • I've moved it, or changed router — the printer will get a new address on your network, so repeat from step 5 to find it. The Pekkish address in step 7 doesn't change; there's no need to add the printer again.
  • I've lost the printer's password — that's the password you set in step 6, and we never see it. Star's manual covers resetting the printer to factory settings; you'll then need to do steps 6 to 8 again.

Do I still get the emails?

Yes, as long as Also email me every order is ticked on the Setup tab. Keep it on — if the roll runs out mid-service, the order is still in the inbox and nobody has to go hunting for it.

Stuck on something? Contact support.