Labels

Labels prints the labels your kitchens stick on the food they make and the deliveries they receive: the name, the use-by date and the allergens — worked out from the recipe, never written by hand. Head office saves each recipe once; every branch prints from it, on a phone, a label printer or a sheet of labels, and every label is kept in Print history. A cook taps the dish, checks the label and prints — nobody types a date.

Find your part

• On the crew — what a label shows, printing a label from your phone, labels waiting to print and print history and printing again.
• Branch managers — how your branch prints and its printers, and what you are told about your branch’s labels.
• Head office — recipes, allergens and label designs.
• Everyone — where Labels connects, who is told what, who may do what and questions.

What a label shows

Three things are on every label, and they are never left off:

• The name of the dish, in the label’s language.
• The use-by date, the words and the date together: Use by 07/10/2026 — or Best before when the recipe says so. When a dish keeps for hours, the time is printed too: Use by 07/10/2026 18:30.
• The allergens — Contains: … and May contain: … — and under them the recipe’s own allergen warning, such as “Made in a kitchen that handles nuts”. If a recipe marks an allergen may contain but one of its ingredients contains it, the label says Contains: a food label must never say less than the truth about an allergen.

A label design can add more: the day it was made (Prepared 05/10/2026), the name in the other language, the ingredients, the batch code, who printed it, the branch’s name, a QR code that opens the label’s record in Print history, and one line of your own words, such as “Keep at 0–4 °C”. An Arabic label is laid out for Arabic reading. Dates are on your organization’s clock and use the digits 0–9, in Arabic too.

Printing a label

1. 1

   Open Print labels

   Tap Print labels on the Labels page, or Print a label on your branch’s home screen. If you work at several branches, choose which branch the labels are for — your phone remembers it, and Change branch asks again.
2. 2

   Choose the dish

   One recipe: tap the dish. Several recipes, at the start of a shift: tick the dishes and set how many labels each (up to 100 dishes at a time). Search finds a dish by its Arabic or English name or its code.
3. 3

   Look at the label

   The preview is the label exactly as it will print, with today’s dates. It says if a line was left off for lack of room. Choose How many labels (1 to 50). Under Prints on you can change the printer — This phone or tablet is always there — under Label size the design, and, when the design leaves the language open, Label language.
4. 4

   Print

   The screen says what happened, in words: Printed, Sent to the printer, Sheet ready, Waiting to print or Didn’t print — with what to do next. On a phone or tablet the device’s own print window opens: close it when you are done. Mihwar can’t see the paper, so the label reads Sent to the printer even if the window was closed without printing.

Labels waiting to print

Some labels are made when nobody is holding a phone for them. A checklist step that makes a dish prints its label when it is ticked: on the branch’s network printer if it has one, and otherwise the label waits at the branch. A label a Bluetooth printer didn’t take waits too, and so does one whose phone print was never finished. Mihwar never marks a label printed that nobody printed.

The Labels page, your branch’s home screen and the Overview show how many labels are waiting and how many reach their use-by today; the waiting list itself is at the top of Print labels. Anyone at the branch who prints labels can tap Print them — all the phone labels come out in one print window, the Bluetooth ones go to the printer, and the sheet ones come on a sheet — or Remove a label nobody needs, so it never prints.

Print history

Print history keeps every label: the dish or the delivered item, the recipe version, how many, the branch, the printer, the design, who printed it, the dates and the batch code — and where it stands, in words: Printed, Sent to the printer, Sheet ready, Waiting to print, Sending to the printer, Not sure it printed — check the printer, Didn’t print (with why, and what to do) or Cancelled. A branch sees its own labels; head office sees every branch, and the labels printed for no branch are head office’s alone.

• Print again prints the same label — the same dish, the same dates, the same batch code and version — on the branch’s printer today. Its allergens are the ones the label showed plus any the recipe declares now: never fewer, because food made before a change may still contain what it contained then. A label that didn’t print is replaced by the new one, so it can never come out twice; a label still waiting is printed from the waiting list instead.
• Needs reprinting marks a label still in use (its use-by hasn’t passed) that is missing an allergen its recipe now declares — or says may contain where the recipe now says contains. The filter shows just those: tap Print again, stick the new label over the old one, and the mark goes.
• A label that Didn’t print or is waiting can be taken off the list with Remove. A sheet of labels can be downloaded again with Download the sheet.

How a branch prints

• This phone or tablet — the label opens in the device’s own print window: AirPrint on iPhone and iPad, the printer app on Android, a computer’s printer. Nothing to set up; a branch with no printer prints this way. Mihwar can’t see the paper, so the label reads Sent to the printer.
• Bluetooth label printer — a Brother or Zebra paired with the phone. It works in Chrome on Android or on a computer, not on iPhone or iPad. The first time, the phone asks you to choose the printer. A label the printer didn’t take waits to be printed again.
• Network label printer — a Brother or Zebra that Mihwar’s server can reach over the internet. It prints with no phone involved, and the label reads Printed only once the printer took it.
• Sheet of labels (A4) — a page of labels, as a PDF, for an office printer. It downloads straight away.

Printers lists each printer with its branch, and says in words whether it answers. A branch manager looks after the printers of their own branches; head office looks after every branch’s and also adds the printers every branch shares.

1. 1

   Add a printer

   On Printers tap Add a printer (or Add a printer here under a branch), then choose how the branch prints and tap Next.
2. 2

   Fill in the details

   A name people at the branch know it by, and the branch. A Bluetooth or network printer also needs its make, Brother or Zebra. A network printer needs its internet address and printer port, such as print.example.com:9100 (9100, 631 or 515). If the address can’t be used, Mihwar says why under it — a private address, a port that is not a printer port, a name it can’t find. Tap Add printer.
3. 3

   Check it

   Check asks a network printer whether it answers. The other kinds can’t be checked from here — print one label to test them. Remove a printer from its three dots, and the branch prints from the phone or tablet again.

The branch’s oldest printer is where its labels go, unless the person printing picks another under Prints on; This phone or tablet can always be chosen, even at a branch with printers. Two printers at one branch can’t share a name. A Brother or Zebra printer prints with its own font, so Arabic labels need an Arabic font on the printer; from a phone or tablet, or on a sheet, Arabic prints exactly as the preview shows it. When a printer stops answering, its card says since when, the branch’s label managers are told, and Report a fault on the card sends a fault report about it to Work orders. The person printing is told on the print screen too, with Print on this phone or tablet and Report a fault right there.

Recipes

A recipe is a dish your kitchens make and label. Head office writes it once: its name in Arabic, in English or both; how long it keeps; whether its label says Use by or Best before; its ingredients; its allergens; and its allergen warning. Everyone else can read a recipe — a branch manager or a cook sees it as text, with its label, and the page says that head office changes it.

1. 1

   Start a recipe

   On Recipes tap New recipe. Give it a name in Arabic, English or both. A group (such as Salads or Sauces) and a code are optional; both help search.
2. 2

   Say how long it keeps

   Type a number and choose Days or Hours, then Use by or Best before. The page spells the rule out — for example “Use by = the day it’s made + 2 days.”
3. 3

   Add ingredients and allergens

   Pick a stock item for an ingredient and its allergens come along. Add any others as Contains or May contain, and type the allergen warning if the dish needs one (up to 300 letters).
4. 4

   Save

   Tap Save. The card What the label will say has been drawing the label as you typed; from the save on, every branch prints this. Label versions lists every version, with who saved it and when.

• How long it keeps — in days or in hours. In days, the use-by is the day it was made plus those days: a dish that keeps 2 days, made on Monday, is used by the end of Wednesday; 0 days means the day it is made. In hours (1 to 240), it is the exact time: made at 14:00 and keeping 6 hours, its label says use by 20:00. A recipe that doesn’t say how long it keeps can’t print — its label would have no use-by date.
• Allergens come from two places: the ingredients — each item in your list carries the allergens head office marked on it under Allergens — and the recipe’s own marks, contains or may contain (for food made on shared equipment, for example). An allergen that comes from an ingredient can’t be taken off in the recipe: change it on the Allergens page.
• Saving is what labels print. There is no second step: once head office saves, the next label at every branch uses it. Each save that changes what a label shows — a name, how long it keeps, an ingredient, an allergen, the warning — keeps a numbered version, and every dish’s label records the version it printed (“Version 3”). A change to the method alone makes no new version.
• Archiving a recipe — Archive recipe on its page — takes it off the print screen and stops the checklist steps that print it; labels already on the food stay as they are. Head office finds it under Archived on Recipes and taps Restore.

Allergens

Allergens holds the list every label uses and says which stock items contain which. Your list starts with 14 common allergens — gluten, peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, eggs, fish, shellfish, soy, sesame, sulfites, mustard, celery, lupin and molluscs — and the ten a regulator requires say Must be declared. Everyone can read the list; head office looks after it, and the page says so.

1. 1

   Add an allergen your list lacks

   Tap Add allergen and type its name in Arabic and in English — labels print each in its own language. It joins the list at every branch.
2. 2

   Mark what a stock item contains

   Under Which stock items contain them search the item, tap Change, tick what it contains and tap Save allergens.
3. 3

   Read what it changed

   Every recipe that uses the item now carries those allergens, at every branch, on its next label. The page says how many recipes’ labels changed.

Label designs

A label design is how a label looks: its size in millimetres (50 × 30, 62 × 29, 100 × 50 … or any size from 10 to 300), what it is for (food made in the kitchen, allergens and ingredients, food for customers, or deliveries received), its language — Arabic, English, or chosen when printing — how dates look, Hijri dates on or off, and which of the extra lines it shows. You don’t draw a label: the lines lay themselves out, and every printer prints the same lines. Hijri dates end in «هـ» (AH in English) so a year is never misread.

While head office changes a design, the page draws a sample dish as it will print, says which lines the size leaves off, and warns in red when the size is too small for the name, the use-by and the allergens. After Save design, the next label printed with it shows the change, at every branch; labels already printed stay as they are.

On Label designs tap New design to make one. For each kind of label one design is in use — its card says Labels print with this one. Tap Use for printing on another to change it. The design in use can’t be removed: make another one the one in use first. A new organization starts with a design for each kind, and a printer can have its own usual design.

Where Labels connects

• Checklists — a step can be tied to a recipe (Print the dish’s label). When the step is ticked and passes, the dish’s label prints by itself, as many as the step asks for — once per run and step, and once per copy of a repeating section — on the branch’s network printer, or it waits at the branch. A step that fails (chicken read at 60 °C) never gets a use-by label. See Checklists.
• Quality — a check that runs with every batch opens at the branch when a dish’s label prints — from Print labels or from a checklist step, but not when a label is printed again — for the dishes it covers. See Quality.
• Smart Ordering — once a delivery from the warehouse or a supplier is received, Print labels for this delivery gives each item its labels: its name, the day it was received, the use-by — the date on the pack when you type it, otherwise the day received plus how long the item keeps (an item with neither gets no use-by, and the screen says so) — the pack’s batch code when you type it, and the item’s allergens. You can skip it. See Smart Ordering.
• Work orders — Report a fault on a printer opens a fault report at its branch — on the printer itself when the branch’s equipment list has exactly one printer.

Who is told

• A label didn’t print where nobody was watching — a checklist step’s label, or one the server was sending to a network printer: the person who asked for it and the branch’s label managers. (On the print screen, the screen says it.)
• A dish’s label can’t print at all — a checklist step’s dish was archived, doesn’t say how long it keeps, or no label design is big enough for it: head office, who can fix it, and the branch’s label managers.
• A printer stopped answering: the branch’s label managers, once, until it answers again — with a link to the printers page.
• A dish gained an allergen: the managers of each branch that still has labels of that dish in use, with how many to print again. A branch with none hears nothing, and the person who made the change isn’t told. An allergen taken off a recipe sends no alert — the labels already on the food still say too much, never too little.
• The morning summary — the people who run branches get a summary each morning. When labels are waiting or reach their use-by today it has a Labels line, such as “Labels: 3 waiting to print, 2 to use by today.” You can read yours ahead of time under Settings → See yesterday’s summary.

Notices are on the bell, in each person’s own language, and by e-mail and on the phone for those who turned them on. A branch’s label managers are the people who look after labels there — head office’s, when the branch has none.

Who may do what

• Head office — writes the recipes, the label designs and the allergen list. One change reaches every branch at once, so only someone who looks after labels for the whole organization makes it. Head office also adds the printers every branch shares, and sees every branch’s labels.
• Branch managers — print, see their branch’s history, and add and look after their branch’s printers. They can read the recipes, but changing one is for head office: the screen says so.
• Cooks, the crew and supervisors — print labels, print what is waiting, and print again from history. They see their own branch’s labels and nothing of other branches.
• Drivers have no Labels.

Questions

How is the use-by worked out?

From the moment you print and how long the recipe keeps: the end of the day made plus its days, or the time made plus its hours. The dates are on your organization’s clock, so a label printed just after midnight carries the right day.

Head office changed a recipe. Do the branches have to do anything?

No — the next label uses it. If the dish gained an allergen, the labels already on the food show Needs reprinting in Print history, and the branches holding them are told.

Why is the print button grey?

Either the label is too small for the name, the use-by and the allergens — a red line says so; choose a bigger Label size — or the printer you chose is a Bluetooth printer and this browser can’t use Bluetooth. Tap Print on this phone or tablet instead.

My label says “Sent to the printer” but nothing came out.

Mihwar can’t see paper. It only knows the print window was closed, also when it was closed without printing. Check that the phone is connected to the printer, then tap Print again in Print history.

A dish is missing from Print labels.

Its recipe was archived — head office can restore it — or the list is long: the first 200 dishes are shown, so search for it by name or code.

I can’t change a recipe, a label design or the allergens.

Only head office does: one change reaches every branch at once. A branch manager looks after their branch’s printers.

Why did my label leave off the ingredients?

There was no room. Small labels keep the name, the use-by and the allergens and leave off the extras, and the preview says which. For the ingredients, use a bigger label size.

Why is the name only in English on my Arabic label?

The recipe has no Arabic name yet. Ask head office to add it; the rest of the label is in Arabic.

The label has the wrong allergens.

Allergens come from the recipe and from the marks on its stock items. Head office fixes them on the recipe and under Allergens; then print again the labels that say Needs reprinting.

A checklist step didn’t print its label.

The step failed (a reading out of range), its dish was archived, or Labels is switched off. Look in Print history and on your bell: head office and the branch’s label managers are told when a dish can’t be labelled.

Our printer is on the restaurant’s Wi-Fi and Mihwar won’t take its address.

Mihwar’s server is on the internet and can’t reach a private address such as 192.168.1.20. Choose This phone or tablet for that branch: a phone on the same Wi-Fi prints to it.

Can I print with no signal?

No. Mihwar draws the label and records every print on its server, so printing needs a connection. When you are back, tap Try again.

My iPhone can’t find our Bluetooth printer.

Browsers on iPhone and iPad can’t use Bluetooth. Print from This phone or tablet to a printer the iPhone can reach (AirPrint), or use the Bluetooth printer from an Android phone or a computer with Chrome.

Can a dish have a separate shelf life once frozen?

Not yet. A recipe has one shelf life, and freezer labels with their own shelf life aren’t offered.