8 minute read
Associate Member Profile
Kungfu Butchers Offers Self-Defense Against Labour Shortage
By Karen Sample and Janet Morley
Jay Chen, General Director of KungfuButchers came to Canada from China to study entrepreneurship at Bishop’s University. After graduating, he went to work for a company in the immigration sector, but it did not take long him to recognize an opportunity and start his own business.
Chen researched the Agri-Food Pilot Program and found that there was a huge demand for butchers and a very open immigration policy. KungfuButchers was founded one and a half years ago to help bridge the gap between employers in need of reliable, trained talent and workers in China looking to emigrate to Canada.
Before launching KungfuButchers, Chen spoke to employers about how he could best assist them. Topping the list was the need to find workers that are qualified for the job and trained to Canadian standards.
By working with Fujian Foreign Affairs & Enterprise Service Center, a state-owned labour recruitment and training center in Fuzhou, China, and Food Processing Skills Canada (FPSC), Chen recruits and trains Chinese citizens looking to emigrate to Canada. Training for candidates is completed in China and consists of approximately three months learning knife skills, English and completing FPSC’s Meat Cutting 101 course. Candidates must pass an exam organized by FPSC before they can come to Canada.
The second important point Chen learned when he talked to businesses needing workers is that the paperwork that comes along with hiring foreign workers is both time consuming and overwhelming. KungfuButchers takes care of all the bureaucratic headaches with the assistance of immigration lawyers.
The third item on the list of needs of employers was a solution to employee retention issues. To ensure KungfuButchers doesn’t add to the revolving door of hiring that so many employers experience, KungfuButchers’ recruits voluntarily commit to working for the employer that brings them to Canada for a minimum of two years.
Who are the candidates?
Chen says most workers who want to emigrate to Canada are 25 to 40, married with children. Some of his current candidates in training hold Master’s degrees or have owned and run a small business in China. Chen says they are highly motivated and fully committed to working for a minimum of two years as butchers because they believe Canada offers a better future for their children.
How does it work?
KungfuButchers initially conducts an interview to determine the company’s specific needs, then does the required calculations to determine how many foreign workers the company is eligible to hire. The detailed calculations done by KungfuButchers yield an exact number for each individual employer. Next, the application for the Labour Market Imact Assessment (LMIA) in Canada and the recruitment process in China start simultaneously.
Once LMIA is obtained, typically taking two to three months to be granted, the workers are trained in butchering as well as English. Workers must reach the government-required English proficiency to apply for their Canadian work permits.
“They want to get to their goal. They are willing to commit to hard work to see their dreams through.”
Currently, the entire process from initial contact with KungfuButchers to welcoming new employees into a business in Canada takes about six months. Although that may seem a long time between posting a job and hiring, Chen says it’s a positive trade off when an employer considers that they are getting a twoyear commitment during a time when many employees often may not stay even half that duration.
The final part of KungfuButchers’ role is to help workers arrive and settle into their new jobs and new homes. KungfuButchers monitors and checks on recruits once they are here and working, to ensure success for both the employee and the employer.
Shortening the process
Chen says after an employer has been through the process the first time, subsequent timeframes for hires are shorter by two to three months due to the employer already having qualified for LMIA. Immigration and Citizenship Canada is also working to get their approval process down to pre-pandemic rates of six to eight weeks from the current three to four months.
Chen also hopes that eventually the requirement for LMIA may be reconsidered. “There is no need to prove there are shortages in the meat industry when 90% of butcheries are already suffering from it.”
To tighten timeframes up even more, KungfuButchers is building a pipeline where workers in China will be continuously recruited so that all paperwork and training are being prepared simultaneously.
Legal details
KungfuButchers works with two immigration lawyers and one paralegal to ease the legal burden on employers. Chen says this is a major benefit to their clients, “especially smaller shops don’t have the resources to hire a lawyer and to go through the whole process. It’s a headache and they have no idea what LMIA is. Essentially the idea of LMIA is to prove that the foreign worker that you plan to bring in isn’t going to impact the local job market.”
What to expect – why work with KungfuButchers?
Employers that work with KungfuButchers get an all-inclusive package. On behalf of the employers, KungfuButchers books flights, finds appropriate housing for workers and helps settle them in, from picking them up at the airport to making sure they have all the documents they will need to start their new life in Canada including banking, OHIP cards and a phone. The company does all it can to make it easy for a new employee in a new country and if the employer requests any further assistance with training and translation, they will do that too.
Chen says, “If an employer calls to say they don’t think a particular employee understands how to do their job correctly, I’m on my way there to fix the problem.”
Helping people on both sides of the employment situation is Chen’s passion. He measures wealth differently than most. “My total wealth is equal to the number of people I helped multiplied by how much I have helped them,” he says.
Why hire overseas workers?
Chen says that hiring in Canada and raising wages can mean ‘poaching’ employees from other businesses. Rather than exacerbating the difficulty of retaining employees long term, Chen believes, “we need to inject fresh blood into the industry.”
Cost
Chen has created an incentive package by waving his personal fees for the first five people an MPO member employer hires through KungfuButchers.
After that, starting with the sixth hire, the fee will be 5% of their annual salary for the two years. Lawyers’ fees for work permit applications are charged to the workers. Legally, the employer must pay LMIA application fees, but Chen hopes to see a change in the future as the fees are already waived in some sectors. An employer can expect to pay approximately $4000 per employee to cover LMIA, flights, and commission.
Looking to the future – building trust and expanding
Chen has his sights set high. “I want to build this business to really help in this industry in the long term,” he says. Eventually he’d like to expand to helping other industries as well and knows that can happen only when his company builds trust over time by demonstrating their reliability through serving their clients well.
Sherry Aziz of Amir Quality Meats Inc. understands the challenges of hiring skilled workers. She says, “It is almost impossible to recruit skilled workers who are committed to our positions because
many people don’t want to partake in this career path. We also face challenges with high turnover rates.” Struggling with hiring, Sherry found Chen and KungfuButchers through MPO’s BlockTalk and started working them in February of 2022.
“Jay provides a comprehensive solution to the labour shortage situation. The workers are committed to our organization long term. In return, we are able to provide and fulfill their immigration needs through the LMIA process. On top of that, KungfuButchers takes care of all the legal paperwork, employee arrivals and housing. It is a seamless and effortless process.”
When asked what she might say to someone else thinking of hiring KungfuButchers, Aziz responded, “Just go for it. We thought it was too good to be true, but KungfuButchers delivered.”
At current capacity, KungfuButchers can recruit 200 workers per year. Chen stresses that at this point he can supply employees with entry level butcher skills. If you are a business with positions you are looking to fill, reach out today: kungfubutchers.ca.
Jay Chen General Director jay.chen@uadvisor.ca (514) 641-1919 www.kungfubutchers.ca
