Restaurant Canada Show to feature Ukrainian business owner who saw opportunity in northern Ontario

Restaurant Canada show has northern Ontario representation

Sault Ste. Marie, ON, May 9, 2022 – After having established Lans Trans Ltd; a meat processing plant, abattoir, and a fully-fledged cattle operation in Kiev, Ukraine, Oleksandr Zahrebelnyi saw an opportunity to establish in North Bay, Ontario. As a highly regulated supplier of high quality, halal-certified Canadian beef products, Canada Meat Group operates a meat processing plant and cold storage facility out of the northern Ontario location. Their goal is to increase availability and sales of high-quality meat, Kosher meat products and Halal meat products in Ontario, across Canada and globally through exportation to countries in the Middle East and Asia.

Despite facing challenges presented by the conflict in Ukraine and the onset of Covid-19, Canada Meat Group has reached great success in obtaining new customers across Ontario, especially with northern Ontario businesses who are excited to work with the new start-up.

“Finding skilled employees has been a challenge,” says Tia Dave, Finance Manager of Canada Meat Group, “We welcome the opportunity to hire skilled candidates from Ontario and the Ukraine. Ukraine is home to many skilled people in the meat industry but due to the war, immigration procedures have become more difficult.”

The company places emphasis on direct cooperation with farmers, producing environmentally friendly products, that uses the latest technology to create a superior product. More recently, the company has been exploring the establishment of an abattoir in the North Bay region that would fit into Canada Meat Group’s value chain.

“Having a complimentary abattoir in the region is a great opportunity for Northeastern Ontario famers,” says David Thompson, Manager of the Rural Agri-Innovation Network (RAIN). “We wanted to bring Canada Meat Group to the Restaurant Canada Show to help promote their business and share the opportunity for others to work with CMG (Canada Meat Group), and to highlight their latest endeavour, Near North Meats, that offers people the option to shop for clean, locally sourced meat products online.”

The Restaurant Canada Show will host thousands of people in the food industry between May 9-11 and will give business owners like Zahrebelnyi a chance to showcase their products and potentially create new partnerships. Tia Dave shares, “we hope to connect with the retail sector at the show and provide all those interested in learning more about products a chance as we will be featuring products like steaks and burgers.”