On Friday 4 November, one of our new signatories, JL King hosted a large group of people from Bendigo’s Culturally and Linguistically Diverse community on a tour of their new warehouse which is nearing completion in East Bendigo.

JL King & Co. is a family-owned Australian company that has been running out of the Central Victorian region for over 100 years supplying locally-sourced, high quality produce. Having started small, the company has grown into a national company and expanded it product offering to include their “Simply Tasty” range of pre-prepared salads and ready meals that are distributed Australia-wide.

This rapid growth of the company has necessitated the construction of a brand-new warehouse in order to accommodate their needs. Of course, growing so fast, also leads to the need for more staff and that’s where LCMS comes in.

“When we shared the story of how the Spotless Group had worked with LCMS to solve their staff shortages, JL King were keen to try a similar approach, so arranged the tour and were thrilled with the turnout,” said Petra McLoughlin, GROW Bendigo Project Manager.

The purpose of the tour – which included two interpreters to overcome language barriers – was to introduce participants to JL King and the work they have been doing for over 100 years to provide fresh produce to the community.

“It was wonderful to see such a large group of people show interest in learning more about what a job at JL King looks like,” said Michael Robertson, Director: JL King and Simply Tasty.

“We are very proud of the positive work culture at JL King and are excited about having staff from more culturally diverse backgrounds join the team,” Michael continued.

Following the tour, the group enjoyed lunch at PepperGreen Farm while they learnt more about the job options available at JL King.

“By the end of the day, we had five people in the group indicate that they were keen to consider working at JL King with a view to starting as soon as possible, with others said they are keen to consider a job once the new warehouse opens,” said Samone Hollings, GROW project coordinator for JL King & Co.

How good is that!

If you want to find out more about how your business might benefit from becoming part of the GROW Bendigo community, please contact the Be Bendigo office on 5442 7816