McDonald's Lovin’ it

The following blog is another one about McDonalds, and how it started his first Halal store in Australia. 

 

The Arabic-speaking people in Australia are predominantly Muslim people. Only a small percentage of the Australian population are Christian people.  With this is mind, McDonalds started his first Halal McDonald’s restaurant in the Bankstown area. It all started in 2001, when Tony and Mina Fovotta bought the McDonald’s Punchbowl store in the Bankstown area in New South Wales. They received 30 to 40 calls a week from local Muslims wanting to know if they provided Halal food. They felt that they had a commitment to the local community and though that it was a viable business option to offer Halal foods to that community. And with the full support from the McDonald’s head office the first Halal McDonald’s restaurant in Australia was born.

Now, what does it exactly means, Halal food. Because you can’t just mention your selling Halal food, you have to meet certain requirements. “Halal” is an Arabic word that means lawful. The term is not exclusively used for food but it designates any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to the Islamic law[1]. The opposite is “Haram” which means unlawful or the things that are not allowed according to the Islamic law. For example, Muslims are not allowed to eat pork or any by-products. That is something you should know when marketing food to Muslims, so do your research.

In order to serve Halal food you have to have a Halal certification. To get this certification McDonald’s Punchbowl needed to meet certain conditions, below are a few of many conditions:

Halal

-          -Staff are trained and briefed about Halal, which takes approximately one week. In order to

meet the stringent Halal requirements, staff modify in-store procedures—such as ensuring gloves are  changed when switching from wrapping bacon-free products to wrapping foods that contain bacon. 

-         - A registration fee of $600 per year is charged by the Halal Certification Authority. 

      -The restaurant employs a Halal slaughter certified member to sign off on meat delivered to the           restaurant.

sources

http://www.bizresearchpapers.com/Paper%20Two.pdf

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halal