S'pore startup launches halal dining app in S'pore, the UK

A SINGAPORE-FOUNDED halal dining app that helps Muslim consumers find halal dining options has been launched in Singapore and the United Kingdom (UK).

The Halal Dining Club app has curated a list of over 1,600 halal restaurants in Singapore and the UK, the halal dining out markets of which are reportedly worth US$1.2 billion and US$3.7 billion respectively.

Founder Siddika Jaffer noted that both markets are characterised by a Muslim population that "loves dining out" and a high number of inbound Muslim tourists from Indonesia and Malaysia into Singapore, and from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries into the UK.

She added: "You would think that finding a place to dine out would be easy but for the 427 million Muslims living in non-Muslim countries, it is not."

Ms Jaffer cited that halal-observant diners typically have to spend up to 90 minutes to find and book a suitable place, which typically involves trawling multiple websites, blogs and reviews, asking friends or calling up restaurants.

The Halal Dining Club is a startup founded in 2015 and incubated by the Singapore Management University. The app is now free to download from the Apple App Store. An Android version will be available at the end of 2016.