For the first time ever, Burger King South Africa will be launching a dual-restaurant model that will see some of its restaurants serving bacon as part of their menu.
In a statement by Chief Operating Officer at Burger King SA, Juan Klopper he said they have received ongoing support from halaal communities since opening their doors, and as a brand that champions inclusivity, it is extremely important that everyone feels welcome in their restaurant.
“When we launched locally, we worked closely with Shura (Majlisish Shura Al-Islam) to ensure our restaurants and distribution centres have strict measures in place to meet and maintain our halaal-certified status.
"Our relationship with SHURA is ongoing and when we received more requests from guests to introduce a non-halaal product to the menu, we consulted with them to ascertain if this should be considered,” said Klopper.
He said this month, Burger King will implement a dual-restaurant model, which means that selected restaurants will now serve bacon.
Burger King SA will introduce a dual-restaurant model as it introduces bacon to the menu in selected restaurants. Supplied
“Working with Shura, and using data and insight from our in-house GIS Retail Market Analyst to ensure that Burger King restaurants in areas with a large Muslim community remain halaal, the decision was made to add bacon in other areas,” said Klopper.
He added that the restaurant will continue to serve long standing loyal guests that require halaal-certified food, hence fifty-two restaurants will remain halaal-certified. That the restaurant has also relooked the names of three global products on the menu and has removed the reference to ‘ham’ in the name for these products to be more respectful of its halaal client base, renaming them ‘burgers.
Burger King SA will introduce a dual-restaurant model as it introduces bacon to the menu in selected restaurants.
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Administrator at Shura, Shaheed Bardien said they value and appreciate the efforts from the Burger King team to ensure Shura was included in this undertaking and that they have shown continuous commitment to the halaal community.