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Introduction
Throughout the years, Muslim customers have shown a lack of confidence in the halal status of food establishments, namely, restaurants, café and food outlets (Muhammad et al., 2020; Aziz and Vui, 2012). In a non-Muslim country such as Thailand found that haram ingredients were contaminated in food products. Although halal restaurants are food outlets that predominantly provide halal food to Muslim customers, halal food has been embraced by non-Muslim customers too (Ayyub, 2015; Aziz and Vui, 2012). The majority of customers believe that halal food must include good hygiene and sanitation practices, from farm to fork. At the moment, halal restaurants are only informing customers by showing a halal logo or saying halal in Arabic. For halal restaurants to qualify for a halal logo, they must pass the halal requirements whereby the halal authority endorses the halal certification logo. During the halal certification process, the business owner may confront the halal authorities regarding the lack of manpower, lack of information about certification procedures and unclear guidelines (Muhammad et al., 2020). These issues contribute to one of the challenges in obtaining halal certification in Malaysia. Nonetheless, research has confirmed that the value of the halal logo could mean gaining customers’ trust in Muslim countries (Marzuki, 2016). Meanwhile, this logo could represent hygienic food in non-Muslim countries (Ayyub, 2015). Bashir (2019) stated that halal food could not be simply identified by tasting, feeling or smelling a dish. As such, halal food outlets have to present their official halal logo to assure customers that their food has passed the halal food production tests. Nevertheless, obtaining halal certification status is not easy because business owners have to pass various procedures before obtaining the halal logo.
At present, halal food claims 17% of the global food industry (Nurrachmi, 2017), and it is rapidly expanding. With the growing halal food industry, halal tourism is also significantly rising. The Global Muslim Travel Index (2019) reported that halal tourism trends will contribute US$300bn by 2026 to the world economy. Meanwhile, this kind of tourism must abide by Islamic rules. Therefore, tourist attraction places have to support tourists by providing halal food, halal drinks and prayer rooms according to Islamic rules. Establishments that fail to adhere to the halal requirements should...