Italian Halal Food Lures UK Muslims
“All our meat is halal so, among other diners, Cona will give young professional Asian people the chance to eat quality Italian cuisine in a fine dining restaurant environment,” Armi Ahmed, one of two Asian businessmen who launched The Cona restaurant, told The Telegraph & Argus on Wednesday, May 14.
“This is a unique concept and we believe it is the only restaurant of its type in the UK.”
Both Amri and Oman Rana, another Asian businessman, launched the Cona restaurant in Bradford to appeal to the growing number of Muslims.
Named after an Italian city outside Venice, the restaurant focuses on European food choices, especially the Italian, to overcome shortage in non-halal restaurants.
The restaurant, capable of hosting 40 guests, can be hired for special occasions.
“We are both Asian businessmen but did not want Cona to be another Indian restaurant as Bradford already has many good examples of that,” Armi, who is trained in fashion at the University of Bradford before pursuing a business career in office products, said.
“Cona will offer casual fine dining at reasonable prices. We are open for every age, but are targeting the restaurant at young professionals in the area.
Along with serving diners in its food court, Cona offers hand-made sandwiches during lunchtime to serve workers in local offices which employ around 1,000 people.
It also offers a one-hour business lunch menu in the restaurant.
“I’m a Bradford lad and felt there was scope for a high end venue in the city, which is something that is lacking at present,” he added.
“We chose Little Germany as the location as we believe there is great potential through being close to the city centre where regeneration is progressing and because many people live and work round here.
“We want The Cona to be a distinguished venue which appeals to many types of people from professionals to families,” said Armi.
Britain is home to a sizable Muslim minority of nearly 2.7 million.
The concept of halal, -- meaning permissible in Arabic -- has traditionally been applied to food.
Muslims should only eat meat from livestock slaughtered by a sharp knife from their necks, and the name of Allah, the Arabic word for God, must be mentioned.
Now other goods and services can also be certified as halal, including cosmetics, clothing, pharmaceuticals and financial services.
Halal food is consumed not only by 1.5 billion Muslims around the world, but also by at least 500 million non-Muslims in the $2 billion global industry.
The global market in Islamic investments is rapidly expanding, rising by 150 per cent since 2006 and expected to be worth £1.3 trillion in 2014.
Source: Onislam.net
