A representative from Auntie Anne's then said that the Islamic Development Council JAKIM had taken issue with the menu, which includes pretzel dogs (items containing sausages), and had requested that the item be renamed, further fanning discussion; but JAKIM later went on record to say that Auntie Anne's paperwork had been incomplete, and it had nothing to do with its pretzel dogs.
YouGov, the global market research firm, conducted an online survey from 21 to 24 October 2016 to investigate how Malaysians feel about halal certification and hotdogs. Of the 941 people polled in Malaysia, over 60% are Muslim. It found that:
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| Source: YouGov infographic. Ninety percent of Muslims only patronise halal-certified restaurants. |
Nine out of 10 of Muslim respondents say they only visit halal certified restaurants when they dine out. This result shows the importance for halal certification when it comes to attracting Muslim customers, YouGov noted.
Asked whether Muslims felt that there are enough halal-certified restaurants, 71% said that there are enough such restaurants in the country whereas 20% feel that there could be more.
As for the term 'hotdogs', 'sausages' was considered a better alternative. Over half of all respondents prefer 'sausages' (52%) while 13% of respondents prefer 'pretzel sausages' and 12% preferred 'frankfurters'.
As for Auntie Anne's, its submission for halal certification continues to be under processing. A letter on its Facebook page states that food ingredients used in the preparation of menu items are all halal-certified.
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| Source: Auntie Anne's Malaysia Facebook page. Letter assuring customers that it uses halal-certified food ingredients and is looking to become halal certified. |
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*Data from the research was collected among YouGov’s panelists during 21 to 24 October 2016 and was weighted to be representative of the online population. The sample size was 941 with 53% male and 47% female.