FamilyMart Malaysia will be making some big changes. In fact, the convenience store chain has already kicked things of by debuting the first ever halal convenience store cafe in Malaysia called FamiCafé, along with the halal certification from Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM).
For those keen, the first FamiCafé is located in Menara U, Shah Alam. According to its statement, this is just the first step as FamilyMart Malaysia plans to have as many as 300 FamiCafé concept stores HALAL certified by 2025. For now, there are 16 FamiCafés in the country with plans to add 34 more (totalling up to 50) by the end of the year.
“We are very excited to be the first convenience store café in Malaysia to be halal-certified as part of our continuous improvement to enhance customer experience and provide value to them. Our journey to obtain halal certification in our stores is the next step in providing greater assurance and confidence for customers to shop and dine with us,” FamilyMart stated.
In lieu of this direction, FamilyMart Malaysia has already stopped selling alcoholic beverages in all of its stores. Sin Chew Daily reported that the process begin back in March. “Alcoholic beverages has only been a small contributor to our business so far. So we are expecting very minimum impact. And we are depending on our food and beverages to cover the sales (omission),” said Managing director of QL Maxincome Sdn Bhd, Chia Lik Khai.
It’s encouraging to see FamilyMart taking steps to ensure Muslim customers can shop at its outlets with ease. Other convenience store cafés like 7 Café and emart24 have yet to obtain halal certs from JAKIM.
