M Hotel Singapore’s Junior Sous Chef Mohd Muizzudin B Selamat preparing for an event in the hotel’s halal-certified kitchen at Basement 2, which produces all halal food served at The Buffet restaurant as well as events and other banquet and catering services.
MHR Shows
Why Halal
Certification
Is Becoming
A Strategic
Advantage
For Hotels
Singapore’s halal dining landscape continues to evolve, driven by a rising demand for inclusive and certified food offerings across both local and international markets. Major hospitality players are strengthening their halal-certified operations to ensure they are well positioned to tap on this growing market sector and serve a diverse range of guests and occasions.
Against this backdrop, Millennium Hotels and Resorts (MHR) stands out as one of the hotel groups actively enhancing its halal-certified dining capabilities, supporting everything from intimate gatherings to major national events.
Singapore’s halal dining landscape continues to expand, with more hotels embracing halal certification to cater to increasingly diverse guest profiles and the growing number of Muslim travellers visiting the city.
Among the hospitality players leading this shift is Millennium Hotels and Resorts (MHR), the hospitality flagship of Hong Leong Group and CDL. MHR has steadily strengthened its halal-certified offerings across its Singapore properties, namely M Hotel Singapore, Orchard Hotel, and Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel.
At MHR, the commitment to halal-certified began in 2010 with Orchard Hotel, before progressively expanding to M Hotel (2021) and Grand Copthorne Waterfront (2024), reflecting a long-term, group-wide effort to strengthen inclusive dining capabilities across its Singapore portfolio.
An established name Singapore’s Muslim community for its halal-certified dining offerings, M Hotel attracts a diverse mix of patrons through inclusive initiatives such as this interfaith dialogue and Iftar gathering at The Buffet Restaurant. The restaurant’s popular halal Peranakan lunch buffet also continues to draw a loyal base of regular patrons.
From buffet restaurants to large-scale banquet operations, halal certification enables them to better serve local communities, corporate clients and regional visitors from key markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. For example, latest figures from the Singapore Tourism Board showed that tourists from Indonesia and Malaysia made up over 20% of Singapore’s international visitors from January to September 2025.
According to the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS), more than 4,000 of Singapore’s over 23,600 retail food establishments (including hotel restaurants and banquet kitchens) are now halal-certified, with the sector growing by around 10% annually. This reflects rising demand not only from Muslim consumers, but also from diners who associate halal certification with strong food safety standards, operational discipline and inclusivity.
Located on Level 2, Grand Copthorne Waterfront’s halal-certified 78 square metre (sqm) kitchen is well-located to efficiently support the hotel’s 6,200 sqm of event spaces across Levels 2 and 3, and enable easy catering for weddings, corporate functions, community gatherings and other large-scale events.
Raising standards in halal certification
Halal certification involves far more than simply removing pork or alcohol from menus. Ingredients must be carefully reviewed and sourced from approved suppliers, documentation prepared, and kitchen operations aligned with stringent halal requirements. Businesses are also required to undergo audits and ensure staff complete halal competency training.
Overseen by MUIS, the only authority in Singapore that issues halal certification, the process ensures high standards of hygiene, food safety and compliance, making certification a trusted mark for a broad range of consumers.
Within Singapore’s hospitality sector, these efforts are increasingly seen as valuable long-term investments. In hotels where selected kitchens rather than the entire property are halal-certified, this caters to a much wider range of events from weddings and corporate functions to large-scale gatherings, while also strengthening Singapore’s appeal as a welcoming destination for Muslim travellers.
Known for its strong outdoor catering capabilities, Orchard Hotel regularly supports major events such as the Singapore Airshow (left photo) and Singaporean of the Year (right photo). Its halal-certified operations also appeal to a broader customer base that values stringent food safety, ethical sourcing and inclusive dining experiences.
Halal certification also helps to build trust with a significant consumer segment, unlocks greater access to a growing global market, and provides hospitality businesses with a stronger competitive edge.
To MHR, halal-certified dining options form part of the hospitality group’s broader commitment to inclusivity and guest experience. By catering to varying dietary needs and cultural preferences, the group is helping to support a more accessible and multicultural food landscape in Singapore, while also aligning certification with long-term business strategy.
