Assalamo-Alaykom W.W. I recently sent an e-mail to Nandos H.O. to ask the why they had decided to not serve halal chicken in the Stratford Westfield branch. I received a letter from their head of customer engagegement David Manly, which stated that their reason for this was because they feel the catchment for the shopping centre would be huge and they expect a wider draw of customers from across London, Essex, Cambridgeshire and beyond. They are correct on that point but I simply don't understand why that should matter to non-muslims if a branch is halal or not. I personally feel that by making this decision, they have decided to control their customers by ensuring that muslims stick to the branches surrounding the centre. Please find below some of my views on the criteria Nandos base this decision on: • Local population You will find it hard to find another area as densely populated by Muslims than Newham. I'm sure Nandos is aware of this as all of their other branches serve halal chicken. Does Nandos believe that muslims do not visit Westfield Shopping Centre? • Type of restaurant It's like all of their other restaurants except it's inside a mall. • Potential future openings in the area I'm not aware of any future Nandos openings but that really is not a factor in this case. • Distance to nearest restaurant serving Halal chicken I agree that this branch is close to other halal chicken serving branches. But that should not mean that Nandos think it's ok to make this one non-halal. If a muslim family have come to Westfield, they would have to leave the shopping centre to eat at one of their other branches. This is totally unfair. • Distribution factors This is by far the strangest of factors in this instance. All the other branches in the area serve halal chicken. So is it not more of a problem to make this branch non-halal? Logisticaly, it just doesn't make sense. I feel the Nandos have made a huge error of judgement and I feel quite strongly about this. If you feel that Nandos should reconsider, please sign the petition and forward this on to your muslim family and friends. JazakAllah Khair, Salim