You can take the Malaysian out of Malaysia, but you can’t take Malaysia out of the Malaysian. Home or abroad, you can be sure that it’s only a matter of time before Malaysians succumb to their cravings and need a dose of our delicious local food – but what do you do if you're studying abroad, say in the UK?

Enter Halal Street UK – a Halal e-marketplace established in 2014 based in the UK. Their website is a one-stop marketplace to purchase curated Malaysian food products from small and medium enterprises based in Malaysia straight to consumers in the UK market. So not only does this tap into the Malaysian market in the UK, but taps into the much larger muslim market in the UK. Pew Research Center data shows that in 2016, 6% of the UK population was muslim, around 4.1 million people. Only France and Germany had larger numbers in Europe.

We speak to Simon Suresh, Founder and CEO of Halal Street UK, to explore the potential of the halal market in the UK and how the platform connects local SMEs, particularly in the F&B segment, with the UK and European markets.