Dr Melissa Wan Hassan completed her PhD in 2009, "Halal Restaurants in New Zealand: Implications for the Hospitality and Tourism Industry" and has returned to NZ as a visiting academic to further her research.

Dr Melissa Wan Hassan is a visiting academic from the Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Ten years ago, about half of the halal restaurants that Melissa interviewed for her PhD research were in the 'fast food' category.

Only nine percent were 'fine dining' restaurants, while another nine percent were in the 'casual style/bistro/brasserie' category.

However, in January 2016 Melissa returned to Auckland to re-examine the situation of halal restaurants.

She found that not only have halal fast food outlets increased, but many of Auckland's 'Metro Top 50 Restaurants' were now catering to customers with halal dietary needs.

Every restaurant manager she spoke to was also trying to attract more tourists to their restaurants, and Melissa is currently in Auckland to study this phenomenon and find out why the vast majority of restaurants are not marketing the fact that they serve halal food.

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