HCC Services
Help getting ready, kept apart from the check
HCC Services is the help a food business will be able to buy from Halal Community Council to get ready, stay organized and train its staff. Services cannot be ordered yet.
It builds trust between the Muslim community and businesses the honest way: by helping a business say only what is true about its food, name its real halal source, and keep its paperwork in order. A service is not a check, a seal, a level or membership, and it never changes a result.
Before anything else
The person who helps a business prepare never checks that business. This rule has no end date.
Buying a service never changes a result, a level, a timeline or a place in the queue.
One published price for everyone, members or not, and never bundled with a check.
A business's record says, in one line, which services it used in the past year.
Eight services, one price list
The services and what each one costs
Prices are in US dollars, per location unless stated, and do not include any sales tax the law requires. Members and non-members pay exactly the same.
- Readiness review
- $199 by live video, $349 on site
- State compliance kit
- $99
- Menu and signage wording review
- $149
- Supplier paperwork setup
- $199
- Staff training seats
- $49 a seat
- Event check
- $250 an event
- Ramadan and Eid readiness workshop
- $99 a business
- Certifier introductions
- Free
What each service includes
What you get, when you get it, and what each service is not.
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Get ready · $199 by video · $349 on site
Readiness review
A reviewer walks through the HCC Standard for the level you name (Cornerstone, Pillar or Keystone), including your state's checklist items, against how your location actually runs. By video, you show the reviewer your kitchen, storage, labels and paperwork on a live call. On site, the reviewer visits. On-site reviews are offered only where HCC has a person within reach; elsewhere, the review is by video.
You get a written list of what would not pass today, and why, tied to the line of the Standard each item comes from.
The list is one reviewer's view on one day. It is not a check, not a prediction of a result, and not a promise that fixing every item will lead to a pass. A different person checks your business, on the evidence at the time of the check. Nothing from a readiness review is published, and nothing from it appears in the Register except the one services line.
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Your state's halal law · $99
State compliance kit
The posted statements, sign templates and record forms your state's halal law asks for, filled in with you, using your real halal source: your supplier or your certifier. It covers the ten states with halal laws found in HCC's research.
If your state changes the rule within 12 months of delivery, HCC sends the updated forms free. You sign and file anything that must be filed; HCC does not file for you.
The kit is not legal advice. HCC is not a law firm.
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Say only what is true · $149
Menu and signage wording review
Every place you say "halal": your menu, your website, up to three delivery app listings, and your window and counter signs. You get a marked-up copy with suggested wording, rewritten so each halal claim names its real source and says only what is true.
HCC's suggestions never say food "is halal" in HCC's voice, never use the word "certified" about HCC, and never mention HCC status unless the business holds it, in the exact words the Seal Use Rules allow.
You decide what to publish, and you are responsible for what you publish.
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Stay organized · $199
Supplier paperwork setup
Your supplier certificates and invoices gathered (from you, or from your suppliers with your written permission), organized by item and supplier, and loaded into your HCC portal with their valid-through dates. For 12 months, the portal reminds you before any certificate expires.
Loading a document is not a check. HCC does not judge whether a document is enough to pass, and a document loaded this way is not "Seen" by HCC for any check until a checker examines it during a check.
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Train your staff · $49 a seat
Staff training seats
One named person's access to one HCC staff course on the HCC Academy, HCC's course platform, for 12 months, with a completion record. The first courses are Welcoming Halal-Conscious Guests and Ramadan 101. You may move an unstarted seat to another person.
A business that has applied for an HCC check gets the courses its level requires as part of its dues, so it never needs to buy seats to meet a level's training line. A completion counts the same way for every business. Buying seats gives no other credit in any check.
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One event · $250
Event check
A dated, scoped check of one food provider at one event of up to one day: a wedding, an iftar, or a caterer at a festival. It produces an event record that says what HCC checked, when, and what the check does not cover.
An event record is never a seal and never carries a level.
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Before each season · $99 a business
Ramadan and Eid readiness workshop
A group session before each season, with the season's playbook, held by live video unless HCC announces an in-person session. Up to 3 people from one location may attend.
If a session is recorded, HCC announces it at the start. Registered businesses that miss the session get the playbook and, if one exists, the recording for 30 days. A group workshop open to every business on the same terms does not count as helping one business prepare.
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Find a certifier · Free
Certifier introductions
HCC keeps a neutral list of halal certifiers and what each one covers, with links to each certifier's own public list. HCC does not choose a certifier for you. On request, HCC sends an introduction by email to the certifiers you pick from the list.
HCC takes no referral fees and accepts nothing of value from any certifier. Any certifier may be listed on the same terms.
The separation rule
The rules that keep services clean
HCC sells help getting ready. It keeps that help apart from the check. These rules apply to every service, every time, and they come before anything else in the services terms.
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The person who helps a business prepare never checks it
Anyone who delivers a readiness review, a wording review, a supplier paperwork setup, a state compliance kit or private training to a business never acts as checker, second reviewer, imam reviewer or standards committee member on any check of that business, or of any location under the same ownership. This rule has no end date. Group courses and group workshops that are open to any business on the same terms do not count as helping a business prepare.
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Buying a service never changes a result
A service never changes a check's outcome, the level a business passes, the time a check takes, its place in the visit queue, or the outcome of a notice or an appeal. HCC's check system does not read purchase records, and it never shows purchases to checkers, second reviewers, the imam or the standards committee.
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One price for everyone
Every service has one published price, and members and non-members pay the same. No service is bundled with a check, a membership, a perk, a directory listing or anything else. No service is discounted because a business buys something else, from HCC or from anyone. No package of services is ever sold as a way to pass a check, and there are no "guaranteed pass" bundles, ever.
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The record says so
If a business has a Register record, the record shows, in one line, every HCC Service that business used in the past 12 months, by name and month. Ordering a service means agreeing to that line.
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Separate files
What HCC learns while delivering a service goes into a services file kept apart from every check file. The people who check, review and decide never see a readiness list, a wording review or a services file, and a business may not submit a readiness list or a wording review as evidence in its check.
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HCC does not sell marketing work
Websites, online business profiles, advertising and similar work are never HCC Services. Members get that kind of help as perks, delivered by partner companies at their own cost and named on each perk card.
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No help during an open case
While HCC has an open case about a business's HCC status, HCC does not sell that business a readiness review, a wording review or a supplier paperwork setup, so no one can say help was bought during a case. Training seats, workshops, the state compliance kit and certifier introductions stay available.
State compliance kit
What the kit holds, state by state
From HCC's Law Desk research, October 14, 2026. HCC fills the kit in with you, using your real halal source: your supplier or your certifier.
- California
- Sign and label templates for places that sell or serve both halal and non-halal food (Penal Code 383c).
- Illinois
- The Illinois Department of Agriculture registration for each location (815 ILCS 505/2LL; 8 Ill. Adm. Code Part 190), the window sign, and display signs where both kinds of food are sold. Every business, member or not, names its own certifier or its supplier's certifier as the certifying entity, never HCC.
- Maryland
- The posted statement of the basis for the halal claim, and the English statement that applies if the business displays Arabic characters (Md. Com. Law 14-3602(f)).
- Michigan
- Sign and label templates, and a note on the Arabic-character rule (MCL 750.297f).
- Minnesota
- Records and wording only. Minnesota requires no registration or sign from halal sellers.
- New Jersey
- The Division's disclosure form and posted statement, and the purchase-records checklist.
- New York
- Window sign templates, the posted halal certification form, and the inspection logbook, each naming the business's real certifier.
- Texas
- Sign and label templates for places that sell both kinds of food.
- Virginia
- Wording that names the authority behind the halal claim, or a way to look it up.
- Washington
- Wording and records only.
Event check
One event, one provider, one dated record
- One event check covers one food provider, at one event, for up to one day: a wedding, an iftar, or a caterer at a festival.
- A checker reviews the provider's supplier invoices and certificates for the event's menu items and visits during preparation or service. A second reviewer signs before the record publishes. An imam joins on any religious question.
- It produces an event record: the event (described in general terms), the date, the food provider, the scope (what is covered and what is not), and dated facts, each with its basis: Seen, Observed or Stated.
- An event record never carries a seal or a level. The provider may share the record's link. It may not show an HCC seal for the event.
- Who may order: the food provider, or an event host. If a host orders, the provider must agree in writing to the visit, to the recording rules and to publication. If the provider does not agree, HCC refunds the host in full.
- Publication: the record is published at its own link and listed in the Register under the food provider. It never names a private host. Before it publishes, the provider gets the same 3-business-day preview as every HCC record: a draft, and 3 business days to point out factual errors. The provider may add a short response that publishes with the record. The record publishes as found.
- Event checks follow the same state gates as every HCC check. A business on HCC's never-seal list may not order one.
Ordering, refunds and where
How ordering works, and when you get your money back
This page sets out the HCC Services Terms in plain words. The terms in force on the day you order apply to that order.
Ordering and payment
Ask through the contact page and tell us the service and the location. We confirm what you need and that the person who will help you has no tie to your business. Orders are not open yet, because HCC's checkout is not connected to a payment service. Once it is, you pay in full when you order, through HCC's checkout. Services are sold on their own line, never in the same purchase as a check.
The price you pay is the published price on the day you order. If HCC changes a price, the change applies only to later orders and is published before it takes effect. HCC may pause new orders for a service, for example when it has no one in reach for on-site work. A pause applies to everyone.
Where services are offered
Services that do not involve a visit or a review of a business's operation (the state compliance kit, the wording review, training seats, workshops and certifier introductions) are offered in every US state.
Readiness reviews and event checks follow HCC's state gates. While New York and New Jersey are closed to HCC checks, HCC does not offer readiness reviews or event checks for locations or events in those states. Canada and Mexico open later, under their own gates.
When HCC may decline
Only for one of these reasons, applied the same way to everyone:
- No one in reach can deliver it without breaking the separation rule.
- The state's gate is closed for that service.
- A case about the business's HCC status is open.
- The business is on the never-seal list and the order is for an event check.
- Abusive or unsafe conduct toward HCC people.
- Delivering it would break a law.
HCC never declines a service because a business is or is not a member, or because of anything else it bought or did not buy.
Refunds for services not yet delivered
A service is delivered when HCC has given you everything listed for it above. Refunds go to the original payment method within 10 days of your request.
- Readiness review
- Full refund any time before the session starts. After that, HCC completes the written list; if it does not arrive within the window above, you get a full refund.
- State compliance kit
- Full refund any time before HCC delivers the filled kit. No refund after that.
- Wording review
- Full refund any time before HCC delivers the marked-up wording. No refund after that.
- Supplier paperwork setup
- Full refund any time before HCC starts work. After that, HCC completes the setup.
- Staff training seats
- Full refund for any unstarted seat, within 12 months of purchase. Started seats are not refunded.
- Event check
- Full refund any time before the checker's visit starts, or if the event is canceled. No refund once the visit starts.
- Workshop
- Full refund any time before the session starts. After that, you keep the playbook and any recording.
- Certifier introductions
- Free.
Plain words, kept private
What HCC says, what it records, and what it keeps private
What HCC says, and does not say
- HCC never says food "is halal" in its own voice, in any service or deliverable. It states what it saw, what it was shown and what it was told.
- Every deliverable that touches a halal claim names the business's real halal source: its supplier or certifier.
- HCC's materials use Latin letters only for anything bearing HCC's name, always the full name "Halal Community Council", and never describe HCC's status with the word "certified".
- No service is a promise of a result, a pass, a level, a timeline or compliance with any law. You are responsible for your business, your food, your claims and your filings.
Visits, video and recording
- No covert recording, ever. HCC records only with notice.
- At the start of every visit and video session that HCC records, the HCC person says on the recording that HCC is recording and that anyone may decline. If anyone declines, HCC stops recording that person and takes written notes instead.
- By ordering, you consent to HCC photographing documents, labels, storage and back-of-house areas, and to announced recording. You agree to tell your staff before the visit.
- HCC avoids photographing customers' and staff members' faces. Recordings and photos stay in the services file under HCC's retention schedule.
Private, with one exception
What HCC learns in a service is private. HCC uses it only to deliver the service and does not publish it, except the one services line on a record and an event record.
The one exception: if, while helping a business that holds an HCC seal, the HCC person learns a fact that may mean the business no longer meets the level its seal shows, the HCC person tells the business in writing. The business must then report the change, as its agreement requires. If it does not, the HCC person reports the fact to HCC's case desk. People who did not deliver the service handle it through HCC's normal process, with notice and appeal before any withdrawal. The person who delivered the service takes no part in that case.
Businesses tied to HCC
A business on HCC's never-seal list may buy any HCC Service at the published price, like anyone, except an event check. The event check is left out because it would produce HCC's own record of HCC's findings about that business. The person who helps it prepare never checks it, and it never carries an HCC seal.
Get ready at your own pace. Get checked when you are ready.
Ask about a service, or read what the check looks for before you apply.