Richmond Hill sits along the Yonge Street corridor north of Toronto, in a stretch that's home to one of the largest Persian and Iranian communities in North America, spilling over from neighbouring Thornhill. That community has brought a distinct halal Persian food scene to the city — kebab houses, Persian bakeries, and grocers sit alongside the South Asian and Middle Eastern restaurants that serve Richmond Hill's broader Muslim population, making Yonge Street one of the more culturally layered halal food strips in the GTA.

Away from Yonge Street, the Elgin Mills corridor and the newer residential areas near Bayview have added halal dining options as Richmond Hill has grown into one of Ontario's more affluent and fast-developing suburbs. The city's restaurant scene reflects that growth: a mix of long-established family restaurants near the Thornhill border and newer halal-certified spots opening in plazas built alongside recent housing developments.

Watermelon Points gives Richmond Hill's halal restaurants — whether a Persian kebab house on Yonge Street or a newer restaurant near Elgin Mills — a way to reach customers across the whole city rather than just the block they're on. Members earn points at any participating Richmond Hill business and redeem them at any other, so a customer's loyalty isn't boxed into a single plaza or cuisine. For restaurant owners, joining as a founding partner means no monthly fee, a Square point-of-sale connection that takes minutes to set up, and inclusion in North America's first halal loyalty network from day one, as Richmond Hill is one of the platform's original 15 launch cities. That launch-city status matters in a food scene as culturally layered as Richmond Hill's — a Persian restaurant on Yonge Street and a South Asian restaurant near Elgin Mills can each reach the other's customers through one shared points balance, rather than competing for separate, disconnected customer bases.