Shelby’s Shawarma Use of Lore, Skits, and Influencers to Find Global Fanbase

TikTok has turned into one of the easiest places for brands to grow, and the platform keeps shifting. First it was all UGC-style content, then humour took over, and now creator-led storytelling is the thing everyone is learning from. As a TikTok marketing agency, we’ve seen this pattern across our own campaigns too, from Cetaphil to Euroleague to Pulsenmore, each one shaped by the platform’s changing rhythm.

Shelby’s is what happens when a brand catches that rhythm early and builds its entire presence around it. Their mix of personality, cultural humour, and structured storytelling fits TikTok so well that it almost feels like the platform was made for them.

This case study explores how Shelby’s achieved TikTok and social media marketing success. What started as a tiny food trailer in Ontario evolved into a creator-first system that feels intentional, repeatable, and surprisingly scalable. Their content identity opened the door to influencer collaboration, high-performing UGC, and the kind of long-term audience retention most brands struggle to build.

Who Is Shelby’s Shawarma and What Brands Can Learn from Their Strategy

Shelby’s started small, a food trailer run by two college friends serving their mum’s shawarma recipe. What made them stand out wasn’t just the food. It was the feeling of stepping into a busy counter at lunchtime. Orders flying. Banter flowing. Customers slipping into jokes like they’d been regulars for years.

That small‑shop soul never left. Even as Shelby’s grew into a franchisable brand, their content still feels like that original trailer: loud, warm, familiar, and full of personality.

Their growth didn’t come from broad campaigns instead, it came from TikTok. Their creator‑driven system made people feel like they already knew the shop, long before they ever tasted its shawarma.

Shelby’s success is rooted in:

• a clear, consistent brand world
• a central character viewers trust (Yasser, the Shawarma Man)
• culturally familiar humour
• creator collaborations that feel like cameos in an ongoing show
• visuals that support appetite appeal
• platform‑specific execution

Shelby’s built something simple but powerful: a world people want to step into. And that familiarity is something every brand can replicate no matter the budget.

The Brand Challenge and Opportunity

Shelby’s faced the same barriers as most local businesses: limited visibility, a crowded market, and almost no ad budget. TikTok changed that for them. Instead of slowing down, they leaned into the platform that rewards personality and momentum.

By building their content around that strength, Shelby’s grew past the limits of their physical locations. They formed a global audience as their TikTok content carried the brand further than any paid campaign could have, proving that storytelling can outperform spend when the tone is right.

Shelby’s Social Media Strategy

Shelby’s operates with four core pillars. Each one reinforces the next.

Lore as a Retention Framework

Shelby’s success isn’t just centered around random humour. It is structured around lore, i.e., repeatable ideas that give viewers a sense of place. Lore creates familiarity, and familiarity creates retention.

The strongest piece of lore is the “No Ketchup on Shawarma” rule. The setup is simple: someone reaches for ketchup, and Yasser intervenes with dramatic disapproval. What makes this powerful is that it’s rooted in cultural pride, yet exaggerated just enough to be funny. Viewers know the rule before they even open the comments. This predictability creates anticipation, the most valuable ingredient in short-form content. And their execution never makes it feel old.

@shelbyscanada Why does he say shawarma like zat? 🤨 @tripleboomdrew ♬ original sound – Shelby’s Canada

Shelby’s has even shared where this joke came from. It traces back to a real moment when an Arabic customer asked for ketchup on his shawarma and the whole shop paused the way families do when someone suggests putting pineapple on pizza. 

What began as a normal request turned into one of Shelby’s most iconic running jokes, and the audience followed it as if it were a storyline in a show.

The catchphrase “I will give you something better” when a customer places an order is hilarious and yet frames the brand as both protective and generous. It gives Yasser a clear character role and gives the audience a line to latch onto.

@shelbyscanada Why does he say shawarma like zat? 🤨 @tripleboomdrew ♬ original sound – Shelby’s Canada

Then there’s Abbas, the off-screen character who is the shawarma man’s trusty sidekick. He appears only through mentions or reactions yet feels central to the world.

@shelbyscanada Who is Abbas? 🥸 . . #shelbyshelpsout #shelbyscanada #AReachRamadan #shawarmalove #fusion #fusionfood #beefshawarma #canadarestaurant #shawarma #fyp #halal #halalmeat #restaurant #toronto #torontofood #food #shawarma #shawarmareview #foodreviews #foodreview ♬ original sound – Shelby’s Canada

Shelby’s leans into the kind of humour that lives in immigrant households. 

The use of a mix of Arabic and English in one sentence, and the accented punchlines, all add to the brand’s unique social branding. Lines like “If the wrap’s not tight, it’s not right” feel like something you’d hear at a busy family dinner, not a slogan a marketing team sat down to invent. 

Because the jokes come from lived experience, they land in places far beyond Canada. One quick shoutout to Belgium’s “fresh fries” has suddenly built them a Belgian fanbase. Viewers in the Middle East, South Asia, and Europe all see pieces of their own lives reflected back at them. This familiarity is the real engine behind Shelby’s reach. This is why people who have never tasted Shelby’s act like loyal regulars. They aren’t just watching content; they’re wishing the shop existed down the street from them.

@shelbyscanadaHe’s been waiting for this moment all day 🤣♬ original sound – Shelby’s Canada

This is the real advantage of lore: it gives your content a setting and context instead of a series of disconnected jokes. When that setting is clear, creators and customers know how to join in. A simple way to think about it is this: if your brand could live inside a sitcom, what would it look like? Once you’re clear about that, the content writes itself.

Creator‑First Storytelling

Shelby’s treats creators as part of the cast, not as paid spokespeople. A typical Shelby’s collab doesn’t look like an ad. It looks like a creator wandering into a world that already exists. They don’t need a script—they just react to whatever chaos is unfolding that day.

Short-form collabs lean into cultural banter and the ketchup storyline. When Uncle Roger popped in for a collab, he slid into the cultural banter so naturally it felt like he’d been part of the Shelby’s cast all along.

@shelbyscanadaWhen accents collide 🩴🌯♬ original sound – Shelby’s Canada

Longer collabs, with creators like The Golden Balance or Golden Gully, extend the lore and create new beats in the ongoing narrative. These creators become recognisable faces, which strengthens the sense of a recurring cast.

@shelbyscanada Expect me when you least expect me. Don’t put ketchup on shawarma, my friends! @Bilal Bhatti @The Golden Balance ♬ original sound – Shelby’s Canada

Shelby’s approach works because creators aren’t brought in to “explain” the food or list menu items. They’re pulled into the ongoing story. The creators adapt instantly because the rhythm of the content is clear. 

@josephdebenedictis Yelling adds flavour I think 😅🔥🇨🇦. I tried @Shelby’s Canada for the first time and filmed some videos with the legendary Shawarma Man. Their crew is amazing and so are their Shawarmas. More to come! #shawarma #canada #canadian #mississauga #toronto #foodie #foodreview #nationalshawarmaday #shawarmaday ♬ original sound – Joseph D | US vs Canada & Food

So, as marketers, instead of giving creators talking points, give them a scene to walk into. When the setting is strong, the interaction builds itself; creators will know how to play their part without being told.

And if you want to build this kind of structure around your own brand, this is exactly the kind of creator-led storytelling we help brands develop at House of Marketers. Our influencer marketing and creator management services are designed to help brands build settings, not scripts,  so creators can step in naturally and help the story travel further.

TikTok for Discovery

TikTok is the engine. It rewards fast hooks and clear characters. Brands that want reach should start here. Shelby’s uses humour to draw attention, but they use strong visuals to anchor the product. Their cinematic food reels highlight crisp cuts, steam trails, rich spices, and textures that look satisfying even on a phone screen. Nothing is overly produced; it’s clean enough to show quality and simple enough to feel real.

In food and lifestyle categories, visuals directly impact behaviour. Clean cinematography increases watch time, saves, shares, and cravings. 

@shelbyscanada Za Legendary Shicken Bowl – za meal of your dreams my friend 🛌💭 @Abbas Smoothies ♬ original sound – Shelby’s Canada

If people can’t see what makes your product appealing, the joke, the skit, or the trend won’t save the content. Humour pulls people in, but visuals imprint the brand in their mind. That’s why brands that invest in simple, crisp product cinematography see longer watch times, higher saves, and better conversion without needing to over-explain anything.

If you want to see how this works in a real campaign, our Crumbl case study breaks down exactly how strong visuals and creator-led social engagement can transform a food brand’s reach and retention. 

YouTube for Depth

Shelby uses each social media platform intentionally. TikTok and Instagram carry the fast, chaotic side of the brand—the lore, the jokes, the creators, the quick food shots that make you pause mid-scroll. These channels keep Shelby’s circulating daily, which is why new audiences discover them even if they’ve never heard of the restaurant before.

YouTube slows the pace down. It shows the deeper layer: their partnership with the Toronto Maple Leafs, their Ramadan initiative delivering Iftar meals to displaced families in Türkiye and Lebanon, and the community-driven work that doesn’t always fit into a snappy reel. 

Embed: Shelby’s YouTube 

This long-form content adds weight to the humour. It shows viewers that behind the chaos is a brand with real values and a real presence in its community.

Together, the platforms create a full picture. 

TikTok brings the reach. Instagram builds the appetite. YouTube adds the meaning.

The result is a brand that feels entertaining on the surface and grounded underneath. Viewers don’t just laugh at the skits — they understand who Shelby’s is, what they stand for, and why the humour works so well. It’s a combination that makes the brand easy to follow, easy to trust, and even easier to root for.

Impact

From a marketing perspective, here’s what stands out:

• A global fanbase that behaves like a community, not an audience. People comment with in‑jokes, anticipate the ketchup moments, and reference recurring lines.
• Cultural relevance among Middle Eastern and wider diaspora communities, where humour and lived experience drive a stronger emotional connection.
• Clear brand recognisability, where viewers can identify a Shelby’s video within seconds, is an indicator of mature brand IP.

This is what well‑executed creator‑first marketing produces: recognisable patterns, repeatable behaviours, and an audience that volunteers to expand the brand world. Clarity and consistency fuel performance.

Paid Social for Content Amplification

Once the content system works organically, paid amplification helps scale the best moments. At House of Marketers, our Influencer Strategy and Paid Media Campaigns services help brands build this entire loop—identity → creators → UGC → amplification.

Different brands grow at different speeds. Some need structure first. Others need creators. Some need paid amplification to scale. And some need clarity before anything else.

This is where strategy matters. Brands without a framework should define their tone, identity, and narrative rules. Once that system exists, the right creators can bring it to life.

At House of Marketers, we help brands at every stage, whether they’re building their content world or amplifying what already works. Our Influencer Strategy service helps brands create a repeatable content identity. Our Paid Media Campaigns ensure top‑performing UGC reaches the right audiences.

How Brands and Businesses Can Replicate the Creative System

Shelby’s model is not exclusive to food or hospitality. Any brand, be it a service, beauty, fitness, tech, or retail can build a creator‑friendly system by establishing a clear narrative structure and making it easy for creators to participate.

Here are the core components brands should consider:

1. Define a Central Presence (Character, Voice, or POV)

This can be a founder, team member, community figure, or even a consistent narrative style. What matters is recognisability. Shelby’s uses Yasser as the anchor—but your brand might use a tone of voice or storytelling format instead.

2. Build Repeatable Content Mechanics

These are the cues that build memory:

• reactions
• rituals
• lines
• actions
• predictable moments

Think of these as the “entry points” that creators and audiences latch onto. They become participation cues.

3. Create a World, Not Just Videos

The world can be a physical place (your shop, warehouse, office) or a thematic space (your brand’s tone, rules, and culture). And when the world is clear, creators immediately understand how to step into it.

4. Allow Community to Influence the Narrative

Comments, stitches, duets, and remixes aren’t side effects—they’re signals. Brands should adapt to what audiences respond to and let community participation shape the story.

5. Offer Creators a Clear Role

Creators shouldn’t need scripts. Give them space to bring their style into your brand’s world. The easier you make this, the more natural and scalable your creator ecosystem becomes.

To Conclude

Shelby’s is a strong example of creator‑first marketing done right. They built a world, they defined a character, and they leaned into culture. And they showed how a small business can scale without traditional advertising.

At House of Marketers, a TikTok marketing Agency, we help brands build systems like this – creator strategies, UGC content strategy, paid media and content boosting, and full cross‑platform execution. We design content worlds that creators can naturally join and that audiences want to return to.

Shelby’s shows that you don’t need a complicated product or a dramatic backstory to build a cultural hit. You need a clear identity and the confidence to lean into it every single day.  

If your brand is ready to build a TikTok content engine, we’re here to help define the strategy, identify the right creators, and scale your presence across TikTok, Instagram, and beyond.

Contact us for a free consultation and proposal today!

HOM team

House of Marketers (HOM) is a leading TikTok Marketing Agency. Our global agency was built by early TikTok Employees & TikTok Partners, which gives us the insider knowledge to help leading brands, like Redbull, Playtika, Badoo, and HelloFresh win on TikTok. Want us to convert more of Gen Z and Millennials with TikTok? Get in touch with our friendly team, here.