How Shelby's took over the Internet with their Innovative Marketing
- Ricesome
- Feb 9, 2024
- 4 min read
Zis is brobably the most excited I have ever been so far to write a post. Shelby's Canada has encompazzed everything zat I have seen in a successful content marketing strategy. You might have zeen them online with zeir bobular catshphrases and delishious Middle-Eastern fusion food that makes your mouth water. If you don't know whom I am talking about my friend, you are missing out on ze fun. (Okay, I will stop writing this way coz it is difficult and I am probably offending a lot of Arabs and other ethnicities.....if ze are reading)
But for those uneducated few, Shelby's is a Middle-Eastern fast food chain restaurant that is determined to serve a 'Legendary Shawarma' to every community along with many of their other innovative dishes. Shelby's started in 2015...well, actually in 2014 if you count the first-ever Shelby's restaurant being a food truck. It was started by two friends Yazan El-Shalabi (CEO/Co-founder) and Yasser Ali (Co-founder/Director of Marketing) in London, Ontario, Canada. They are currently in 17 locations in Canada with 15 upcoming ones and coming soon in the USA. (Yes, London is a city in Canada as well.....YLSNED)
Little back story, Yazan and Yasser were friends in college and decided to do something together. Yazan was studying construction and Yasser a.k.a. The Shawarma Man was studying business. Yazan decided to go into the food business and hired Yasser as his associate. Their goal was to bring authentic shawarma to the Canadian market since they felt that shawarma got introduced to Canada in the wrong way.
Yazan used and improved upon his mom's recipe and initially, it was just part of their menu along with burgers and sandwiches. Yasser on the other hand had 18 years of experience working in the restaurant industry since he was 14, and learned everything that he had to on how to run this business.
Shelby's is unlike any other fast-food chain, and it is not just their innovative fusion dishes which look appetising on camera that make them unique. They as an organisation have a personality, and personality is what sells in 2024.
Lemme explain,
Shelby's became famous because of this specific character "The Shawarma Man" played by Yasser Ali, who is an unapologetic Arab man who loves to feed people what he thinks the customer needs rather than what they want. Although the traditional Middle-Eastern service is stereotyped to be rude, he breaks off that perception by calling everyone "My Frend!" at every opportunity he gets. This character is what sold Shelby's along with many other things in tandem. Their clever marketing strategies are evident in many of the little things that they do.
I present to you the first ever post (left) of Shelby's on Instagram and on the right side of it a pinned post of theirs on Instagram. They adopted 'Content Marketing' as their core strategy for promoting, and it has been and will be one of the prominent ways people will use to sell their products. They as an organization value innovation and authenticity in everything they do, and this is perfectly represented by The Shawarma Man, who has been given a face by Yasser, as the DOM. The inspiration for this character has come from their Jordanian chef and Yasser's father.
You might have heard their popular catchphrases in their videos such as, Don't do zaat (Don't do that), Freshh Froizz (Fresh Fries), Za best in za west (The best in the west), Bebsi (Pepsi), and most importantly "No Ketchap!". Their aversion to ketchup on shawarma is the funniest and most repeated occurrence on camera in every possible scenario you can imagine. They are so against their customers putting ketchup on their shawarma, that it is even mentioned on their bills as a "Waiver of Liability". They even use language as a leveraging tool to gain popularity and fan base in other countries by making the Shawarma Man speak to customers in different languages in their videos.
On a podcast with "Success After Dark", the co-founders of Shelby's talk about how the success formula for Shelby's consisted of 3 parts marketing, 1 part food and 1 part customer service. Although customer service and food are only 2 parts in total, that doesn't mean they neglected it. Marketing can only get a customer to the door of the restaurant, but it is the quality of food and service that ensures its success and its survival in the long term.
Yasser used to go to customers in the early days of Shelby's and ask them how was their meal to ensure that customers left happy and satisfied. In fact, on their website, they mention, "We want to satisfy your taste buds when you’re at Shelby’s. If God forbid, ketchup in your shawarma makes you a happier person, we will load on that even if it makes us low-key cringe in absolute disgust."
Even in the podcast, they discuss how modern marketing by brands requires the organisation to have a 'face' and this strategy has been adopted by many famous brands such as Apple, Amazon, etc. I would recommend watching the podcast above if you are interested in marketing, business or the restaurant industry.
A huge part of the success of Shelby's marketing strategy, in my personal opinion, is based on the fact they don't necessarily pander to their customers. Even in their videos, The Shawarma Man oftentimes changes the orders of the customers right before them, even though it is not what they asked for. But, in the end, always, they enjoy what he makes for them. This is a very clever way of promoting their new products on the menu and a very diplomatic way of saying, "If you give a customer what they ask for, they will be satisfied. But if you give them what they need, they will come back for more."
Although Shelby's as a business caters to their customers, their marketing strategies do not and this plays a huge role in maintaining their personality and authenticity as a brand. I cannot think of a better example of using storytelling as a marketing tool in the restaurant industry than Shelby's. So, check ze-them out and let me know what you think about this article in the comments section.
(Also, share this article on social media and tag @_ricesome_ and @shelbyscanada to let them know about this page)
See you next week! ABBAS WHERE ARE Y-!!!!
Comments