Over the weekend, Shelby’s Legendary Shawarma hosted the grand opening of its first location in Northern Ontario. The freestanding franchise location is at 840 Notre Dame Ave. in Sudbury. With about 45 locations in Ontario, Shelby’s features a menu of premium quality shawarma served in bowls, plates, and wraps, and signature fusion items have been added to the Shelby’s growing menu. Innovative choices such as the shawarma burrito, shawarma tacos, shawarma poutine, and a recently added shawarma biryani-made beef or chicken and mint chutney sauce, sumac onions, roasted cashews, etc. have been included. Introduced as a mobile concept in Southwestern Ontario in 2014, the franchise chain is preparing to open units The Beaches, York University and Yonge & Sheppard in Toronto, Pickering, Brantford and Welland. The chain’s aggressive expansion program calls for another 40 locations over the coming two to three years and present markets of interest include Toronto, Stoney Creek, Milton, Ottawa, North Brampton, Vaughan and North Oakville. Karlyn Knafo at CBRE Ltd. handles the chain’s site selection in Ontario and points out that future restaurants require 1500 to 2000 square feet with grocery-anchored shopping centres and highly visible street front locations targeted. End cap units, freestanding pads and patios are highly preferred requirements but not mandatory.
CBRE Ltd., 5935 Airport Rd., Suite 700, Mississauga, Ontario L4V 1W5 (Karlyn Knafo – 905/234-0381 karlyn.knafo@cbre.com)
Shelby’s Canada, 223 Horton St East, London, Ontario N6B 1J1 (519/640-9994 www.shelbys.ca)