From Syria to Thunder Bay.
The Shekho family didn't come to Canada to open a restaurant. They came because they had to. Home was Syria — until it wasn't safe to be Syrian at home.
What they brought with them was harder to pack: the way their mother folds a wrap, the exact way the marinade should smell when it hits the spit, the muscle memory of hospitality.
Shekho's Shawarma is what happens when a family refuses to lose that.
Khaleel Shekho, Founder
“We can't turn hungry customers away. They want to eat, so we feed them.
The Journey.
Before 2014
Home in Syria
Khaleel Shekho is born in Syria. Food, family, and the shawarma spit are the center of daily life.
2014
Fleeing the war
As the Syrian civil war escalates, the family flees to Kurdistan and begins rebuilding from scratch.
February 2020
Arrival in Thunder Bay
The Shekhos land in Thunder Bay, Ontario — a new country, a new winter, a new chapter.
Then
Shekho's opens
At just 19, Khaleel opens Shekho's Shawarma with his brother, sister, and parents. Everything made the Syrian way.
Today
The late-night legend
Open late every night, 'til 4 AM on weekends, feeding students, shift workers, and midnight romantics from all over the city.
Snapshots
From the shop.
Taste the story.
Come by, call ahead, or send your late-night order in.