Chef Tolu Okojie is the founder of Greelz, a Nigerian Afro-fusion restaurant with two Toronto locations participating in ByBlacks Restaurant Week 2026 (May 11–17). From catering out of a home kitchen to running one of the city's most talked-about food brands, Okojie has built his business on suya, premium ingredients and a bold commitment to bringing Nigerian street food to the world, no shortcuts taken.
There are restaurants that serve food, and then there are restaurants that carry a mission. Greelz, the Nigerian Afro-fusion brand founded by Chef Tolu Okojie, fits squarely in the second category. Born from the streets of Lagos and refined in the heart of Toronto, Greelz has become one of the most distinctive food stories in a city already overflowing with culinary talent.
It started with a taste party in a home kitchen, a room full of friends, and a spice most of them had never encountered before. Years later, Greelz holds two active Toronto locations and a growing national profile, with both spots participating in ByBlacks Restaurant Week 2026 from May 11 to 17. The brand's philosophy, summed up plainly on the restaurant's website, says everything you need to know: Elevated Nigerian street food, no shortcuts.
From Lagos to a taste party in Toronto
Okojie arrived in Canada in October 2016, stepping off a plane and into his first Canadian winter with one friend who knew he was coming and a city to figure out. He worked across several industries, including a stint in a private jet firm, before the pull of the kitchen became undeniable. He had always cooked. He had always loved feeding people. So he invited friends over for what he called a taste party, floated the idea of a home catering business, and watched the room respond warmly enough to take the leap.
For three years, he ran a catering operation and used that time to sharpen a specific skill. Okojie is direct about his mindset during that period. He wanted a niche. He wanted to be different. And he knew the answer was right in front of him.
"I realized a lot of Nigerians were cooking," he says. "But how do I make a difference?"
The spice that started everything
The turning point came through Foodpreneur Lab, a Toronto-based nonprofit founded by Janice Bartley. Foodpreneur Lab is the only Canadian Black-woman-founded and led organization with a national mandate to advance racial and gender equity in the food sector. The programme gave Okojie training in accounting, recipe development, food handling and business planning. But it also gave him a moment of clarity. When Bartley tasted his suya spice, her reaction confirmed what he had suspected. This was something rare, something people in Toronto had never properly experienced.
Suya is a traditional West African dry spice blend originating in northern Nigeria, used to season grilled meat, producing a flavour similar to jerk seasoning in Caribbean cooking or tandoori in South Asian cuisine. Bold, smoky, deeply layered. Okojie describes it as a Nigerian jerk, a useful shorthand that tends to land quickly with first-timers. The problem was that almost nobody in Toronto knew what it was.
That problem became his opportunity.
Localizing a classic without losing its soul
The strategy Okojie developed is elegant in its simplicity. Rather than asking Toronto to come entirely to suya, he brought suya to the foods Toronto already loves. Burgers, shawarmas, bowls, wraps. Dishes that a diverse, food-curious city already understands, now built around a spice and a technique most diners have never encountered. The results are distinctly his own.
The Agege Burger, Greelz's signature item and their special for ByBlacks Restaurant Week 2026, tells the full story in one dish.
Agege is a city in Lagos, and the bread is a Nigerian staple. Okojie bakes the buns fresh every morning, shaping a loaf tradition into something that reads as a burger to a Toronto palate while carrying the full DNA of its origins. Inside, flame-grilled sirloin marinated in suya spice, finished with Greelz's house sauce. It is the kind of food that rewards curiosity.
The Suya Shawarma comes with a sausage, which Okojie notes is simply how a Nigerian shawarma is made. The Suya Bowls pair the spiced protein with jollof rice, fresh vegetables and secret house sauce. Each item on the menu reflects the same thinking: Honour the culture, then translate it.
"Our food is Nigerian food reimagined to feed a diverse audience," Okojie says. "The whole world has tried my food."
Two neighbourhoods, one vision
Greelz currently operates from two Toronto locations. The Bloor Street West location, which opened in August 2024, sits in a high-traffic corridor accessible to commuters from Oakville, Brampton and Mississauga. The Kensington Market location serves the downtown core, a neighbourhood dense with Gen Z foot traffic and adventurous eaters who, as Okojie observes, are tired of generic options.
"I get a lot of that on Bloor," he says. "People saying: We're tired of this generic shawarma. This is different. This is unique."
He pays close attention to feedback. He calls it "feedbacks and feed forwards," and the data he collects informs everything from menu decisions to marketing strategy.
Building a digital brand from scratch
Greelz has a strong social media presence, with over 17,000 Instagram followers and an active TikTok account. Okojie is unapologetic about the investment this requires.
"The new Google is TikTok," he says. "Everybody goes to TikTok to find the trendy restaurants."
He made a deliberate decision early on to go fully digital, skipping flyers entirely and focusing on niche-based advertising on Instagram and TikTok. The strategy has been to show up consistently, build recognition and convert curiosity into walk-ins. By his own account, it is working. Inside the restaurants, a dedicated trivia wall explains suya's history and origins to first-time visitors, so the education continues in person.
What ByBlacks Restaurant Week means for Greelz
ByBlacks Restaurant Week is a nationally anticipated food event celebrating the creativity and culture of Black-owned Canadian restaurants, caterers and food trucks. Running May 11 to 17, 2026, the week-long festival offers participating businesses the chance to showcase specials to food lovers actively seeking to support Black culinary excellence.
For Greelz, the event is a meaningful platform to reach audiences that may know ByBlacks primarily through its Caribbean community connections, but have yet to discover what Nigerian Afro-fusion food can do. Okojie sees the exposure as a genuine chance to educate and convert. Both locations are participating this year, with the Agege Burger front and centre.
"Suya burger is something that can surprise a lot of people, something they've never, ever tried in their life," he says. "It's going to give them a very unique, robust taste."
What the streets mean to Greelz
Printed in Greelz's brand manifesto is a phrase that carries real weight: "We respect the streets, we are the culture, and we cook like the future depends on it." Okojie is thoughtful about what it means in practice.
"Our food is that authentic at home," he says. "Our jollof rice tastes like home. Smoky fuel, not mushy, grainy, and very tasty. We didn't divest culture. We brought culture to the table."
That grounding in authenticity is the anchor of everything Greelz does. Premium Grade A sirloin. Free-range chicken. Fresh ingredients. No substitutions that cut corners on the experience. The promise is real.
Where Greelz is headed
Okojie is not modest about ambition. When people ask who his competition is, he says Chipotle and Shake Shack. He knows how that sounds, and he means it anyway.
"No Nigerian brand really does what I do," he says. "In my industry, only me does what I do."
The goal is scale. More people exposed to suya. More locations. A food brand that earns a place in the same conversation as the global fast-casual names that have defined a generation of dining.
Suya to the world, starting right here
ByBlacks Restaurant Week runs from Monday, May 11 to Sunday, May 17, 2026. Both Greelz locations are participating with special menu offerings, including the Agege Burger available during the event. Samples will be on offer, and the kitchen will be ready to turn first-timers into regulars.
What Okojie has built with Greelz reflects something larger than a restaurant concept. It is a cultural statement, a direct argument that Nigerian street food deserves a permanent seat at Toronto's diverse culinary table. Every bowl of smoky jollof rice, every suya-spiced burger on an Agege bun, every shawarma made the Nigerian way carries that argument forward. The food does not ask for permission. It simply delivers.
Greelz is open year-round, with catering available for outdoor summer events and indoor gatherings in the colder months. If you have never had suya, this is a very good place to start. Walk in curious. Leave converted.
- Greelz on Bloor: 2100 Bloor Street West, Toronto
- Greelz in Kensington Market: Kensington Market, Toronto
- Order online at greelz.ca
- Instagram: @greelz_ca
