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How Starbird's recipe for perfect fried chicken is powering the fast casual for growth

Founder and CEO Aaron Noveshen shares Starbird’s story and hints at some surprises ahead.

Patricia Cobe, Senior Editor

May 18, 2023

This episode of Menu Feed is brought to you by Tock.
Aaron Noveshen, founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Starbird, trained as a French chef and started a company called The Culinary Edge that develops menus for restaurants. After years of helping other operators get successful concepts up and running, he felt it was time to start his own. In 2016, Starbird hatched.

The fast-casual chicken chain now numbers 12 brick-and-mortar units and a couple of virtual kitchens, but Noveshen plans to open five more company locations this year, and franchising is about to take off. The menu is simple: tenders, sandwiches, salads and wings all made with a proprietary recipe for crispy fried chicken, developed by The Culinary Edge.

 Aaron
Aaron Noveshen

Listen as Noveshen shares his culinary secrets, describes plans for growth and hints at a few surprises ahead.

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About the Author

Patricia Cobe

Senior Editor

Pat plans and executes the menu sections of Restaurant Business and FoodService Director, covering food and beverage trends, Menu R&D, profiles of chefs and restaurateurs and Technomic research. She also contributes to the digital content of both RB and FSD and is editor of two weekly e-newsletters, Recipe Report and On the Menu. Pat’s weekly podcast, MenuFeed, covers a wide range of menu topics through interviews with chefs and operators.

Pat came to Winsight from Hearst, where she was an executive editor. She is the co-author of the Mompreneurs series of books as well as two cookbooks. She graduated from Cornell University and earned a Masters in Journalism from Boston University. She is active in several professional organizations, including Les Dames d’Escoffier and the International Foodservice Editorial Council (IFEC), and serves as a judge for the James Beard Media Awards.

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