When Starbird’s culinary team develops a new flavor profile, it has to enhance every menu category—tenders, wings, sandwiches and salads.
“We start with known chicken archetypes,” said Aaron Noveshen, Starbird’s founder and CEO of the San Francisco-based fast casual. “You can’t just throw a flavor on fried chicken and make it work.” Even though he describes Starbird’s fried chicken as the pinnacle of crispy perfection; it's hand-breaded with a special gluten-free flour-and-spice blend and cooked from scratch daily.
Orange Chicken met the criteria. The LTO’s Chinese-American flavor is a balance of sweet, savory and sour that consumers are familiar with, find craveable and complements chicken.
The R&D journey
The chicken is the starting point for Starbird’s R&D and a differentiator for the fast casual, said Noveshen. It begins with the sourcing. The birds are supplied by a California producer and are raised NAE—no antibiotics ever.
The chicken is then brined in a proprietary house-made solution and coated using a dry-wet-dry breading system before frying. “We take a speed-scratch approach to food and add critical ingredients that are fresh,” Noveshen said.
The CEO also founded The Culinary Edge, the concept’s R&D arm and restaurant consultancy. Noveshen worked with that team of chefs to develop the menu item’s flavor profile. “Starbird is all about the sauces,” he added.
This Asian-inspired sauce gets its acidic or sour notes from the orange’s juice and a hint of bitterness from the peel; red pepper flakes add a subtle shot of heat. “Creating the right balance was not only about flavor, but texture, too,” said Noveshen. “We didn’t want it to be too gummy or too thin.”
It works in multiple applications.
Orange Chicken Wings are served with a side of creamy sesame vinaigrette for dipping.
Orange Chicken Tenders are glazed with the sauce and served with a side of sauce as a dip, along with a creamy sesame vinaigrette to layer on more Asian flavor. The Orange Chicken Sandwich layers boneless crispy chicken with the orange glaze, shredded cabbage, the same vinaigrette, cucumber, green onion and toasted sesame seeds. Orange Chicken Wings are glazed with the sauce and topped with green onion, sesame seeds and cilantro.
Noveshen said the most popular item in the limited-time lineup is the Mandarin Orange Chicken Salad. It’s a toss of crispy orange glazed chicken, shredded cabbage, carrot, cucumber, mandarin orange segments, crispy wonton strips, green onion, cilantro, toasted sesame seed and the creamy sesame vinaigrette.
Mandarin Orange Chicken Salad had the strongest positive response from consumers.
Four different items, all cross-utilizing the same basic ingredients to infuse flavor and ease execution in the fast casual’s 12 locations.
What’s next?
“We’re a flavor-forward concept and are constantly looking at new flavor profiles with The Culinary Edge,” said Noveshen. “We consider big categories that go well with chicken.” Chicken Parm and Korean are two examples he cited.
But while the culinary team may think something tastes great and performs well in the test kitchen, a new sauce or product must get consumer validation before it launches on the menu.
Starbird is also testing out an entire new chicken menu category that’s scheduled to launch in late summer/early fall. Noveshen wouldn’t divulge any details, but he already has sandwiches, tenders, wings and salads covered.