Starbird Chicken flexed operations to meet shifts in consumer demand during the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The self-proclaimed “super-premium fast food” chicken chain first opened in 2016 and offers sandwiches, salads, tacos, chicken tenders and wings.
The San Francisco-based chain currently operates seven locations, with plans to open an additional three locations in 2021. Most recently, the brand opened a cloud kitchen, a virtual concept focused on delivery only, in Oakland, California.
“When the concept was developed in 2015, our initial hypothesis behind the concept was to create the fast food restaurant of the future by reimagining how the world saw fast food,” said Casey Hilder, Marketing Manager, Starbird Chicken.
“And to this day, we still really pride ourselves on our technology stack and our chicken quality which is always raised without antibiotics and never frozen.”
Adopting new technologies
The fact that the brand has embraced mobile ordering and other technologies helped them quickly adapt to increased consumer demand for contactless takeout and delivery.
“We have a mobile app that allows for pickup and delivery via a text message system. When you go to pick up, you can show up and wait in your car. We closed our dining rooms so we have also set up contactless pickup areas at our restaurants,” explained Hilder.
“During the pandemic, we set up an outdoor kiosk. We found that people were more likely to order from the kiosk even though it was a touch surface.”
Virtual brands
Starbird Chicken also opened several virtual brands, which are specifically designed to sell food via third-party delivery.
They first launched Starbird Wings, a chicken wing concept, followed by Starbird Salads and Starbird Bowls, a grain bowl concept.
The chicken chain also has plans to expand into the plant-based market with a virtual foodservice concept.
“We're now just finalizing a concept called Garden Bird, which is going to be a plant-based concept focused on plant-based chicken. So, we're really kind of continuing to get on that path and make it part of our growth model,” Hilder said.
Strong pandemic sales
The brand has seen strong sales throughout the pandemic.
Order volume at their San Francisco Cloud Kitchen location grew 100% during the pandemic, with sales per square food of over $5,000 per year. At the brand’s street side locations, comparable store sales were up to 50% in the last six months, with top-line sales of more than $300 per foot.
View our continuing coverage of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
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