Shows
QSR UncutUnlocking Innovation and Concept Creation, with Aaron Noveshen and Michael ParlapianoMichael Parlapiano, managing director of The Culinary Edge, and its founder and industry vet, Aaron Noveshen, join QSR Uncut this week to break down a host of topics, from the rise of chicken chain Starbird to what it takes to innovate, create, and keep restaurant brands ahead of trends and competitors. We explore the industry landscape, what’s coming, and get into a whole lot more from two of the industry’s leading voices.
2025-10-1642 min
BC Food NewsStarbird Appoints Maria Rivera as Chief Executive OfficerThe BC Food News podcast focused on the recent development at Starbird, a fast-growing fast food brand that appointed Maria Rivera as its new CEO. Rivera, known for her leadership at globally recognised brands, intends to steer Starbird through its national expansion and franchise growth. The founder of Starbird, Aaron Noveshen, will continue to significantly contribute to the brand's strategy as the Chairman of the Board. Coupled with investment backing from the Dollarhyde Investment Group and KarpReilly, Starbird plans significant milestones in its expansion. They look forward to building on their recent record-setting growth and positive industry recognition. Rivera's vision...
2025-07-2304 min
“Back to Basics” with Rachael NemethEP7: Innovating the Fast Food Experience Through People DevelopmentIn this episode of Back to Basics, we sit down with Aaron Noveshen, Founder and CEO of Starbird Chicken, and one of the leading innovators in fast casual dining.Aaron shares how Starbird is rethinking people development in one of the most competitive hiring markets—from building an internal leadership pipeline, to implementing transparent pay bands, to offering unique education and ownership opportunities for team members.With a career that spans founding The Culinary Edge and co-founding Pacific Catch and World Wrapps, Aaron brings a rare blend of culinary creativity and operational excellence to the co...
2025-05-1226 min
The SimmerAaron Noveshen Founder & CEO, StarbirdChef, founder, and industry leader Aaron Noveshen helms San Francisco Bay Area’s Starbird, a chicken concept. Starbird debuted eight years ago hoping to “completely disrupt fast food,” per Noveshen. During that time, the brand has grown quickly, embraced most of the industry’s tech-forward growth tactics — including ghost kitchens, which he still talks about favorably!
On this episode, Noveshen describes the Starbird’s evolution while sharing much of what he’s learned leading a fast-moving, forward-thinking restaurant brand born in the country’s tech epicenter. (Plus, a major QR code-adjacent gripe from Brandon.)
2024-10-0844 min
FAST CASUAL - A podcast series by LANDEDFrom Chef to CEO: Leadership Lessons from the Culinary WorldJoin Miranda Copjec from LANDED as she sits down with Aaron Noveshen, CEO of Starbird, to explore his remarkable journey from chef to restaurant industry leader. In this episode, Aaron dives into key lessons on scaling a brand without compromising values, the impact of culture on employee retention, and why thoughtful hiring is crucial for success.
Listeners will gain insights into the role of intuition in leadership, the importance of surrounding yourself with experts, and the power of continuous learning. Whether you’re a restaurant operator or a business leader, this episode is packed with takeaways on building a su...
2024-10-0131 min
Rock My RestaurantFrom Concept to Success: Starbird Chicken Is Building a Brand in the Digital AgeIn this episode of the Rock My Restaurant Podcast, we had the pleasure of interviewing Aaron Noveshen, the CEO of Starbird Chicken. His brand is rapidly growing and is taking the foodservice industry by storm. In this interview, we explored the secrets behind their remarkable growth and whether technology can keep pace with their ambitious expansion plans.The Starbirds Success Story: Starbird Chicken has become a household name in the fast casual sector, known for its delectable chicken offerings and unique dining experiences. With a focus on quality, innovation, and customer satisfaction, the chain has achieved...
2024-02-0658 min
Hospitality Hangout | Expert Strategies & Industry Trends from Hospitality InsidersREWIND | How A CEO Can Give You A Lyft To A Fast-Casual Chicken Chain w/Aaron Noveshen | Season 10, Vol. 2The Culinary Edge is a food and beverage innovation firm that was started by Noveshen over twenty years ago and Starbird is a fast-casual chicken chain that their team created after identifying chicken was about to grow significantly. The guys talk to Noveshen about the success of marketing Starbird’s limited time offers, better known as LTOs including the Cali Bacon Dutch Crunch. The Dutch crunch bread is baked in house and the chicken sandwich has made it to the menu. Novenshen says that their secret sauce is their Star Sauce. Starbird earlier this month ma...
2023-08-2929 min
Menu TalkHow Starbird's recipe for perfect fried chicken is powering the fast casual for growthAaron 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 was 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 w...
2023-05-1826 min
Hospitality Hangout | Expert Strategies & Industry Trends from Hospitality InsidersHow A CEO Can Give You A Lyft To A Fast-Casual Chicken Chain | Season 8, Vol. 11In the latest episode of Hospitality Hangout, Michael Schatzberg “The Restaurant Guy” and Jimmy Frischling “The Finance Guy” chat with Aaron Noveshen, Founder and CEO of Starbird and Founder and Chairman of The Culinary Edge. The Culinary Edge is a food and beverage innovation firm that was started by Noveshen over twenty years ago and Starbird is a fast-casual chicken chain that their team created after identifying chicken was about to grow significantly. The guys talk to Noveshen about the success of marketing Starbird’s limited time offers, better known as LTOs including the Cali Bacon Dutc...
2022-11-2929 min
FULL COMP: The Voice of the Restaurant Industry RevolutionAaron Noveshen on building a better restaurantHow do you get better at doing anything? Practice makes perfect and, today’s guest, Aaron Noveshen has over 30 years of experience in building big brands. It began with his own brand, World Wrapps, and evolved into a restaurant building engine for entrepreneurs looking to win from day one. We sat down to discuss Starbird, his latest venture that fuses together the lessons he’s learned from building countless brands for others and the latest restaurant tech available.
For more on Aaron Noveshen and Starbird, visit https://www.starbirdchicken.com/.
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Full Comp is brou...
2022-10-2136 min
Give an Ovation: The Restaurant Guest Experience Podcast with Zack OatesGaining An Edge with Aaron NoveshenSend us a textAaron Noveshen has created or co-created over 25 restaurant concepts, including San Francisco staples such as Starbird and Pacific Catch. He is also the founder and chairman of The Culinary Edge, a food and beverage innovation agency working with top chains such as Starbucks and McDonalds. What a catch!On this episode, Aaron and host Zack Oates discuss: Staff and Aaron's hiring tipsThe biggest area that Aaron sees restaurants make mistakes inHumilityOmnichannel The sensation that is Dutch Crunch breadMoreThanks Aaron!
2021-11-0527 min
Closed MondayNRO #82: Aaron Noveshen | Founder/CEO, Starbird & The Culinary EdgeAaron founded The Culinary Edge, the leading food & beverage innovation firm, to help companies with actionable strategic, culinary and operational solutions. Current and past clients include Starbucks, Sweetgreen, McDonald's, Hyatt, First Watch, Curation Foods (Eat Smart), AMC Theaters and many more, plus 25+ co-created global and local restaurant brands.
Aaron leads TCE Ventures that hatched Starbird Chicken, TCE's first self-envisioned and self-operated concept. Starbird Chicken opened to critical acclaim with the Breakout Brand Award from Nation's Restaurant News, and has 6 Bay Area locations, including Terminal 1 at SFO and Levi's Stadium.
Aaron is also the co-founder of...
2021-09-0154 min
The Main CourseDining Concepts Get Virtual ShakeupThe food and beverage industry is on the cusp of a revolution. The convergence of technology, a pandemic, and shifting consumer demands could mean the future is virtual. A visionary in the space of virtual concepts and food and beverage innovation, Aaron Noveshen, shared his journey and thoughts on what’s next. Noveshen is the founder of F&B agency The Culinary Edge and CEO and founder of the fast-food chain Starbird. Noveshen’s love affair with food started early. By 25, he was an executive chef, but he realized hispassion for the industry went beyond t...
2021-03-1628 min
Rock My Restaurant52. How to Gain a ‘Culinary Edge’ in Off-Premises | Aaron Noveshen - StarbirdOn this episode of the Takeout, Delivery, and Catering podcast series, hosts TJ Schier and Sam Stanovich sit down with Aaron Noveshen, the founder and chief executive officer of The Culinary Edge and Starbird, to explore ghost kitchens and the latest off-premises trends.
2021-02-2440 min
The Restaurant Report144. Adapting in the New Restaurant Era | The Culinary EdgeIn this episode of The Barron Report, host Paul Barron sits down with Aaron Noveshen, the founder of The Culinary Edge. Barron and Noveshen explore how restaurants are transforming their business models to accommodate coronavirus guidelines and regulations.
2020-11-3029 min
Buzzworthy Brands5 things to know about: StarbirdStarbird co-founder and CEO Aaron Noveshen already had more than a decade of experience as a restaurant consultant with The Culinary Edge before starting the fast-casual chicken chain.
Noveshen brought his consultant knowledge to bear at Starbird, a six-unit brand that is accelerating its growth plans even amid the pandemic. San Francisco-based Starbird entered the ghost kitchen space about a year ago and is adding a suite of virtual brands.
2020-11-0932 minQSR UncutStarbird's CEO on how the definition of a restaurant is changingWe're continuing with our series of mini episodes helping restaurants through the coronavirus pandemic. With input from operators, vendors, consultants, data analysts, and more, these mini episodes will facilitate incredibly important conversation on how we can collectively survive the coronavirus crisis.Next up: Aaron Noveshen is founder and CEO of innovation agency The Culinary Edge, as well as CEO of the Bay Area premium fast food brand Starbird. He joins the podcast to talk about how Starbird has managed to boost sales 25 percent year-over-year even in the midst of the pandemic, how customers' need states in this season...
2020-05-2642 min
The Restaurant Report84 San Francisco Coronavirus Impact | Coronavirus Restaurant ImpactIn this episode of The Barron Report, host Paul Barron sits down with Aaron Noveshen, the founder and chief executive officer of The Culinary Edge and Starbird Chicken.Established in 2002, The Culinary Edge is a food and beverage innovation agency that brings unique brands and products to market. Starbird Chicken, a fast food chain based in the Bay Area, is one of those ventures. Barron and Noveshen discuss the state of restaurants in San Francisco, and what steps businesses are taking to prepare for operation throughout this pandemic.
2020-03-1921 min