Starbird Chicken
Bottom line
- Total investment $1.1M – $1.7M including a $40K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $4.1M/year (median $4.3M). Estimated payback in 2.4 years.
- Rated MODERATE with a risk score of 65/100.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Yale framework · single-unit ROIC
Returns Analysis
Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.
The model · Yale framework
What would one Starbird Chicken unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
43%
In Yale's "attractive" band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Starbird Chicken units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
25.3%
3.09× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
3.32×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$17.8M
on $32.6M purchase
Total debt
$14.8M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Starbird Chicken franchisees operate fast-casual poultry-focused restaurants, managing kitchen operations, food preparation, customer service, and point-of-sale systems. Daily responsibilities include inventory management, staff scheduling, food quality control, and maintaining brand standards across a QSR (Quick Service Restaurant) format, typically targeting lunch and dinner dayparts.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 14 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Starbird Chicken is an early-stage system with high capital requirements, minimal transparency on financial performance, and an unproven expansion model supported by only 7 operating units.
Score breakdown · what drove the 65 / 100 rating
- 01MINOROnly 7 units in system with unknown growth trajectory suggests early-stage or stalled expansion
- 02HIGHNo Item 19 financial performance representation (Going Concern = False) limits ability to validate the $575K average net income claim
- 03MINORHigh initial investment ($1.1M-$1.7M) relative to small unit count creates survival pressure on franchisees
- 04MEDExtremely limited franchisee base (7 units) makes due diligence and peer validation difficult
- 05MEDMissing critical disclosure: no growth rate data, unit failure history, or franchisee profitability documentation
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
Item 20
Franchisee Contacts
Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.
Franchisee contacts
16 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Starbird Chicken · FDD (2023) PDF