r/fastfoodreview

Chain Name	Starbird Chicken
Food category	Primary: Chicken tenders and sandwiches
# of US Locations	21
# of US States	4
Primarily located in	Northern California
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	not ranked (out of 500)
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2025	not ranked (out of 500)
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $16.21, standard dev. $3.03)	136th out of 321 meal reviews
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	5 (out of 10) / 5 (out of 10)

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Does the boneless chicken fast casual market need another competitor? Apparently Starbird Chicken thinks so. Hailing from San Francisco, like many other chains they like to say they are better than the rest with their better quality ingredients and elevated menu offerings - nothing new there. But even though they've only been around for ten years, they've spent nine of those years on the Fast Casual's 'Movers and Shakers Top 100 list", and also have cracked Technomic's Future 50 list, which is nothing to sneeze at. Right now they are aiming to double their footprint by opening a slew of new franchise locations in Washington.

All that is fine and dandy, though, but you can say all you want, what really matters is how good the food actually is. And with at least two dozen other restaurant brands focusing on chicken tenders across the nation as well, can they do anything to stand out? Ordering their classic tenders is a good place to start, because if you can't get at least the basic tender right, the rest of the menu falls apart.

And, well, they *kinda* don't. Yes, it's a chicken tender with breading and a variety of dipping sauces. But not exactly flavorful chicken, in fact it was a bit dry. And completely bland breading as well, in fact a bit too crunchy. Ubiquitous Side of Fries was Ubiquitous - also neither good nor bad. This was an excruciatingly middlin' meal. Better than Cane's by a smidge, but for a few dollars more.

Which is a bit disappointing, I kinda want some of these upstarts to succeed, put some of the older, more entrenched chains in their place. And there are some that are doing just that (Layne's comes immediately to mind, for example) - but if this one Starbird Chicken meal is any indication, Starbird Chicken has a ways to go before they can conquer the chicken world.

Coming up next: Dumont Ice Cream, Noodles and Co., and Pretzelmaker

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(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE - I will be wrapping up this review series with Day #365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)

Chain Name	Pretzelmaker
Food category	Primary: tiny bite-size bits of bread
# of US Locations	199
# of US States	32
Primarily located in	Nationwide malls, mostly
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2024	not ranked (out of top 500 list)
Restaurant Rank in US $ Sales 2025	not ranked (out of top 500 list)
Rank of price (high to low) (Average: $9.88, standard dev. $3.81)	61st out of 95 snacks
Quality / Value Rating for this specific meal	4.5 (out of 10) / 2 (out of 10)

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If you go to a place like Pretzelmaker, you might expect them to....oh, I dunno....make pretzels. But you would be WRONG! Nope, this place usually found inside malls doesn't even sell a full pretzel, they sell them in little bites - cuts of bread that are baked individually in bite-size pieces, rather than one big twisted pretzel we all know and love.

Pretzels plain (salt or no salt), or with sweet or savory toppings. Or, with dipping sauces. Or, as little pretzel-dogs. All little bits of bread you can pop in your mouth with your hands. And, to be honest, there really isn't anything wrong with that concept, it's just that it's hard to imagine being able to make a profitable enterprise based entirely on that concept.

Which is why they charge through the nose. That cup of pretzels in the photo? That's a bit under EIGHT dollars. (And you thought a family-size bag of Doritos was expensive?) You, eight bucks for a cup of bread, what a world we live in. Which is why Pretzelmaker is mainly found in malls, I suppose - you're a captive audience, people line up to spend crazy money inside malls because they don't want to bother to break up their shopping spree by going elsewhere. Just like you can charge crazy money at food stalls in convention centers or stadiums or amusement parks.

I kept it very simple to try them out with their classic pretzel bites with salt - because if you can't get that right, the rest of the menu doesn't matter. And they were alright, just bread-like bits with salt, not particularly "pretzel-y" with that typical hardened crust and soft inside. Too small to really have that tear-apart soft interior, or maybe too old/stale - who knows how long ago these were actually baked?

But, despite my grouching about them, they seem to be doing okay, even in a GLP-1 era where protein is king and bread is not. There's still no shortage of people willing to get a, ahem, cup of pretzel bites, I guess. Pretzelmaker was one of more than a dozen brands that was acquired in a buying frenzy by FAT Brands, a mega-conglomerate that is better known for Fatburger and Round Table Pizza, among others. They went belly-up earlier this year, putting all of their franchises in jeopardy (in fact, nearly every FAT Branded restaurant in the state of Texas has closed down). But a majority of their concepts, including Pretzelmaker, were just bought out of bankruptcy by a new company, called OHG Brands. Too soon to tell what plans they have, but you bet they didn't buy out a dozen restaurant concepts for $600 million just for funsies. We'll see where Pretzelmaker falls into that equation.

Coming up next: Noodles and Co., Dumont Ice Cream, Taco John's

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(About this review series: Starting in late 2025, I am visiting a different fast food/fast casual chain every day, until I run out of places to visit. Aiming to review as many chains on the Technomics Top 500 Restaurants list as possible, plus key/important regional and some local chains as well. UPDATE: This review series is scheduled to wrap up on Day 365. And no, I haven't gained weight, and no, it hasn't hurt my health.)