Starbird Names John Phillips Chief Development Officer
Starbird taps franchise veteran John Phillips as chief development officer to lead national expansion and franchise growth.
Starbird Finds Its Growth Architect
Starbird has found its growth architect. The fast-casual chicken brand, known for leaning into bold, globally inspired flavors and a culinary-first approach to fried chicken, has named John Phillips as chief development officer, handing a nearly 30-year industry veteran the job of turning the brand's ambitions into actual restaurants on actual street corners. His mandate is broad by design: market planning, real estate development, franchise recruitment, and the ongoing work of keeping existing franchise partners happy while new ones are brought into the system.
A Resume Built for Deliberate Growth
Phillips doesn't arrive without a track record. He spent years moving through some of the biggest names in franchised dining, including The Habit Burger Grill, Burger King, and El Pollo Loco, picking up operational and franchise-development chops along the way. Most recently, he served as chief global business partnership officer at The Habit Burger Grill, a Yum! Brands subsidiary, where he led international expansion and built out master franchise partnerships across multiple markets. That's not a resume built for rapid, unstructured expansion. It's one built for the slower, more deliberate work of structuring deals that hold up across different regulatory environments and franchise cultures, which appears to be exactly what Starbird was shopping for.
A Bundle of Responsibilities, Not Just One
The job itself is less a single function than a bundle of them. Phillips will oversee both company-owned and franchise development, managing the brand's growing restaurant pipeline as it pushes into new markets nationwide. The dual focus, bringing in new franchisees while reinforcing ties with the ones already in the system, reflects a growth approach that treats partner retention as seriously as partner acquisition. It's a subtle distinction, but one that tends to separate brands that scale well from those that scale fast and then stumble.
Executives Frame the Hire as a Natural Fit
CEO Greg Levin framed the hire as a natural extension of where the company is headed. "John has spent his career helping restaurant brands expand into new markets and build successful franchise partnerships, making him an outstanding addition to our leadership team," Levin said. "His deep industry experience, relationships and strategic approach will be instrumental as we accelerate our growth across the country while maintaining the operational excellence and guest experience that define Starbird." Phillips, for his part, pointed to the food itself as the draw. "Starbird has built something special with its commitment to great food, culinary innovation and a distinctive approach to chicken that sets it apart," he said. "I'm excited to join the team at such an important stage in the company's journey and build on the strong foundation already in place. There's a significant opportunity to work alongside our franchise partners to bring Starbird to more communities and help shape what's next for the brand."
A Year of Deliberate Leadership Hires
This hire didn't happen in isolation, and the sequencing is worth paying attention to. Over the past year, Starbird has brought on Levin as CEO, Stefanie Lee as chief financial officer, and Jonathan Zacks as vice president of marketing, while adding former Jersey Mike's president Hoyt Jones as a board advisor. CEO and CFO first, then marketing, then a board advisor pulling in outside franchise expertise, and now a development chief. Each hire fills a distinct gap rather than duplicating the last one, and Phillips' arrival closes the loop on the piece none of the earlier additions directly addressed: the actual mechanics of market planning, real estate, and franchise deal-making. For franchise partners and investors watching from the outside, that order tells its own story about how deliberately this leadership bench has been assembled.
A Structural Bet on Disciplined Growth
Starbird's footprint already stretches across California, Colorado, Texas, Washington, Illinois, and other markets, and the company says momentum is building in both existing and new territories. Phillips' hiring is tied directly to that geographic push, with his oversight running through the brand's expanding pipeline of new openings. What hasn't been disclosed is just as notable as what has: there are no specific unit counts, no timelines for new market entries, no financial targets attached to this appointment. What's visible instead is the structural bet Starbird is making, pairing a culinarily distinct brand with a leadership team stocked with franchise-system veterans, on the theory that disciplined partnership development will carry the concept further than opportunistic growth ever could.