Starbird....just keep on walking

Oh how excited I was when this new fast-casual restaurant opened up in the Town Center mall. They are a fried chicken shop at heart, but their menu touts “Gardenbird plant-based chicken” as a substitute on all of their yummy looking salads and sandwiches.

I ordered the Thai salad with Gardenbird plant-based protein. Unfortunately, I was given the Thai salad with real chicken. After taking it home and noticing the error, I reached out to their customer service team to ask for a gift card or credit for my meal, letting them know that I was excited to try their vegan chicken!

Lo and behold…..Starbird is yet another brand who is adding to consumer confusion over the term PLANT-BASED. I received an email response immediately from Starbird letting me know that they would be happy to provide a refund (appreciated), but that their PLANT-BASED chicken is NOT VEGAN. Huh???

This issue is causing so much consumer confusion (yes, I am looking at you, Tattooed Chef). Why call something plant-based if it doesn’t only contain plant ingredients?

So, if you are a vegetarian you have options here. If you are vegan, you can have fries.