Vin Mehta closed one chapter as a restaurant franchisee when he sold his Jack in the Box business. But thanks to a new partnership with son Rohit, he’s starting a new one.
The former owner of more than 60 Jack in the Box locations across Oregon and Washington is now the latest franchisee of emerging chicken concept Starbird. Through his Mehta Investment Group, Mehta plans to open 15 restaurants in Seattle and two in Spokane, with the first set to open in mid-2025.
The new agreement is the continuation of a 40-plus-year career for Mehta, who started in foodservice and hospitality after arriving in the United States. in 1982. Mehta’s journey began at a donut company before he later opened three shops of his own. He sold those stores and bought two Jack in the Box locations, eventually growing to 64 restaurants before selling them in 2017.
Vin Mehta is a new Starbird franchisee.
By then, he had diversified his portfolio, adding hotels, shopping centers, apartments and other independent restaurants. The entrepreneurial spirit that Mehta used to build his portfolio is something his son inherited, because after trying Starbird earlier this year, Rohit immediately approached his father about adding the brand to their list of businesses.
“I tried it and we both ended up really liking the concept,” Mehta said. “They have a really good chef-crafted menu.”
In addition to the food, Mehta also praised the brand’s cost to open, which he found lower than other competitors. The cost to open a Starbird is between $1.38 million and $1.58 million.
“The initial investment range is really manageable,” Mehta said. “That was the first thing we saw when we researched it. Other brands you sometimes need $3 million or $4 million. So, that was attractive. The average sales per unit is also high at $4.1 million, and I think I’m going to surpass that.”
For California-based Starbird, the agreement marks one of three development deals outside the Golden State. The company began franchising earlier this year and also signed agreements to expand in Colorado and Utah.
CEO Aaron Noveshen, who founded Starbird in 2016, said the brand came about via his other company, The Culinary Edge. From the beginning, Noveshen said the goal was to make Starbird scalable, and franchising was considering the best way to make that happen.
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“We wanted something that could be operated by ourselves, or, if we choose to, by others,” Noveshen said. “That was part of the initial development. The reason we went with franchising is it offers a really strong opportunity to grow in an asset light environment. It also taps into the expertise of business owners and operators throughout the country and internationally.”
For the deal with Mehta, in addition to being impressed with the entrepreneur’s experience, Noveshen said the move also works with Starbird’s geographical growth plans.
“We look to markets that have similar demographics as those in California, where we’ve had success,” Noveshen said. “We’re looking at western states first, and I’d say that Seattle and that area is the most similar to where we’re based in than anywhere in the country. It’s a really great match. They have very tech-enabled people there, and we do a tremendous amount of our business through technology.”
Starbird founder and CEO Aaron Noveshen
Technology is also how the franchisee and franchisor settled on 15 locations for the Seattle area. Starbird utilizes data analytics to determine how many units to build in relation to how many consumers it’s targeting. Mehta noted he’d like to get to 25 restaurants if the demand is there.
To help break the brand into the market in the near future, Mehta said the plan is to use a mix of old and new resources.
“We’re going to use traditional media, but a lot of marketing happens on social media now as well,” Mehta said. “My son is 30 years old, too, he uses social media a lot and he’s going to manage that. And, once people come in and try the food, they’re going to tell a lot of other people. There’s going to be a lot of word of mouth because of the food’s quality.”
Starbird, which has 18 locations, expects to close soon on two more franchise deals. Noveshen said the brand will then look to sign an additional three to five development deals over the course of 2025. Noveshen also said the brand expects to open five to seven restaurants next year, with three of them company-owned.