Noodles & Stock

Noodles & Company operates as a restaurant concept offering lunch and dinner within the fast-casual segment of the restaurant industry.

The company’s core offerings include noodle and pasta dishes, staples of many different cuisines, with the intention of delivering fresh ingredients and flavors from around the world under one roof. The company’s globally-inspired menu includes a wide variety of high quality, cooked-to-order dishes, including noodles and pasta, salads, soups and appetizers. The company operates restaurants in 31 states, which include company locations and franchise locations.

The company offers approximately 20 globally-inspired and highly customizable dishes together on a single menu that can be enjoyed inside the company’s restaurants, taken to-go, or delivered to the company’s customers.

The company’s menu is well suited for off-premise dining occasions in which customers order at the company’s restaurant or online but then eat their meal from the comfort of their home or office. The company’s menu items travel particularly well, with a high variety of options to meet a broad range of lifestyle needs.

The company’s customers experience the Noodles brand through the company’s company-owned and franchise operated locations, through the company’s website www.noodles.com and through the company’s mobile app. The majority of the company’s restaurants have exhibition-style kitchens.

Strategies

The company’s key strategies include enhancing convenience for its customers and focusing on its global flavors and menu offerings.

Restaurant Portfolio

The company’s restaurants are typically between 2,000 and 2,600 square feet and are located in end-cap, in-line or free-standing locations across a variety of suburban, collegiate and urban markets. The company is executing a smaller square footage design, which largely includes order ahead drive-thru windows as the company embed an off-premise focused operating model into new restaurants.

Franchising

The company has franchise units in 18 states operated by franchisees. The company has a total of eight area developers who have signed development agreements providing for the opening of additional restaurants in their respective territories. In January of 2022, the company completed the sale of restaurants in California to a new franchise partner (the ‘Warner Sale’). The company expects franchising to be a part of the company’s growth strategy in future years. The company looks for experienced, well-capitalized franchise partners who are able to leverage their existing infrastructure and local knowledge in a manner that benefits both the company’s franchisees and the company. The company expects to continue to offer development rights in markets where the company does not intend to build company-owned restaurants. The company does not intend to offer single-unit franchises.

Seasonality

The company’s revenue per restaurant is typically lower in the first and fourth quarters (year ended January 2023), due to reduced winter and holiday traffic, and higher in the second and third quarters.

Intellectual Property and Trademarks

The company owns a number of trademarks and service marks registered or pending with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The company also has certain trademarks registered in certain foreign countries. In addition, the company owns the internet domain name www.noodles.com.

Governmental Regulation and Environmental Matters

The company is required to comply with the accessibility standards mandated by the U.S. Americans with Disabilities Act (‘ADA’), which generally prohibits discrimination in accommodation or employment based on disability.

In addition, the company is subject to the U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act, the U.S. Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and various other federal and state laws governing similar matters, including minimum wages, overtime, workplace safety and other working conditions.

The company is also subject to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (the ‘PPACA’), which requires health care coverage for many previously uninsured individuals and expands coverage for those already insured. The company began offering such benefits in 2015.

The company is subject to federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations concerning waste disposal, pollution, protection of the environment and the presence, discharge, storage, handling, release and disposal of, or exposure to, hazardous or toxic substances (‘environmental laws’).

History

Noodles & Company was founded in 1995. The company was incorporated in 2002.