The connotation was that you only worked at a restaurant if you had no other alternative.

Noodles & Company tested Zoodles for nearly nine months before launching nationwide. Restaurants, Down $200 Billion Already, Prepare for Election Fallout, McDonald's Happy Meals are Still Getting Healthier, Starbucks Outlines Initiatives to Improve Diversity, Popeyes Keeps Double-Digit Sales Streak Alive, Panera to Label Climate-Friendly Food on Menus, Restaurants Slim Down Menus Amid Pandemic Conditions, McDonald’s Plans New Bakery Menu, Including Cinnamon Rolls, What Inspires Clean Juice Cofounder Kat Eckles, 8 Lessons for Innovating During a Pandemic, from a Fast Casual Exec, Noodles & Company Returns to Positive Sales Growth, Health and Wellness Brands Find their COVID-19 Purpose, Off-Premises Menu Innovation Has Never Been More Critical, Here’s How Your Brand Should Prepare for COVID-19, Increase the Frequency of Online Orders with These 4 Simple Tactics, Why Top Restaurants are Doubling Down on Mobile Ordering Apps, 5 Strategies to Survive the COVID-19 Business Environment, Yum! Mr. Boennighausen has served as our CEO since June 2017 and as interim CEO from July 2016 through June 2017. Rather, Noodles & Company was staring down turnover north of 200 percent in its restaurants. There remains sizable whitespace in delivery, curbside, pick-up windows, and future culinary innovations. Noodles & Company was founded in 1995 by Aaron Kennedy and is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado.The company went public in 2013 and recorded a $457 million revenue in 2017. Total revenue increased 4.1 percent to $117.4 million from $112.8 million. The company didn’t have to discount the product either to ignite early sales. Many of those meals were provided by our youngest guests emptying their piggy bank or donating their allowance to the cause. Is Flexible Self-Scheduling an Answer to COVID Staffing Dilemmas? “We couldn’t move on until we did that.”. NOODLES & Co – RESTRICTED STOCK UNIT AGREEMENT (November 9th, 2017). Since being named interim and then permanent CEO of Noodles & Company, Dave Boennighausen has made big changes at a brand that was once … We hope you’ll join us. And key to this performance: Noodles & Company saw traffic lifts driven by frequency, not price. This STOCK OPTION AGREEMENT (this “Agreement”) is made as of September 21, 2017 (the “Effective Date”), by and between Noodles & Company, a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), and Dave Boennighausen (the “Participant”). This plan was first outlined in August 2016, news that also came with the departure of CMO Mark Mears as part of a corporate restructuring. “There are so many guests who have Tweeted or posted on Facebook saying, ‘I can now go back to Noodles,’ or ‘my favorite place has something that allows me to come more often.’ In a time where people are so cynical about brands and corporate communications, the fact this one has had so much excitement from our guests has really been powerful,” Boennighausen says. – Dave Boennighausen, Chief Executive Officer of Noodles & Company. “It’s an incredible brand that kind of lost its way for a little bit,” Boennighausen says. A common phrase in the restaurant industry is that “the guest experience will never surpass the team member experience.” We have always found that engaged team members get better results.

“The first thing that we did was really reengage our team around our core values,” he says. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but at the same time there’s a lot of opportunity out there. In June, all of them did. It has also pulsed the company’s stature on social media. “While Zoodles have been, very obviously, very effective and we love the results, we think it's just the beginning of the ability to have a brand that has a better for you but also tastes great at the same time. Boennighausen says the Zoodle was on the company’s culinary calendar long before launch. With Diversity, Chipotle Puts Words Into Action, Del Taco’s Performance Lays Groundwork for Innovative Store Designs, Domino's Spent $11 Million on COVID-19 Protocols, DoorDash Offering $5,000 Grants to Help Restaurants Survive Winter, How Off-Premises is Changing Everything for Restaurants, Panda Express Had a COVID-19 Task Force in January, Understanding the Restaurant Guest Six Months Into COVID-19. Plateware was updated, as were colors and design elements in its communications. We believe it’s often not pay that leads to team member engagement but the opportunity to develop and grow as an individual. The science behind the importance of a nutritious diet is unequivocal: without a healthy meal, our children are less likely to do well in school, less likely to graduate, and less likely to reach their potential. “What’s beautiful about the zucchini is it’s truly a noodle and it’s allowing us to redefine how a noodle is perceived, and broaden it, which I think is a fabulous attribute, and really just the start of where we can go with showing all of the positive qualities around the noodle itself.”.

To paint some perspective, Noodles & Company swung a net loss of $37.5 million in fiscal 2017. To start, Noodles & Company launched a rewards program—NoodlesREWARDS—in July 2017. “There’s a lot of opportunity for us to bring, continued healthy alternatives to the menu that also taste great,” he says. He has been a member of our Board of Directors since August 2015. It was 50 percent at the manager level. Is it in our DNA? When Boennighausen first grabbed the interim reins the previous summer, his first task wasn’t to circle product innovation in red ink. Like many people my age, when I was growing up, a job in the foodservice industry was something you’d want to avoid. Our teams volunteer for local organizations, support our foundation that assists team members in need, and promote benefit nights for non-profit organizations in our communities. Dave Boennighausen Discusses Strong 2Q Earnings. In turn, the chain introduced a fresh look and feel to its menu boards, welcome wall, and digital ordering platforms. Not to mention, you’d need to own a kitchen tool just for the spiralizing process. The energy in the restaurants goes up a notch, and we see the results in our sales and on social media. “We had to become much more operations focused in our decision making, and then start going out and making tough decisions we knew would maybe not be the most popular decisions, but would pay out in the long term in terms of helping our operations execute better.”, Noodles & Company significantly streamlined its menu, including removing sandwiches and flatbreads, in an effort to eliminate day-to-day operational fat that wasn’t generating guest value.