Noodles & Company is being forced to rethink its business strategy.
Four months after announcing that it was planning to close between 17 and 21 of its pasta restaurants, the Colorado-based company has nearly doubled that number. Denver NBC affiliate 9News reports that the decision, which was announced on Wednesday, comes on the heels of a fiscal review of the chain’s second quarter.
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According to 9News, Noodles & Company’s Q2 revenues were $126.4 million—which is a decrease of .7 percent from last year. On the plus side, restaurant sales increased by a total of 1.5 percent system-wide.
In May, based on its first quarter results, the company announced that it was planning to close between 17 and 21 locations by the end of 2025. These latest figures have forced the company to rethink those plans in order to remain competitive.
“We are encouraged to have delivered positive comparable restaurant sales of 1.5 percent in the second quarter despite a challenging consumer environment that has led to heightened discounting and promotional activity across the industry,” Noodles & Company CEO Drew Madsen said in a press release. “Our sales and traffic moderated after the initial successful rollout of our new menu due to the strong value-conscious climate as well as slower guest adoption of the upgrades made to some of our historic menu items.”
In an effort to stick with what’s working, the company has revamped its plan and now expects to close between 28 to 32 of its company-owned restaurants. During the most recent quarter, Noodles & Company opened one new company-owned restaurant and closed six others; two franchise restaurants were also closed.
The closures come just months after the chain revamped its menu with a focus on “reimagined” favorites and “elevated ingredients” that changed two-thirds of the previous menu. In addition to a dedicated mac and cheese menu, the brand partnered with the Food Network to offer a curated selection of “Food Network Favorite” meals, but loyal diners were reportedly “slower” to adopt these changes.
Noodles & Company opened its first restaurant in 1995, in Denver’s popular Cherry Creek neighborhood. In the 30 years since, the restaurant has grown to become a family of approximately 450 locations across 31 states.
