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Diving certificate:
- Noodles & Company is there, Placement of three new and improved dishes at test sites to assess guest satisfaction, operational feasibility and financial impacts such as menu changes, CEO Drew Madsen said Wednesday during a quarterly earnings call.
- The menu items currently in this testing phase are Crispy Chicken Bacon Alfredo, an evolution of the Alfredo MontAmore, Lemon Garlic Shrimp Scampi and Chipotle Chicken Cavatappi. These three dishes are expected to launch in October.
- To boost traffic, the brand is in the Process of improving and updating the menuwhich will affect about two-thirds of the menu. Given the impact of the menu overhaul, the chain is staggering the nationwide rollout of the items over several months, Madsen said.
Diving insight:
As part of its evaluation, Noodles & Company found that the chain lacks the ability to offer light and healthy fare and that there are relatively few Latin-inspired dishes. Madsen had previously told Restaurant Dive that the chain also wants to offer variations on classic dishes. The menu so far mainly features Italian, Asian and American specialties.
The three menu items have performed well during an early test phase at a central location. The Crispy Chicken Bacon Alfredo sells 50% better and has higher guest satisfaction than the Alfredo MontAmore it will replace. The Lemon Garlic Shrimp Scampi, which falls into the light and fresh menu category, “sells well and has guest satisfaction scores that are well above our menu average,” Madsen said. The Chipotle Chicken Cavatappi, which ends Noodles’ lack of Latin-inspired dishes, also gets similar results.
The chain removed its Zucchini Roasted Garlic Cream, Leanguini Rosa and Leanguini Fresca as part of its first test-site refresh, Madsen said. Last week, the chain added five new or improved dishes and removed one dish from the same central test locations. The company plans to introduce the next round of dishes after the end of the holiday season in the first quarter of 2025, Madsen said.
Noodles & Company regularly offers limited-time offers to “provide excitement for our guests and drive traffic until our menu transition is complete,” Madsen said.
In recent months, many of the chain’s LTOs have revolved around chicken: chicken parmesan, chicken prosciutto tortelloni, and baked garlic chicken Alfredo. Noodle’s also had a beef LTO: steak stroganoff.
The Baked Alfredo wasn’t as successful as the Steak Stroganoff, even though the former had “better test results in concept and similar media support,” Madsen said. The Baked Alfredo was too similar to previous Italian-centric LTOs to generate significant interest among diners, Madsen suspected.
Those results prompted the chain to change its next special menu offering. In mid-August, the brand will spotlight its existing spicy Korean steak noodles, as the dish is little known but very popular with diners and resonates with younger consumers, Madsen said.
One thing is not planned, says Madsen, namely significant price discounts that would lead to an artificial improvement in the perception of value.
“We’re really focused on things that fundamentally and sustainably improve our experience and increase the perception of value, essentially driven by how our guests feel in the restaurant and the experience we create there, and we’ll see more of that with the redesign of our menu,” Madsen said.
