Noodles & Company
Bottom line
- Total investment $669K – $1.4M including a $35K franchise fee, 5.0% ongoing royalty.
- Average unit revenue of $1.3M/year (median $1.2M). Estimated payback in 7.3 years.
- Rated STRONG with a risk score of 51/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 8 loans (below the industry average).
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Yale framework · single-unit ROIC
Returns Analysis
Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.
The model · Yale framework
What would one Noodles & Company unit return on the cash you put in?
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
22%
Below typical band (30–60%)
Levered LBO scenario · Yale Crease Capital framing
What would 25 Noodles & Company units return on equity?
Equity IRR · 5-yr
35.6%
4.58× MOIC
Year-1 DSCR
2.30×
EBITDA ÷ debt service
Equity required
$4.9M
on $14.1M purchase
Total debt
$9.2M
SBA $5.0M + senior + seller note
Overview
About
Franchisees operate fast-casual noodle and pasta restaurants featuring made-to-order Asian noodle dishes, salads, and comfort foods. Day-to-day responsibilities include managing 25-40 employees, maintaining food quality and consistency, executing marketing campaigns, managing inventory/costs, and driving customer traffic in a competitive QSR segment.
Item 7 · what it costs
The Vitals
Item 19
Financial Performance
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 20 · 22 states with active franchisees
The Territory Map
Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).
States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17
Risk & Legal
Slow-growth franchise with concerning compliance history, thin margins, and lack of transparent financial disclosure creates meaningful execution and profitability risk.
Score breakdown · what drove the 51 / 100 rating
- 01MEDMinimal unit growth (2.2% YoY) suggests mature/saturated system with limited expansion momentum
- 02HIGHLitigation history (2018 gift card fund settlement of $600k) indicates compliance and operational oversight issues
- 03MEDNet income of $142,343 on $1.29M revenue (11% net margin) is thin for QSR, leaving limited cushion for economic downturns or underperformance
- 04MINORHigh initial investment range ($669k-$1.41M) requires long payback period given modest profitability
- 05MEDNo Item 19 (Financial Performance Representation) disclosed, making it difficult to validate actual franchisee earning potential
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
Item 11
Training & Operations
Item 20
Franchisee Contacts
Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.
Franchisee contacts
24 numbers
One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included
FDD download
Noodles & Company · FDD (2025) PDF