Noodles & Company is noodling an expansion to Dallas - The Dallas Morning News

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Colorado-based Noodles & Company wants to get cooking in six new states, including Texas. Dallas and its suburbs will almost certainly be part of the expansion, says John Ramsay, vice president of franchise operations for Noodles & Company.

Ramsay is on the lookout for franchisees who can expand the company’s 450-restaurant portfolio in the South.

“If you look at our distribution of our current restaurants on our map, I call it the rainbow,” Ramsay says: Noodles shops are on the West Coast; in mountain states like Colorado and Montana; in midwestern states like Missouri and Illinois; and on the East Coast.

“Everything below the rainbow has not been developed yet. Texas is the center of that,” Ramsay says.

A Noodles & Company team member preps food at a Denver-area restaurant. (Ryan Dearth)

After the company chooses franchisees by summer 2021, Ramsay expects new Noodles restaurants to open in 2022 and 2023. No leases in Dallas-Fort Worth have been signed yet, but former Texas resident Ramsay says it’s a focus.

“My wife and I lived in Plano, near Park and Preston,” he says. “We used to laugh that within a mile of our house, we could get anything we wanted. We had no reason to go beyond a mile. There were enough choices and options that we could eat our way through every type of occasion. I think that’s going to play really well for Noodles & Co.”

One of Noodles & Company's most popular dishes is its mac and cheese, available in four varieties. (Pictured here: Wisconsin mac and cheese.) (Courtesy of Noodles & Company)

As the name suggests, the company sells bowls of noodles: spaghetti and meatballs, steak stroganoff, Buffalo chicken macaroni, and pad Thai, to name four. The company recently added zoodles — zucchini noodles — and cauliflower noodles to entice customers who desire lower-carb, vegetable-forward options. Other menu options include cauliflower gnocchi, gluten-sensitive noodles and vegan dishes.

Just before the coronavirus pandemic, Ramsay says 60% of orders were “off premise” — which means that customers took their food to-go or ordered it via a third-party delivery company like Uber Eats. As the company looks toward a “post-COVID world,” Ramsay believes Noodles is well-equipped to serve guests who want food on-the-go or at home. The company also has an app that allows for cashless, touchless transactions.

Ramsay expects Noodles’ new dining rooms to be smaller, to match consumer trends.

“We’ve already modified our restaurants, whether it be with a pickup window, curbside spots [or] ... designated areas inside the restaurant for pickup that are safe and secure,” he says. “We do believe that off-premise will continue to be a driver.”

We’ll update this story if leases are signed in Dallas-Fort Worth.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.

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