Is Noodles & Company or its affiliates required to provide ongoing maintenance, repairs, upgrades, or updates to the franchisee's computer systems?
Noodles_Company Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
vendor. There are no contractual limits on the frequency or cost of your obligation to obtain the upgrades.
Neither we, nor any of our affiliates, are required to provide ongoing maintenance, repairs, upgrades or updates to your computer systems.
Except as described in the following paragraph, we have no obligation to assist you in obtaining hardware, software or related services for these changes and upgrades. There are no contractual limits on the frequency or cost of your obligation to obtain these upgrades. Our specified hardware may be purchased from multiple suppliers and most of the software we require may be purchased from multiple suppliers.
You must purchase from us certain IT support services, including support of internet/phone, Aloha (POS), OLO and NoodlesRewards, data security and PCI, restaurant Office365 email account and restaurant iPad management, pursuant to an IT Support Services Agreement. Our current monthly fees for our NoodlesRewards program are $58 per month per restaurant. Our current form of IT Support Services Agreement is included as Exhibit H to this disclosure document. The IT Support Services Agreement details the specific IT Support Services you must obtain from us for which we charge $1000 per month, per restaurant.
ITEM 12 TERRITORY
Franchise Agreement.
You will not receive an exclusive territory under the Franchise Agreement. You may face competition from other franchisees, from outlets that we own, or from other channels of distribution or competitive brands that we control. The Franchise Agreement grants to you the right to own and operate a Noodles & Company restaurant at a specific location during the term of the agreement. You may not conduct the business of your Noodles & Company at any site other than that location. You may not relocate your Noodles & Company restaurant without our prior written consent. We will evaluate any proposed relocation site based on the then-current criteria we use to evaluate prospective franchise restaurant sites. The Franchise Agreement does not provide you with any options, rights of first refusal or similar rights to acquire additional franchises.
During the term of your Franchise Agreement, and provided you are in compliance with the Franchise Agreement and any other agreements with us or our affiliates and are current on all obligations due to us or our affiliates, we will not operate (directly or through an affiliate), nor grant to another person the right to operate, any Noodles & Company restaurant located within a geographical area surrounding your Noodles & Company restaurant that we specify in an exhibit to the Franchise Agreement ("Protected Area"). This restriction will not apply to any restaurant(s) in operation or under lease or construction or other commitment to open before execution of your Franchise Agreement. The Protected Area will be determined using our then current standards and will be determined before we sign the Franchise Agreement based on the location of the restaurant within the mutually agreed upon trade areas. The factors to be considered include, for example, population density, site economics and the residential or commercial character of the area.
Our Reservation of Rights.
Except for the rights expressly granted to you under the Franchise Agreement, we retain all of our rights in and discretion to use the Marks and the System and to operate Noodles & Company restaurants anywhere in the world.
Because certain locations within the Protected Area are by their nature unique and separate in character from the sites to which we intend to grant you a franchise, those sites are referred to as "Non-Traditional Venues." Non-Traditional Venues are excluded from the Protected Area and we have the right to develop (by direct ownership, franchising, licensing) those locations even if those sites are located within the Protected Area and regardless of the proximity of those sites to any other Noodles & Company restaurant.
Source: Item 11 — FRANCHISOR'S ASSISTANCE, ADVERTISING, COMPUTER SYSTEMS AND TRAINING (FDD pages 36–48)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to the 2025 Noodles & Company Franchise Disclosure Document, neither Noodles & Company nor its affiliates are required to provide ongoing maintenance, repairs, upgrades, or updates to the franchisee's computer systems. However, franchisees are obligated to purchase certain IT support services from Noodles & Company, including support for internet/phone, Aloha (POS), OLO and NoodlesRewards, data security and PCI, restaurant Office365 email account, and restaurant iPad management. The current monthly fees for the NoodlesRewards program are $58 per month per restaurant. The IT Support Services Agreement details the specific IT Support Services franchisees must obtain from Noodles & Company for which they charge $1000 per month, per restaurant.
Noodles & Company requires franchisees to record all sales on a computer-based cash register compatible with their system and to have firewall-protected internet access. The brand has the right to access franchisee data, including transaction-level data and order-to-delivery times. Franchisees must use the current Aloha Quick Service application with kitchen video and Aloha Credit Card software. The typical hardware platform compatible with Aloha or other Aloha hardware applications generally costs $20,000 to $25,000 per restaurant, which is included in Item 7. Annual hardware and software maintenance costs for these systems are approximately $3,000 per restaurant.
Franchisees must also purchase and use necessary polling and communication software to communicate daily financial information to Noodles & Company. They may also be required to purchase and use the same back-office, inventory, and ideal food cost software that Noodles & Company uses, currently eRestaurant Services, which generally costs about $134 per month per restaurant. If Noodles & Company elects to change the software or hardware in the future, franchisees will be required to make the same changes or upgrades at their own cost. All hardware and software, including the operating system, should be maintained at the level or version supported by the providing vendor. There are no contractual limits on the frequency or cost of the franchisee's obligation to obtain these upgrades.