t reorder any brand or reorder from any supplier that is no longer approved.

If you propose to use any brand and supplier that is not then approved by us, you must first notify us and submit sufficient information, specifications and samples concerning the brand and supplier so that we can decide whether the brand complies with our specifications and standards and the supplier meets our approved supplier criteria. We have the right to charge reasonable fees to cover our costs. We will notify you of our decision in accordance with the Franchise Agreement. We may prescribe procedures for the submission of requests for approval and impose obligations on suppliers, which we may require to be incorporated in a written agreement. We may impose limits on the number of suppliers and brands for any of the items. We may formulate and modify, at our sole discretion, specifications and standards we impose on franchisees and suppliers. Specifications and standards are issued to franchisees through the Noodles & Company Operations Manual and to suppliers by written agreement.

We attempt to negotiate purchase arrangements with third-party suppliers (including price terms) for the benefit of all Noodles & Company restaurants, including those owned by franchisees. We do not provide material benefits (e.g. renewal or additional franchises) to a franchisee based on use of designated or approved suppliers.

You will be required to purchase IT support services from us. These services, and the related fees, are described in Item 11.

We estimate that the required purchases of Proprietary and Non-Proprietary goods, services, leases, supplies, fixtures, equipment and inventory from Designated

Suppliers and Approved Suppliers will represent between 29% and 45% approximately of all purchases of goods, services, leases, supplies, fixtures, equipment and inventory necessary to open a franchise restaurant and approximately 71% of all such purchases to operate a franchise restaurant. The above goods and services do not include: (1) salaries, wages, payroll taxes and benefits, (2) advertising costs, or (3) depreciation and amortization. This percent assumes average initial construction and opening costs and one year of operation costs.

Currently there are no franchisee purchasing or distribution cooperatives.

Items We Supply or Derive Revenue From.

The prices established by suppliers at which Proprietary and Non-Proprietary Products will be sold to you are based upon the price we have negotiated with them based on the purchasing power that we have established thus far.

We customarily receive rebates, allowances, and similar payments or concessions from suppliers based on purchases of products by our Company-owned and franchised Restaurants. We (and our affiliates) have the right to receive payments from suppliers on account of their actual and/or prospective dealings with you and other franchisees (and us) and to use these amounts for any purpose we deem appropriate (unless we agree otherwise with the supplier). According to our internal records, during our 2024 fiscal year, we received $34,846 from approved suppliers on account of their sales of products or services to our franchisees, which is less than 0.01% of our total consolidated revenue of $493,271,000. These amounts are usually based on an amount per case, gallon or unit of product ordered.

In March 2020, our wholly-owned subsidiary, Noodles Virginia, acquired in a merger the assets of the third party gift card service provider previously used by us. Noodles Virginia issues the gift cards, bears the liabilities for the cards and manages and operates the gift card program for Noodles & Company and its franchisees.

Source: Item 8 — RESTRICTIONS ON SOURCES OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES (FDD pages 28–32)