May Noodles & Company require me to submit a business plan for a proposed site?
Noodles_Company Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
All such information shall be verified by you and your Principal Owners as being complete and accurate in all respects, shall be submitted to us in accordance with our requirements and will be relied on by us in determining whether to grant a franchise for the proposed Noodles & Company restaurant. We may refuse to grant you a franchise for a Noodles & Company restaurant; (i) if you fail to demonstrate sufficient financial and management capabilities to properly develop and operate the proposed Noodles & Company restaurant and the then-existing Noodles & Company restaurants you and your Affiliates own; (ii) you have failed to properly develop and operate on a continuous basis the then-existing Noodles & Company restaurants you and your Affiliates own; (iii) you have failed to fully comply with this Agreement and any franchise agreements between you and us, including the Development Schedule within the Development Periods; or (iv) you are ineligible to hold or will be, in our opinion, unable to obtain a liquor license for each Noodles & Company restaurant contemplated by this Agreement. We will evaluate such financial and management capabilities in accordance with the then-current standards we use to establish Noodles & Company restaurants in other comparable market areas. We may also require you to submit a business plan for any proposed site.
Source: Item 23 — RECEIPT (FDD pages 99–350)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Noodles & Company's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, Noodles & Company may require a franchisee to submit a business plan for any proposed site. This indicates that while not always mandatory, Noodles & Company reserves the right to request a comprehensive business plan to evaluate the viability of a location.
Noodles & Company also requires franchisees to submit a Site Package containing information the company reasonably requires for each proposed site. The Site Package must be submitted in a format defined by Noodles & Company to allow submittal and presentation to the Real Estate Site Approval Committee. The Real Estate Site Approval Committee meets approximately every two weeks, and Area Operators are responsible for submitting their sites for approval at least one week prior to the meeting. Area Operators are required to attend meetings or participate via conference call.
Noodles & Company will either approve or reject each site for which a complete Site Package is submitted. The company will use all reasonable efforts to make a site approval decision and, if the site is accepted, deliver a Site Approval Form to the franchisee within 45 days after receiving the complete Site Package and any other requested materials. In deciding whether to approve or reject a site, Noodles & Company may consider factors such as the general location, neighborhood, demographic information, traffic patterns, access, visibility, site economics, location of other retail food establishments, and the size, condition, trade dress, configuration, and appearance of the site.