Noodles & Company reports Q2 EPS (2c), consensus 5c

Reports Q2 revenue $125.15M , consensus $ $136.40M…”During the beginning of the second quarter 2023, we saw meaningful softness in our guest trends. We attribute this in large part to being too aggressive on our pricing strategy, which included an incremental 5% increase in February of this year,” said Dave Boennighausen, Chief Executive Officer of Noodles & Company. “We have gained traction from our performance early in the second quarter as we pivoted to value messaging, with comparable restaurant sales improving from a 7.7% system-wide decline in May to a 3.8% decline in July, the first month of the third quarter.” “We are aggressively executing strategies to further drive comparable restaurant sales growth,” Boennighausen continued. “We are particularly focused on price optimization, leverage of our new customer data platform and robust rewards database, and expansion of our growing catering business. Furthermore, we are assessing and reigniting our culinary offerings, including the launch of a broadly appealing Chicken Parmesan in September, as well as engagement of a leading industry culinary consultant to assist us in comprehensively evaluating and improving our menu. As we execute these strategies, our efforts to respond quickly and effectively will be further supported by digital menu boards, which we anticipate will be installed at 75% of company restaurants by the end of the third quarter.” “We are encouraged by the growth in our dine-in sales during the second quarter, and believe the digital menu rollout will further support growth for in-restaurant sales while allowing the flexibility to execute quickly on our initiatives to enhance the brand across all channels. Average unit volumes have stabilized and are growing, and the cost environment continues to improve. This results in a business model that we believe can yield positive free cash flow while supporting new store growth, and we continue to anticipate meaningful Adjusted EBITDA growth in 2023 relative to the prior year. Additionally, as part of our strategy to deliver shareholder value, our Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program allowing the Company to repurchase up to $5.0 million of its common stock.”