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Noodles & Company collaborates with Care Bears for meal bundlesNoodles & Company collaborates with Care Bears for meal bundles

A limited-time Crispy treat is available at the restaurant until ‘Share Your Care Day’ on Sept. 9

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

August 27, 2024

2 Min Read
care bears noodles n company
Combined logos of Care Bears and Noodles & CompanyNoodles & Company

Noodles & Company is teaming up with Care Bears for two bundled menus in celebration of a special holiday the teddy bear company has established on Sept. 9.

The Besties Meal includes a large entrée, a small entrée, and a “Cheer Crispy,” for $17.25.

A Cheer Crispy is a variation of the fast-casual chain’s signature dessert, which is similar to a Rice Krispies Treat and made with rice cereal, marshmallows, and butter. The limited-time version also has colorful crunchy charms baked into it.

The Junior Meal is a comprised of a small entrée, a kids drink, and a Care Bears mini plush, while supplies last, for $8.95

A la carte entrees at Noodles & Company range from around $7.50 for a regular and $6.50 for a small to around $14 for a regular and $12.50 for a small, depending on what protein is added. A Crispy is typically $3, but the Cheer Crispy on its own is $3.25.

The meals are available until Sept. 9, which is Care Bears Share Your Care Day. Its mission is to encourage people to “spread caring, sharing, love, friendship, acceptance, fun and happiness to those you love everyday!” according to the Care Bears web site.

Care Bears are owned by Cloudco Entertainment.

“Noodles & Company and Care Bears both champion values of inclusivity, kindness, and friendship, which are at the heart of Noodles' mission to nourish our guests and unite people through craveable, beloved dishes,” CEO Drew Madsen said in a statement. “We're proud to create a welcoming environment where families and loved ones can come together to enjoy delicious meals and make lasting memories, especially with our limited-time Care Bears Share Menu.” 

Related:Noodles & Company offers variations on its Rice Crispy dessert in weeklong promotion

Cloudco’s head of marketing, Kristeen Tibbits, said “The partnership with Noodles & Company is a fantastic way to bring the Care Bears’ message of sharing and caring to life. We’re delighted to collaborate on the Care Bears Share Menu, which not only offers delicious meals but also encourages families to create special moments together. As we approach Share Your Care Day on September 9, we hope this initiative inspires more acts of kindness and togetherness.” 

The special meal deals come as numerous chains are introducing value meals as consumers continue to balk at the rising prices of food and other necessities.

Noodles & Company itself launched a “Macapalooza” for the month of July which featured four digital-exclusive mac & cheese bowls starting at less than $9.

The chain of around 475 restaurants based in Broomfield, Colo., is currently undergoing a turnaround in the face of declining sales that started after a menu price hike in February of 2023. That has included operational improvements and a menu revamp that is slated to be completed in 2025.

Related:Noodles & Company considers closing around 20 underperforming units

For the most recent quarter, ended July 2, same-store sales at the chain were up by 2%.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

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About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
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