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Noodles & Company to offer free noodles to any restaurant worker MarchNoodles & Company to offer free noodles to any restaurant worker March

The fast-casual chain welcomes all employees in uniform

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

February 28, 2023

2 Min Read
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Noodles & Company is celebrating Employee Appreciation Day, March 3, a day early by offering all restaurant workers, not just their own, a free bowl of noodles on March 2.

Any restaurant worker who comes to a Noodles & Company location in uniform between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. local time will get a meal worth up to $13.

"This offer is our way of giving back to all those who make good food moments possible.” Noodles & Company chief marketing officer Stacey Pool said in a press release announcing the offer. “It doesn't matter if you work at a big restaurant or small, or in the front of the house or back, we're offering free bowls of Noodles for all to take a break and experience what Noodles has to offer. We have the highest regard for our team members, and we are committed to putting our people first, which is why we wanted to find an uncommonly good way to extend that mission beyond our team members."  

Noodles & Company, a fast-casual brand based in Broomfield, Colo., with more than 460 restaurants, prides itself on its employee benefit package, which includes stock in the company for qualifying managers, reimbursement for expenses related to immigration, mental health programs, training in managing personal finances, paid time off, and reimbursement for expenses related to mental, financial, and physical well-being (including things such as gym membership or house-cleaning), among other benefits.

Related:Why we must celebrate foodservice workers this National Employee Appreciation Day — and every day

Noodles also has two support networks for its LGBTQ and BIPOC employees.

In an opinion piece for Nation’s Restaurant News, Noodles & Company CEO Dave Boennighausen said he was continuing to work to improve benefits for his employees.

“[W]hile I’m proud of what we’ve done, both at Noodles & Company and in the industry, I also recognize that there is always more we can do, and we are constantly listening to our team members and looking for ways to do more,” he said.

This is not the first time Noodles has offered benefits to non-employees. In January, as part of Mental Wellness Month, the chain offered up to $1 million in online therapy for its customers in partnership with BetterHelp.

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/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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