Noodles & Company to open 19 Texas unitsNoodles & Company to open 19 Texas units

BROOMFIELD Colo. Noodles & Company, the fast-casual restaurant chain with more than 170 units in 16 states, has announced plans to re-enter the Texas market through a deal with a franchisee group.

Pasta Per Trio, which owns and operates 11 Noodles & Company locations in Michigan, has agreed to open nine units in the Austin area and 10 more in northeast Dallas over the next five years. The first unit in Austin is slated to open later this year, which will mark Noodles & Company’s first entry into the Texas market.  

Noodles & Company once had two corporate units in the Dallas market, which have since closed.

Noodles & Company said it expects to open up to 50 corporate and franchise restaurants this year and more than 500 in the next five to six years.

Pasta Per Trio plans to develop 30 restaurants throughout Michigan by 2011 in addition to their new Austin and Dallas development deals. The group is led by Ralph Staelgraeve and partners Bill McCardell, Tom Zdeblick and Jeff Pauly.