MKTG 322 Noodles & Company Research Project

Group 4:

Jennifer Karissa Hernandez

Eric Martin Mikulenka

Chrysah Renae Pederson

Daniella Ida Stromquist

Kyndal Nicole Teich

who are Noodles & Company?

• Limited Services Restaurant

• “fast casual” menu items

• specializes in Mediterranean, Asian, and American

cuisines

history

• 1955 in Denver, Colorado

• 2008 & 2009 received “America’s Healthiest Fast Food

Restaurants” by Health magazine

• 2010 received Nation’s Restaurant News’ prestigious

Golden Chain Award

menu

• Mediterranean, Asian and American pasta

dishes

• Sandwiches, soups, salads and tofu alternatives

• Customized made-to-order entrees

• Variety of beverage options including beer and

wine

• On average entrees range from $5.00-

$12.00

locations

• 300 locations across 20 states

• 3 of which are in Austin, TX

• Located on university campuses, metropolitan cities, and

high pedestrian traffic areas

statistics • Annual sales of $119.1

Million

• 3,500 Employees

• 43 items on menu

• $5-$12 per entree

current positioning

“Whether it’s noodles, pastas, salads, or sandwiches, we

have something for everyone. All made quickly and served

with style. And all for around $8.00.”

limited-service restaurant industry

• An establishment where:

• Pay before you receive your meal

• Have the option to dine-in, take-out or have

delivery

• 200,000 limited-service restaurants in the US with a total

annual revenue of $190 billion

• College Station has about 105 limited-service restaurants

• McDonald’s Corporation and Yum! Brands. Inc. command

the industry

competition

• Pei Wei

• Pan-Asian cuisine

• Small entrees, salads, noodle & rice meal options, & gluten free

options

• Jason’s Deli

• Family deli

• Soups, salads, lite meals, pastas, sandwiches, vegetarian & gluten

free options

competition

• Fazoli’s

• Italian family restaurant chain

• Pasta, flat-bread pizza, salads, and sandwiches

• Panera Bread

• Bakery-café restaurant

• Breakfast, lunch, fresh-baked goods, sandwiches, soups, and

salads

research questions 1. How often will Texas A&M students visit Noodles &

Company?

2. How much money would Texas A&M students be willing to

pay at Noodles & Company?

3. If Texas A&M students would appreciate the multicultural

selection of food offered at Noodles & Company.

4. If Texas A&M students would value the health options at

Noodles & Company.

5. How Texas A&M students would compare Noodles &

Company to other limited-service restaurants.

methodology

• Two types of primary research used in our study:

• Focus Group

• Survey

methodology: focus group

• Purpose

• To assess student interaction with limited-service restaurants

• To gather initial responses to the idea of a Noodles & Company

coming to College Station

methodology: focus group

• Research Design

• Conducted within Mays Business School, Wehner 157 A

• Moderator: Kyndal Teich

• Video Technician: Eric Mikulenka

• Transcriptor: Daniella Stromquist

• 7 participants:

• 3 females

• 4 males

• 18-24 years old

• Mean: 21.286

methodology: focus group

• Analysis Techniques

• Used content analysis to review transcripts of individual responses

• Created a code sheet

• Limitations

• We only able to conduct one focus group

• Certain participants did not contribute as much

as others

methodology: survey

• Purpose

• To gain insight on limited service restaurant preference and buying

patterns among students

• To measure whether Noodles & Company has comparative

advantage against other local establishments

• To assess the likelihood of students dining at Noodles & Company

if one were to come to College Station

methodology: survey

• Research Design

• Created and distributed through Qualtrics

• 49 participants

• 19-24 yrs old

• 45% were 21 yrs old

• Classifications ranged from sophomores to graduates

• 15% on campus living vs 85% off campus living

• Data Collection Method

• Qualtrics was distributed by email and Facebook

methodology: survey

• Analysis Techniques

• Summarization of individual questions – number of responses

and/or percentages

• Descriptive Statistics – mainly using mean to analyze interval

questions

• Cross Tabulations

• Limitations

• Only had time to gather about 50 responses

• No freshman respondents – not completely representative

focus group

• Questions

• What is your favorite kind of food?

• On average, how many times a week do you go out and eat?

• Other than being hungry, what are some of the reasons why you

usually go out to eat?

• How important is multicultural variety in a menu?

focus group

• Key Research Findings

• Participants eat out frequently

• Choose restaurants based off of:

• Convenience

• Eat at places around campus or near home

• Price

• $5.00-$10.00

• Food

• Participants were shown a menu:

• Didn’t believe that Noodles & Company is a healthy option

• Didn’t like the multicultural aspect of the cuisine

focus group

• Takeaway

• Convenience of location is the #1 factor when choosing to eat out

• Price range between $5.00- $10.00

• Participants didn’t care for healthy or multicultural menu items

offered by Noodles & Company

• When ask if they would eat at Noodles & Company if there was one

in College Station, over half of the group said no.

survey

• Analysis

• Frequency of Restaurant visits

• 62% of respondents eat out 2 to 4 times a month

• 68% of these respondents would only eat at Noodles & Company once

or less a month.

How often do you eat at Limited Service Restaurants?

Never

Less than

Once a

Month

Once a

Month

2-3

Times a

Month

Once a

Week

2-3

Times a

Week

Dail

y

Tot

al

How often

do you think

you would

dine at

Noodles &

Company if

one were to

come to

College

Station?

Never 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 3

Less than

Once a

Month

3 0 3 6 1 0 1 14

Once a

Month 1 2 0 7 5 3 0 18

2-3 Times a

Month 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 5

Once a

Week 0 0 2 0 2 2 0 6

2-3 Times a

Week 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Daily 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

Total 5 2 5 15 13 6 1 47

survey

• Analysis

• Price

• 84% found $4.01-$8.00 as a reasonable price range

• With Noodles & Company ranging from $5.00-$12.00 those surveyed

found that the price just right

When purchasing a meal for yourself, what do you believe is a reasonable

price range for a Limited Service Restaurant?

$1.00-$4.00 $4.01-$8.00 $8.01-$12.00 More than $12.01 Total

How important

do you find the

following

qualities of a

Limited Service

Restaurant? -

Price

Not Important At All 0 0 0 0 0

Very Unimportant 0 0 0 0 0

Neither Important

nor Unimportant 0 3 1 0 4

Very Important 2 22 3 0 27

Extremely Important 0 12 1 0 13

Total 2 37 5 0 44

survey

• Analysis

• Multicultural Variety

• In general, when choosing where to dine multicultural variety had an

average importance of 2.48

• When shown a Noodles & Company menu the average importance of

multicultural variety was a 3.51

• The average satisfaction rating of the multicultural variety when visiting

Noodles & Company was 3.75

survey

• Analysis

• Health Options

• 66% of respondents feel that College Station is missing healthier

restaurant options

• 41 out of 46 respondents agreed that the Noodles & Company menu

appeal to healthy eaters

• On a scale of 1 to 5 there was an average of 3.48 for importance of

healthy menu options

• Of those who had previously dined at Noodles & Company the

satisfaction of healthy menu options was a 4 on a scale of 1 to 5

survey • Analysis

• How Noodles & Company compares to other Limited-services Restaurants

• Importance ratings with specific qualities of limited service restaurants:

• Satisfaction ratings with specific qualities of Noodles & Company’s food and service:

• For those who had previously dined there, satisfaction with customer service and multicultural variety surpassed the rating of importance of all limited service restaurants

Price Quality of Food Customer

Service Cleanliness

Healthy Menu

Options

Menu with

Multicultural Variety Location

4.20 4.23 3.34 4.26 3.48 2.48 3.95

Price Quality of Food Customer

Service

Cleanlines

s Healthy Options Multicultural Variety

3.25 3.75 3.75 4.00 4.00 3.75

conclusions

• How often Texas A&M students would visit Noodles &

Company?

• Focus Group: Might visit once

• Survey Group: Visit once a month or less

• With negative response from both sets of results we can conclude

that Texas A&M students would not dine frequently at Noodles &

Company.

conclusion

• How much money will Texas A&M students pay at

Noodles & Company?

• Focus Group: $5.00-$10.00

• Survey Group: $4.00-$8.00

• Noodles & Company: $5.00-$12.00

• Both results show that the pricing for Noodles & Company will not

pose a problem

conclusion

• If Texas A&M students would appreciate the multicultural

selection of food offered at Noodles & Company.

• Focus Group: one specific cuisine

• Survey Group: multicultural variety least important quality

• From this we conclude that Noodles & Company should not

position itself around a multicultural menu.

conclusion

• If Texas A&M students would value the health options at

Noodles & Company.

• Focus Group: believed Noodles & Company ≠ healthy

• Survey Group: believed Noodles & Company = healthy

• With conflicting data, we cannot draw a conclusion whether or not

students think Noodles & Company is a healthier option.

conclusion

• How Texas A&M students would compare Noodles &

Company to other limited service restaurants?

• Focus Group: unimpressed by Noodles & Company and want a

convenient location

• Survey Group: above average satisfaction in price, quality of food,

customer service, cleanliness, healthy menu options and

multicultural variety

• We can conclude that Noodles & Company has the potential to

hold their own against other local businesses if they are convenient

for students

recommendations

• Conduct more focus groups

• Distribute surveys

• A&M students age 18-24

• Current customers

questions?