One menu item brought 156,000 new customers to Noodles & Company. Now it’s making a big change

Fast casual chain Noodles & Company is about as far from an authentic izakaya as it gets, but it’s confident you’ll want to eat ramen there anyway. The cuisine-agnostic noodle chain serves everything from carbonara and mac and cheese to pad thai, but now it’s betting big on the Japanese casual dining staple. The company just announced that ramen would earn a permanent category on its menu following the success of a limited-time chili garlic ramen menu item last year. Noodles & Company called the dish one of the most successful menu launches in its history, noting in a press release that the ramen rollout introduced 150,000 new diners to its brand. [Image: Noodles & Company] “We’ve spent more than 30 years exploring what’s possible with noodles, and ramen gives us another incredible canvas for flavor and creativity,” Noodles & Company Culinary R&D Vice President Tina Massey said. “What I love about this lineup is that each bowl delivers a completely different experience.” Like the rest of its menu, even the ramen selection draws on many flavors from around the world. The company will introduce three options that manage to evoke Italian, Korean, and Japanese cuisine, all in a very A…

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