May 29, 2025 • 32 mins
For over three decades, Noodles & Company has served globally inspired noodle dishes with a side of comfort. But in today’s competitive and value-conscious quick-service landscape, staying relevant, and resonant, requires more than just a beloved bowl of pasta. For Executive Vice President of Marketing Steve Kennedy, long-term success comes down to a deep commitment to customer experience, continuous innovation, and a loyalty strategy that transcends transactions.
With over 460 locations across the country, Noodles & Company has carved out a distinct niche in the fast-casual sector, offering made-to-order meals that emphasize bold global flavors and fresh ingredients. Kennedy, who joined the brand with deep roots in loyalty marketing from past roles at Domino’s, Nestlé, and Borders Books, sees the company's loyalty strategy not as a standalone program, but as a core expression of its brand ethos.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
In today's rapidly evolving landscape, where
marketing technology, ai andcustomer experience converge,
brands face both opportunity andcomplexity.
Success now hinges ondelivering the right product and
the right channel, creatingmeaningful experiences and
building true customer loyalty.
Noodles Company is rising tomeet this challenge.
(00:24):
Amid shifting customerexpectations and a major menu
launch, the brand is sharpeningits focus on what matters most
the customer.
The strategy is meant to drivestronger engagement and deeper
brand relevance.
At the helm is Steve Kennedy.
He's the Executive VicePresident of Marketing and he's
a proven leader in customerloyalty and brand experience.
(00:45):
His cross-industry expertise isaccelerating noodles and
company loyalty evolution,allowing product experience and
personalization to build lastingcustomer relationships.
Thank you very much, steve, fortaking the time to join us
today.
It's great seeing you.
It's been a while.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
No, I'm doing great, mark, it's great to see you
again.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Great to see you as well.
It's been a while.
How are you?
I'm doing great, mark.
It's great to see you again.
Great to see you as well.
It's been a while, but lookingforward to this discussion for
sure.
First, off.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
For those who may not be familiar, can you give us a
brief introduction to NoodlesCompany?
Yeah, look, we've been aroundfor 30 years.
So Noodles Company is a fast,casual restaurant chain.
We've got over 460 locations.
We were founded back in 1995out here in Broomfield, colorado
, and really just focused onbringing together.
You know bold flavors fromaround the world.
You know that comfort andsatisfying noodle meal that only
(01:38):
we feel like we know how todeliver.
You know, when it comes tonoodles, like that's what we do
right, we're kind of theauthority in noodles and we take
a lot of pride in that beingsomething that we can bring to
everybody.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Okay, excellent.
And when you look at the brand,what's led to its success, you
know the hundreds of locationsdo excel in, kind of the noodles
pasta arena.
You know what's led to itssuccess.
Yeah, I mean, you know what'sled to its success.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, I mean you know first and foremost always focus
on the customer right, tryingto deliver that best customer
experience as possible.
But, you know, really kind ofowning what we do.
You know we're kind of one ofthe very few chains that live in
the noodle space, right, and sowe focus on crafting all of our
dishes with real ingredientsyou know, serve fresh to order,
sauteing the ingredients in theback and really just kind of
(02:28):
maintaining that guest firstmindset throughout all of it.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Excellent, be great to know a little bit more about
your background.
I know you're going back allthe way to Domino's so I would
love to know a little bit moreabout your role and currently
with Noodles Company and youknow what led you to this role.
Currently with Noodles Companyand you know what led you to
this role?
Were there propositions thatkind of led you to your?
You know significant expertisein customer loyalty and you know
the restaurant side.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, I mean, you know, like Steve Jobs says, you
can't really connect the dotsgoing forward, you can only
connect them looking backward.
And so you know I can draw astraight line through my career
to this job.
But it wasn't as if it was, youknow, a well laid out plan.
By any means, you know, prior,prior to here, I spent some time
on the agency side of digitaltransformation agency called
Bounteous, but prior to that,four years running a large
(03:14):
portion of the center ofmarketing excellence for Nestle
USA.
So four years in food andpackaged goods industry.
And then, before that, as youknow, spent 10 years at Domino's
Pizza running everything fromdigital marketing, digital
innovation strategy and insightsand, of course, loyalty
marketing there.
So it was a big, played a rolein the launch and in-housing and
(03:37):
so forth of the Piece, of thePie Rewards Program at Domino's.
So a long, long time spent inloyalty there.
And then my loyalty experiencegoes back, go all the way back.
I'll date myself, mark, how oldI am.
My first job was onlinemarketing coordinator for
bordersbookscom, and so I was atBorders Books and worked on the
(03:57):
launch of the Borders RewardsProgram back at the beginning of
my career.
So Borders Rewards Program, theWalden Books Preferred Reader
Program.
So I've been in and out of theloyalty space for quite some
time.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
That's awesome.
When you look at your currentrole, what kind of keeps you up
at night?
What are the things that you'reexcited about, some of the
challenges or opportunities youface within your position,
especially in kind of thisturbulent market, this era of a
little uncertainty.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, I mean, I think the uncertainty you kind of
nailed it right the current kindof macroeconomic trends, of
navigating the waters aroundconsumer confidence and
inflation and value propositionis a real challenge in the
industry.
You know, obviously increasingcommodity costs and trying to
just find that right valueequation is always a challenge.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And then it's a crowded space.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
You know consumers dollars.
So when consumers dollars gettight and there's a lot of
options for them to choose from,right that's.
That's an increasing challengeon our end to be differentiated
and deliver a better experiencefor folks, to make sure that
when they, they do spend thosehard earned dollars and you know
if they're hanging on tootightly now that it comes to us.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
That makes sense.
Yeah, it's definitely aninteresting last few months, the
last few weeks and hopefully wesettle down a little bit and
can go forward.
But it's interesting to speakwith brands, especially as our
brand membership has grown andjust about you know the
challenges they have right there.
Some are challenged even makingsure they're going to have
product in the store this week,right, just with the tariffs and
(05:28):
everything else but Noodles andCompany great leadership that
you'll bring.
But it's definitely aninteresting time all the way
around.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, and then obviously, you have the
challenges with just the pace atwhich marketing is evolving.
Right, there's more data nowthan there's ever been, and it
doesn't necessarily mean thatit's easy to use.
Right, it's data in and ofitself is worthless unless you
can, you know, turn it intosomething powerful and so
keeping up with the pace oftechnology, pace of data, ai and
so forth, as it all has a hugeimpact on marketing, it's just,
(05:58):
you know, an ongoing and growingchallenge, absolutely,
knowledge.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Absolutely so.
When you look at customerloyalty a great foundation there
, going back to your auspiciousstart way back when, in the book
arena, you know what doescustomer loyalty mean to you
personally and to Noodles andCompany holistically.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, look, I think you know customer loyalty for me
is first and foremost.
Loyalty is not a program.
It's not a program, it's not anactivation, it's not a
promotion, right?
Customer loyalty to me issomething that you earn day in
and day out with the brandexperience that you deliver to
customers right, all of thoseother things are just means to
an end right Customer loyalty iswhat gets earned.
(06:45):
So I knew as a company reallytry to reinforce that right,
believe it's it's loyalties thatresult of kind of consistently
delivering a great brandexperience, both from, you know,
a digital experience side, froman in-store team member
perspective, and then of course,obviously through the food that
we sell.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
When you look at the Noodles Reward Program, how does
that fit into your vision fromcustomer loyalty?
Or, in general, how can aloyalty program fit into kind of
that more holistic perspectiveof customer loyalty for brands?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, I mean it's really a tool to enable better
building that customer loyaltyright.
It enables us to make thatexperience feel personal, make
it consistent, feel genuinelyrewarding.
You know what I mean?
I think a lot of it is.
You want to make sure that thatloyalty program is not fully
transactional and it is, youknow, using that data to show
that appreciation, personal kindof engagement that it unlocks
(07:29):
for you, right?
So we've got other things thatwe've got, like kind of our
extra goodness, daily offers andperks, right, that are there to
just try to help bring a littlesomething new every day for
folks that they've always got anoffer available.
You know it's always going tobe there.
But at the end of the day it'sreally not about offers, it's
not about the program, it'sabout, you know, creating
(07:50):
connection, and I think theloyalty programs obviously
enable you to do that at adifferent level.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
And one of the things that we've talked about over
the last year with our advisoryboard and some of the peer
meetings we've had isprioritization within the
organization around customerloyalty.
You coming into a new brand,it's a great time to understand
what people know about theprogram, what they like about
the program, what they likeabout the approach to customer
loyalty.
Holistically, when you look atcustomer loyalty with your deep
(08:17):
roots and focus, how is itprioritized within your
organization now, especiallywith senior marketing leaders,
and do you plan to bring maybe adifferent focus to it going
forward?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah, I would say it's always been a big priority
here and I think again becausethe priority was mainly set on
the customer, but for me itneeds to be a priority here.
We've got the support of theorganization Right.
The whole organization knowsthe importance of the loyalty
program, down to the fact thatyou know great, great
relationship with our operatorsand you know they know that the
(08:48):
team members are always talkingto the customers about it and
pushing the benefits of theprogram when they're engaging
with customers in store.
I don't I don't have to walkaround the office going hey,
what about loyalty?
With a little loyalty sign right.
I think there's a great amountof buy-in in terms of the
priority that it takes and thebenefit that we know that comes
from it.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
That makes perfect sense.
In the last month, NoodlesCompany kicked off a new
beginning with a reinvented menu.
Can you tell us a little bitmore about the menu and what
went into that process to redothe menu?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, look, I mean, like I said, we've been around
for 30 years, you know, over 30years has almost been delivering
delicious, comforting food forquite some time.
But you get to the point whereyou know you got to kind of up
the game a little bit Right.
Like I mentioned earlier, thisis a very competitive industry
that we live in and we got tomake sure we're bringing the
best experience possible.
So we took a hard look at themenu, uh, over the past you know
(09:41):
, 18 months or so uh, we lookedat where there's white space, um
, in our menu for for some newdishes.
We looked at, um, where thereare existing dishes that could
be kind of uh, upgraded a bit,if you will.
We overhauled close to 70% ofour menu, um, whether, when you
add up all the dishes that weeither upgraded or added, so
(10:02):
just to just kind of bring morecraveable sauces, bring more
bolder flavors, tweak someingredients like, change out a
type of a tomato and things likethat where we knew we could do
a little bit better.
And so this isn't a, this isn'ta transformation by which we're
, you know, trying to save costsand trying to find a cheaper
version of an ingredient.
(10:22):
This was fully focused ondelivering a better experience
through our menu, and so werecently rolled that out about a
month ago now.
Okay, so now, like I said, itgoes from various new dishes to
a dedicated mac and cheeselineup.
We've got a lot more to offercustomers now.
Ok, excellent.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
When you look at the new menu that you rolled out you
talked about, it's notnecessarily focused on kind of
cost minimization.
It's really about bringing moreflair, more kind of different
types of products offerings, Iwould assume, because you know,
as you know, kind of that thatmade to order fresh, more
boutique and potentially bougie,as my kids would say offerings
(11:05):
seem to be the restaurants thatare doing quick.
You know, over the last yearwe've seen other brands, like
Cracker Barrel, you know, try toredo their menu as well to make
sure it resonates not only withtheir current audience but
their audience going forward.
How did customer feedbackinfluence, you know, the
introduction of new dishes andkind of the reimagining, should
I say, of existing flavors?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yeah, I mean it was customer-led the whole time.
You know we work with, you know, a third party to collect
customer satisfaction feedbackfrom all of our restaurants and
we as an executive level wespend a lot of time working with
that feedback.
And so we took all the feedbackon the existing dishes.
We did plenty of researcharound the innovation that we
(11:46):
did, of course you knoweverything from sensory panels
to qualitative research to, youknow, central location testing
of all of the new dishes.
A lot of the things we rolledout, we rolled out in pilot
markets and got that feedback,uh, that that feedback from
those markets as well, and wetweaked.
You know we built and tweakedalong the way.
We didn't, uh consider it donewhen we got it out there.
(12:07):
You know there were some thingswe we put out there where maybe
the spice wasn't enough, um,maybe the feedback was a bit
around, you know, breadedchicken versus grilled chicken,
um, on some things.
And so we listened, we reacted,we increased increased amounts
of sauce on some things,decreased in the amount of sauce
in one place, ultimately justtrying to find that right, right
(12:27):
taste of food level that getsus to best in class.
So constant state of listeningto customers and just trying to,
you know you can't makeeverybody happy.
Of course you know when youchange, when you change
something people have beeneating for a while, you're going
to get some naysayers there too.
But you've got to take it inall context and when you know
you've done the diligence, thatit's going to be better overall,
be confident with it.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
That makes perfect sense.
Another discussion point that'sfairly salient within industry
right now is this idea ofcustomers changing right,
understanding their expectations, understanding their experience
, needs and interests and makingsure you kind of align around
that.
You know how do you see yourcustomers changing and did you
see anything in the feedback andyou know how are you adapting
to that, those changes goingforward.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yeah, look, I mean, you know customers changing.
You know, first and foremost,their view of your brand
experience is set by their lastbest brand experience, and
that's not necessarily withinthe context of even our industry
, right, like you know, when you, when you place a digital order
from from noodlescom, you'renot evaluating that.
Well, how, how was it versus,you know, one of our qsr
(13:33):
competitors?
Right, you're just thinkingwhat was the best e-com
experience I've had?
Yeah, that's where consumers'minds are set, so they're set on
their best experience and,basically, their patience.
Consumer patience is like anall-time low right.
Everybody wants everythingimmediately and so you know we
got to balance how quickly wecan do what we do within our
restaurants without sacrificingthe work that goes into creating
(13:56):
a fresh, ready of made to ordera dish Right.
And so making sure thatcustomers understand that you
know if you're going to wait anextra 30 seconds to a minute for
that order is because there'sliterally a cook back there with
a saute pan, over a fire, overa burner, making that for you.
So making sure that customersand our business processes are
(14:17):
aligned in terms of what they'regetting for what they're
putting into it.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
How do you streamline or simplify that process right,
because that's a big challenge.
It's one of the things we'retrying to go through at
Loyalty360 is putting yourselfin that customer's view and, you
know, making sure thingsresonate.
So you know that 30-second waittime can be fine for some and
may be, you know, quiteoffensive for others.
How do you, you know, kind ofeducate them as to the changes
that you're making and thebenefit that it's going to bring
(14:43):
to them and to their brand andto the experiences?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, I mean what we found is, you know, obviously
customers are, you know, alittle bit more patient when
they know that somebody ismaking it right, versus pulling
it off a shelf or out of awarmer, like a, you know, made
to order, ready to go, type ofan entree.
And so making sure that we'rebuilding a brand story that
we're clear about.
You know that we're choppingour vegetables daily, we're
(15:07):
prepping this.
You know we're sauteing it foryou after you order it, not
before, and so, ultimately,making sure that we're starting
to build that understanding ofwhat goes into that freshly made
dish that they've ordered, youknow.
And then, obviously, on theback end of the house, we're
very operationally driven, youknow, trying to trying to keep
track all the steps and all theseconds, trying to find ways
(15:27):
where you can, you know, be moreefficient with the process, but
never at the at the cost ofthat dish or the outcome that's
going to be there for thecustomer.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
That makes perfect sense.
That's great.
When you look at themacroeconomic trends we talked
about it a little bit to kind ofkick this off you know what are
you seeing with regard to theQSLR industry.
What trends are you seeing?
Maybe technology or a searchfor value?
And you know how are thosemacro trends in fact, you know,
impacting your customer loyaltyefforts.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah, we mentioned earlier.
But you know customers are morevalue conscious than they have
ever been.
Right now.
Consumer confidence is startingto get extremely low, with
inflation uh continuing to tickup and that discretionary
spending um, in general kind ofeconomic uncertainties is really
shaping how guests view, uh,the value of the money they
spend and how often and where.
(16:16):
You know where they spend it,right, and so, um, you know one
of that.
You know everybody's gottracking studies and they look
at all the attributes that youmeasure in research and things
like that.
But one of the measures I alwayslike to look at is the rate at
which people say I made a gooddecision after they bought from
somewhere, right, and after theybought from noodles and company
(16:37):
, because that takes intoconsideration that entirety of
that value proposition.
Right, if you made a gooddecision, it means I felt good
about the money I spent, I feltgood about the experience I
spent, I felt good about thetrade-offs and the choice that I
made and all of that.
And so you know what you'retrying to do with consumers and
environment and landscape likethis is make sure that when they
finally decide to give youtheir hard-earned money, right,
(16:58):
that they feel after the fact,like yep, that was a good
decision.
That's what that really is,kind of the genesis of customer
loyalty, as you know.
Right, if every time I do that,I feel like I'm making the
right decision, that's whereloyalty is at right.
Loyalty is not the lack of abetter option, right, it's it's.
(17:20):
I felt good about what I didbecause I had lots of options
and I made the right decision.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Absolutely.
And again, when you look at aeffective customer loyalty
program or more holisticcustomer loyalty strategy within
an organization, you know howcan you know?
Those two pieces, you know,address the macroeconomic trends
that the brands are facingtoday the macroeconomic trends
that the brands are facing today.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah, so a lot of it is.
Obviously you want to bemindful of those macroeconomic
trends with the valueproposition that we're providing
.
Obviously, giving discounts andthe promotions, making sure
your loyalty program has a goodvalue exchange right, the base
level program, but also keepingfolks engaged, making sure that
they feel heard, making surethat they feel a personal
(18:05):
connection and engagement withthe brand, those are all the
things that make you feel like,yeah, this was a good decision.
And then, specifically for ourprogram, you know, like I
mentioned earlier, we do havethis kind of extra goodness
every day value offer.
So there's surprise offers, youknow, kind of accessible point
redemptions, things like that,personalized incentives that
make sure that our loyaltymembers know that there's always
(18:27):
something there for them whenthey're thinking about eating
with us.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Excellent.
You know, one of the things Itouched on a little earlier and
what we hear pretty consistentlyright now in most industries,
but particularly in restaurants,fast, casual, qsr and in hotels
as well, there's a big push forvalue right now.
When you look at value, itdefinitely seems to be evolving.
(18:50):
It's not just value for priceright, it's more.
Do you value me as part of yourcustomer, being part of your
customer set?
Does the program resonate andhave value within the
organization?
But when you look at a valueperspective from the QSR
perspective, is it affordability, is it quality, is it
convenience?
What are your customerssearching for in the quest for
(19:13):
value?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yeah, look, I think value oftentimes is used
synonymously with just discountor dollar off or things like
that.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Really, I mean value.
Is that relationship?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
between what I experience, right, what I get
and what I paid for, and theweighting of those things is
just shifting a bit more, right?
So how important is this now ina very kind of stressed
macroeconomic environment?
Well, the what I pay for partstarts to have a little bit of a
higher coefficient in thatvalue equation.
(19:45):
But value overall is that totalequation.
And so when we look at theloyalty program right, we look
at, okay, well, what do you getfor being part of this loyalty
program?
Right, what are you paying for?
But ultimately then, how doesthat loyalty program enhance
your experience as a noodlescustomer?
So, if it's not enhancing theoverall experience, then the
(20:08):
value equation just becomes whatyou pay for, what you get, and
that's not the entirety of whatyou need to focus on.
And so, again, that's where youget into using the data, using
the information that you get outof loyalty program to make sure
that you're able to personalizeyour offers, personalize the
experience a little bit more.
And so you get into a littlebit of a better engagement with
(20:31):
customers, and so what they getfrom it isn't just the food and
the outcome of what they paid.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
That makes perfect sense.
When you look at kind of thecustomer loyalty piece
investment or cost there's a bigpush around that as well.
Right, there seems to be abifurcation between brands who
view the customer loyaltyprogram as an investment and
those who view it as a cost andobviously cost.
You want to minimize it at allchords, right.
(20:57):
And when you look at that, howshould brands be looking at the
customer loyalty program?
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah, look, it's an investment, right, it's an
investment in your customers.
It's an investment in drivingincremental traffic and dollars
to the bottom, you know, to thebottom line, and it should be
viewed as an investment, unlessyou're doing it wrong.
Right, if it's only a cost,then something's not, then
something's kind of out of whackwith the way that you're going
about it.
It is an investment.
(21:26):
I think it is how you look atit, how you use the data, how
you analyze the promotions, howyou analyze the base program to
make sure that it is having anincremental impact on your
customer's behavior, whetherit's visits or spend.
The loyalty program needs to bedriving that.
So we spent a lot of timefocusing on how do we make sure
we're doing the right analyseson whether it's base program or
(21:47):
whether it's promotions that werun or the campaigns that we run
, to make sure that they'rehaving an incremental impact on
a customer's behavior, andthat's done through the data.
Right, and you know thisbecause you've been in this game
a long time.
Right, you roll out your baseprogram and that gets you some
incrementality right away.
Right, people join up andthey're like cool, and they
(22:08):
start buying more often becauseof the base program.
Well, after that year goes by,you know that incrementality
from the base program wears offand the power is in how well you
use the data from the programto keep driving incrementality
out of the program andincrementality out of the
program.
And that's where we're reallyfocused on and that's why we
view it as an investment.
You know I'll go back to youknow I use this as an example
because everybody's like oh well, the value of a loyalty program
(22:31):
is in the data, right, andeverybody.
It's easy to say that andeverybody kind of sometimes will
question that, depending on theorganization you're in.
It's like I go back to Bordersthe last thing, that one of the
last things they sold, uh, otherthan like the furniture when we
went out of business, um, wasthe data from the borders
rewards program to barnes andnoble for like 14 million
(22:54):
dollars or something like that.
So a significant amount ofmoney was spent on the data from
a rewards program from acompetitor that was going out of
business.
That was no longer a threat,but the value of that data was
still significant.
Um, it's just it's a verytangible point for me to say
like, look, there is value inthe data.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
you know that's evidence to to support that and
also uh, you know, one of thethings that we see, uh and hear
a good deal about is uh, you,generations, younger audiences.
We hear that some of theyounger audiences may not
necessarily engage in theloyalty program right away but
once you get them involved inthe program they can be bigger
(23:35):
advocates for the programholistically and they can be
your best customers.
But they also can be a littleirrational.
They want simplicity, right,they don't want to necessarily
have to redeem 800 points to getthat free meal.
You know, when you look atnavigating kind of engaging a
more holistic audience, you knowhow are you looking to engage
(23:56):
the younger customers and how?
What success or you knowoutcomes have you been seeing?
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yeah, I mean, obviously younger customers can
be a little bit more fickle interms of what they're willing to
put up with in terms of theexperience and their patience
levels as well.
I think we spend a lot of timemaking sure our app experience
is easy to use and try tosimplify it as much as possible.
From that perspective we've got, I would say, a strong part of
(24:25):
our customer base is in thatyounger customer.
You know teens and early 20sgroup as well, and I just was in
my local noodles and company onFriday, went in and picked up
some catering for a daughter'sJV soccer team that I had over
at my house and so, like youknow, 24, 14-year year old girls
were ecstatic to have somenoodles and company and when I
(24:46):
went and picked it up, there wastwo more teams of the water
polo team in the noodles andcompany eating, and so there we
were very much a destination fora lot of that younger
demographic, and so we try tomake sure that we are conscious
of that, you know, make surewe're playing in spaces and
social and so forth and speakingthat, speaking that language if
you will, and engaging them andmeeting them where they're at.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Okay, when you look at customer loyalty for a new
design company, you know what'sthe next big thing for customer
loyalty, customer experience foryour brand.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Yeah, you know, I think we've our program's been
in place for quite some time,right, so we're taking a look at
you know what are the benefitsthat we're offering.
You know to your point, youknow, being new to the
organization, kind of flippingover some of the rocks to make
sure that you know, are thesethings still incremental?
You know what are thepromotions that we run that are
working well, what are theexperiences that we're providing
and where there's maybe somewhite space within that
(25:36):
experience that we can improveon and really starting to try to
identify some of thoseopportunities for improvement.
You know, because I think onceyou've had your program in place
for a little while, you can'trest on your laurels for too
long, if you will.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Absolutely.
Employee engagement isimportant, especially with some
of the changes you went through.
Maybe longer wait timepotentially, and then, you know,
getting them educated on thenew menu offerings as well.
You know, how does employeeengagement, employee loyalty,
fit into that larger customerloyalty discussion?
Are you training your employeesdifferent, looking at the
(26:09):
program in a way to get it infront of them more frequently?
You know, and what do you seeand maybe how do you see that
going forward?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah, totally.
So you know we go out of ourway to make sure that we've
trained our employees so theyfully understand the program,
they understand.
We go out of our way to makesure that we've trained our
employees so they fullyunderstand program, they
understand they can speak to it,they understand the benefits
from it, you know.
And then we work with them tomake sure that they're asking
everyone that comes in.
You know, are you a loyaltyprogram member?
Are you a loyalty member?
Did you do you need to check,check in?
(26:38):
So when folks come into ourstores they can check in on the
loyalty program, make sure theyget credit for the in-store
orders on their account.
So we make sure that we askeveryone that comes in and if
they're not, we make sure we tryto give them the benefit script
so they sign up and become amember.
Excellent, and when you look atit and you bring that up, you
know, when you look at therestaurants and locations that
(26:59):
you know have a higher kind ofpenetration of loyalty members
and so forth, yeah, restaurantsand locations that you know have
a higher kind of penetration ofloyalty members and so forth,
yeah, like, what's what'sworking?
What's working?
They ask and they ask everyoneand the stories and team members
, that and that, do thelocations do a better job of
doing that?
You see?
You see the loyalty penetrationtick up.
So it really is about gettingeverybody bought in, getting
everybody educated, um, and thenjust getting everybody asking,
(27:20):
having that discourse with thecustomer, no, no, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Last question what are two or three things you're
most proud about your program?
I know you're relatively newwith the organization, but when
you look at the customer loyaltyprogram, the customer loyalty
focus within the organizationwhat are you most proud of?
Speaker 2 (27:39):
two or three things.
Yeah, look, I think we've.
In the last few months, we'vere-doubled down on where we're
at as a brand and who we are asa brand.
Our new campaign came out amonth ago and we're really
talking about this idea of weknow noodles and basically
taking that authority positionthat this is what we do.
We're dedicated to makingwonderful noodle dishes and
(28:00):
we're putting that story at theforefront, right, like I
mentioned earlier, we're makingthese dishes fresh to order.
You know we've got folkssauteing dishes in the back and
we need to make sure that ourmembers and everybody understand
that's the quality that they'regetting from us, and so
delivering on a betterexperience through the way that
we do it, through the new menu,is really how we're going to
(28:23):
build customer loyalty and youknow the program is an enabler
of that right.
It enables us to know whatdishes people were ordering and
if we've changed them, how canwe proactively communicate that
to them before they find out inthe restaurant and maybe they're
not happy about it, right?
So how do we take proactivecommunication and leveraging
loyalty data and so we know whatthey were ordering?
(28:44):
We highlight some of the newdishes that we know, uh, kind of
fit in that flavor profile.
So this, this new menu, our newbrand strategy are really, you
know, are going to transformnoodles and company and the
loyalty program has been a keyconduit and kind of enabler of
making sure that that'ssuccessful okay, okay, excellent
.
And what can Loyalty360 do tohelp you and your team, man,
(29:08):
like I said, you guys havealways been helpful to me, mark,
over the years, and I thinkit's getting that holistic kind
of category competitor view ofwhat's happening in the loyalty
landscape, not just within QSRor within restaurants, but just
across the board.
Right, because, like Imentioned, customers'
expectations are set by theirlast best experience, right, and
(29:30):
that's true for loyalty, right.
And so they're not just lookingat Noodles Rewards in relation
to some other QSR's rewardsprogram.
They're thinking about, well,the folks at Delta that have my
membership number, what do theydo for me, and so forth.
And so to me, loyalty360 hasalways been super important,
enabling us to get thatcross-category loyalty-specific
(29:50):
view of what is thebest-in-class loyalty experience
, because that's where the barneeds to be set.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Excellent, okay, perfect, and looking forward to
seeing what you guys do with theprogram going forward.
I know we have our wonderfulquickfire questions now, so we'd
love to get your response tothis.
We'd like to keep them short,one word or a few word phrase.
First off, how would youdescribe your work life?
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Fast paced but fulfilling.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Excellent.
If you have a day or a week offfrom work, what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Catching up or spending it with my kids.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Okay, and if you could live in any city or
country, where would you live?
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Am I working or not?
Speaker 1 (30:32):
working, working.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
If I'm working, probably where I'm at, Ann Arbor
, Michigan.
Okay, If I'm not working findme a beach hut in Aruba, please,
Okay there you go.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
If you could go back to school, what would you study?
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Probably global economics.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Okay, and is there a facet of the job that you'd like
to be more involved with thanyou are now?
Speaker 2 (30:59):
I don't want more involved, but more knowledgeable
, probably like the food science.
It's fascinating to me.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Excellent, and is there a facet of the job that
you currently are doing thatyou'd like to know less about?
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I don't think it's ever beneficial to know less,
but if I could do less of it,probably legal things.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Okay, there you go.
You know what motivates you intackling challenges at Noodles
Company.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Unrealized potential that I see here.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Okay, and what do you draw inspiration from generally
?
What lights your fire?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Creativity.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Excellent.
And what is your favorite sportand or hobby?
Soccer.
Okay and last question what doyou typically think about at the
end of the day?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
It's not going to be one word answer, two things.
One, not every day is great,but there's something great in
every day, and so I try tofigure out what that was that
day.
And then two, at the end of theday, usually rehashing the
things I did and what I stillhave left to do, kind of
prepping the brain for the nextday.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Okay, perfect.
Well, Steve, thank you verymuch for taking the time to
speak with us today.
It was great catching up withyou.
It's been a while and lookingforward to hearing more from you
and your team at Noodles andCompany going forward.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Great Mark.
It's great to see you again.
Look forward to the partnershipand staying connected.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Absolutely, and thank you everyone for taking the
time to join us today.
Make sure you join us everyThursday for our Leaders in
Customer and Low-Wage BrandStories edition.
Until then, have a wonderfulday.
In today's rapidly evolving landscape, where
marketing technology, ai andcustomer experience converge,
brands face both opportunity andcomplexity.
Success now hinges ondelivering the right product and
the right channel, creatingmeaningful experiences and
building true customer loyalty.
Noodles Company is rising tomeet this challenge.
(00:24):
Amid shifting customerexpectations and a major menu
launch, the brand is sharpeningits focus on what matters most
the customer.
The strategy is meant to drivestronger engagement and deeper
brand relevance.
At the helm is Steve Kennedy.
He's the Executive VicePresident of Marketing and he's
a proven leader in customerloyalty and brand experience.
(00:45):
His cross-industry expertise isaccelerating noodles and
company loyalty evolution,allowing product experience and
personalization to build lastingcustomer relationships.
Thank you very much, steve, fortaking the time to join us
today.
It's great seeing you.
It's been a while.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
No, I'm doing great, mark, it's great to see you
again.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Great to see you as well.
It's been a while.
How are you?
I'm doing great, mark.
It's great to see you again.
Great to see you as well.
It's been a while, but lookingforward to this discussion for
sure.
First, off.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
For those who may not be familiar, can you give us a
brief introduction to NoodlesCompany?
Yeah, look, we've been aroundfor 30 years.
So Noodles Company is a fast,casual restaurant chain.
We've got over 460 locations.
We were founded back in 1995out here in Broomfield, colorado
, and really just focused onbringing together.
You know bold flavors fromaround the world.
You know that comfort andsatisfying noodle meal that only
(01:38):
we feel like we know how todeliver.
You know, when it comes tonoodles, like that's what we do
right, we're kind of theauthority in noodles and we take
a lot of pride in that beingsomething that we can bring to
everybody.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Okay, excellent.
And when you look at the brand,what's led to its success, you
know the hundreds of locationsdo excel in, kind of the noodles
pasta arena.
You know what's led to itssuccess.
Yeah, I mean, you know what'sled to its success.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah, I mean you know first and foremost always focus
on the customer right, tryingto deliver that best customer
experience as possible.
But, you know, really kind ofowning what we do.
You know we're kind of one ofthe very few chains that live in
the noodle space, right, and sowe focus on crafting all of our
dishes with real ingredientsyou know, serve fresh to order,
sauteing the ingredients in theback and really just kind of
(02:28):
maintaining that guest firstmindset throughout all of it.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Excellent, be great to know a little bit more about
your background.
I know you're going back allthe way to Domino's so I would
love to know a little bit moreabout your role and currently
with Noodles Company and youknow what led you to this role.
Currently with Noodles Companyand you know what led you to
this role?
Were there propositions thatkind of led you to your?
You know significant expertisein customer loyalty and you know
the restaurant side.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, I mean, you know, like Steve Jobs says, you
can't really connect the dotsgoing forward, you can only
connect them looking backward.
And so you know I can draw astraight line through my career
to this job.
But it wasn't as if it was, youknow, a well laid out plan.
By any means, you know, prior,prior to here, I spent some time
on the agency side of digitaltransformation agency called
Bounteous, but prior to that,four years running a large
(03:14):
portion of the center ofmarketing excellence for Nestle
USA.
So four years in food andpackaged goods industry.
And then, before that, as youknow, spent 10 years at Domino's
Pizza running everything fromdigital marketing, digital
innovation strategy and insightsand, of course, loyalty
marketing there.
So it was a big, played a rolein the launch and in-housing and
(03:37):
so forth of the Piece, of thePie Rewards Program at Domino's.
So a long, long time spent inloyalty there.
And then my loyalty experiencegoes back, go all the way back.
I'll date myself, mark, how oldI am.
My first job was onlinemarketing coordinator for
bordersbookscom, and so I was atBorders Books and worked on the
(03:57):
launch of the Borders RewardsProgram back at the beginning of
my career.
So Borders Rewards Program, theWalden Books Preferred Reader
Program.
So I've been in and out of theloyalty space for quite some
time.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
That's awesome.
When you look at your currentrole, what kind of keeps you up
at night?
What are the things that you'reexcited about, some of the
challenges or opportunities youface within your position,
especially in kind of thisturbulent market, this era of a
little uncertainty.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Yeah, I mean, I think the uncertainty you kind of
nailed it right the current kindof macroeconomic trends, of
navigating the waters aroundconsumer confidence and
inflation and value propositionis a real challenge in the
industry.
You know, obviously increasingcommodity costs and trying to
just find that right valueequation is always a challenge.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
And then it's a crowded space.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
You know consumers dollars.
So when consumers dollars gettight and there's a lot of
options for them to choose from,right that's.
That's an increasing challengeon our end to be differentiated
and deliver a better experiencefor folks, to make sure that
when they, they do spend thosehard earned dollars and you know
if they're hanging on tootightly now that it comes to us.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
That makes sense.
Yeah, it's definitely aninteresting last few months, the
last few weeks and hopefully wesettle down a little bit and
can go forward.
But it's interesting to speakwith brands, especially as our
brand membership has grown andjust about you know the
challenges they have right there.
Some are challenged even makingsure they're going to have
product in the store this week,right, just with the tariffs and
(05:28):
everything else but Noodles andCompany great leadership that
you'll bring.
But it's definitely aninteresting time all the way
around.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, and then obviously, you have the
challenges with just the pace atwhich marketing is evolving.
Right, there's more data nowthan there's ever been, and it
doesn't necessarily mean thatit's easy to use.
Right, it's data in and ofitself is worthless unless you
can, you know, turn it intosomething powerful and so
keeping up with the pace oftechnology, pace of data, ai and
so forth, as it all has a hugeimpact on marketing, it's just,
(05:58):
you know, an ongoing and growingchallenge, absolutely,
knowledge.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Absolutely so.
When you look at customerloyalty a great foundation there
, going back to your auspiciousstart way back when, in the book
arena, you know what doescustomer loyalty mean to you
personally and to Noodles andCompany holistically.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Yeah, look, I think you know customer loyalty for me
is first and foremost.
Loyalty is not a program.
It's not a program, it's not anactivation, it's not a
promotion, right?
Customer loyalty to me issomething that you earn day in
and day out with the brandexperience that you deliver to
customers right, all of thoseother things are just means to
an end right Customer loyalty iswhat gets earned.
(06:45):
So I knew as a company reallytry to reinforce that right,
believe it's it's loyalties thatresult of kind of consistently
delivering a great brandexperience, both from, you know,
a digital experience side, froman in-store team member
perspective, and then of course,obviously through the food that
we sell.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
When you look at the Noodles Reward Program, how does
that fit into your vision fromcustomer loyalty?
Or, in general, how can aloyalty program fit into kind of
that more holistic perspectiveof customer loyalty for brands?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Yeah, I mean it's really a tool to enable better
building that customer loyaltyright.
It enables us to make thatexperience feel personal, make
it consistent, feel genuinelyrewarding.
You know what I mean?
I think a lot of it is.
You want to make sure that thatloyalty program is not fully
transactional and it is, youknow, using that data to show
that appreciation, personal kindof engagement that it unlocks
(07:29):
for you, right?
So we've got other things thatwe've got, like kind of our
extra goodness, daily offers andperks, right, that are there to
just try to help bring a littlesomething new every day for
folks that they've always got anoffer available.
You know it's always going tobe there.
But at the end of the day it'sreally not about offers, it's
not about the program, it'sabout, you know, creating
(07:50):
connection, and I think theloyalty programs obviously
enable you to do that at adifferent level.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
And one of the things that we've talked about over
the last year with our advisoryboard and some of the peer
meetings we've had isprioritization within the
organization around customerloyalty.
You coming into a new brand,it's a great time to understand
what people know about theprogram, what they like about
the program, what they likeabout the approach to customer
loyalty.
Holistically, when you look atcustomer loyalty with your deep
(08:17):
roots and focus, how is itprioritized within your
organization now, especiallywith senior marketing leaders,
and do you plan to bring maybe adifferent focus to it going
forward?
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah, I would say it's always been a big priority
here and I think again becausethe priority was mainly set on
the customer, but for me itneeds to be a priority here.
We've got the support of theorganization Right.
The whole organization knowsthe importance of the loyalty
program, down to the fact thatyou know great, great
relationship with our operatorsand you know they know that the
(08:48):
team members are always talkingto the customers about it and
pushing the benefits of theprogram when they're engaging
with customers in store.
I don't I don't have to walkaround the office going hey,
what about loyalty?
With a little loyalty sign right.
I think there's a great amountof buy-in in terms of the
priority that it takes and thebenefit that we know that comes
from it.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
That makes perfect sense.
In the last month, NoodlesCompany kicked off a new
beginning with a reinvented menu.
Can you tell us a little bitmore about the menu and what
went into that process to redothe menu?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, look, I mean, like I said, we've been around
for 30 years, you know, over 30years has almost been delivering
delicious, comforting food forquite some time.
But you get to the point whereyou know you got to kind of up
the game a little bit Right.
Like I mentioned earlier, thisis a very competitive industry
that we live in and we got tomake sure we're bringing the
best experience possible.
So we took a hard look at themenu, uh, over the past you know
(09:41):
, 18 months or so uh, we lookedat where there's white space, um
, in our menu for for some newdishes.
We looked at, um, where thereare existing dishes that could
be kind of uh, upgraded a bit,if you will.
We overhauled close to 70% ofour menu, um, whether, when you
add up all the dishes that weeither upgraded or added, so
(10:02):
just to just kind of bring morecraveable sauces, bring more
bolder flavors, tweak someingredients like, change out a
type of a tomato and things likethat where we knew we could do
a little bit better.
And so this isn't a, this isn'ta transformation by which we're
, you know, trying to save costsand trying to find a cheaper
version of an ingredient.
(10:22):
This was fully focused ondelivering a better experience
through our menu, and so werecently rolled that out about a
month ago now.
Okay, so now, like I said, itgoes from various new dishes to
a dedicated mac and cheeselineup.
We've got a lot more to offercustomers now.
Ok, excellent.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
When you look at the new menu that you rolled out you
talked about, it's notnecessarily focused on kind of
cost minimization.
It's really about bringing moreflair, more kind of different
types of products offerings, Iwould assume, because you know,
as you know, kind of that thatmade to order fresh, more
boutique and potentially bougie,as my kids would say offerings
(11:05):
seem to be the restaurants thatare doing quick.
You know, over the last yearwe've seen other brands, like
Cracker Barrel, you know, try toredo their menu as well to make
sure it resonates not only withtheir current audience but
their audience going forward.
How did customer feedbackinfluence, you know, the
introduction of new dishes andkind of the reimagining, should
I say, of existing flavors?
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yeah, I mean it was customer-led the whole time.
You know we work with, you know, a third party to collect
customer satisfaction feedbackfrom all of our restaurants and
we as an executive level wespend a lot of time working with
that feedback.
And so we took all the feedbackon the existing dishes.
We did plenty of researcharound the innovation that we
(11:46):
did, of course you knoweverything from sensory panels
to qualitative research to, youknow, central location testing
of all of the new dishes.
A lot of the things we rolledout, we rolled out in pilot
markets and got that feedback,uh, that that feedback from
those markets as well, and wetweaked.
You know we built and tweakedalong the way.
We didn't, uh consider it donewhen we got it out there.
(12:07):
You know there were some thingswe we put out there where maybe
the spice wasn't enough, um,maybe the feedback was a bit
around, you know, breadedchicken versus grilled chicken,
um, on some things.
And so we listened, we reacted,we increased increased amounts
of sauce on some things,decreased in the amount of sauce
in one place, ultimately justtrying to find that right, right
(12:27):
taste of food level that getsus to best in class.
So constant state of listeningto customers and just trying to,
you know you can't makeeverybody happy.
Of course you know when youchange, when you change
something people have beeneating for a while, you're going
to get some naysayers there too.
But you've got to take it inall context and when you know
you've done the diligence, thatit's going to be better overall,
be confident with it.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
That makes perfect sense.
Another discussion point that'sfairly salient within industry
right now is this idea ofcustomers changing right,
understanding their expectations, understanding their experience
, needs and interests and makingsure you kind of align around
that.
You know how do you see yourcustomers changing and did you
see anything in the feedback andyou know how are you adapting
to that, those changes goingforward.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Yeah, look, I mean, you know customers changing.
You know, first and foremost,their view of your brand
experience is set by their lastbest brand experience, and
that's not necessarily withinthe context of even our industry
, right, like you know, when you, when you place a digital order
from from noodlescom, you'renot evaluating that.
Well, how, how was it versus,you know, one of our qsr
(13:33):
competitors?
Right, you're just thinkingwhat was the best e-com
experience I've had?
Yeah, that's where consumers'minds are set, so they're set on
their best experience and,basically, their patience.
Consumer patience is like anall-time low right.
Everybody wants everythingimmediately and so you know we
got to balance how quickly wecan do what we do within our
restaurants without sacrificingthe work that goes into creating
(13:56):
a fresh, ready of made to ordera dish Right.
And so making sure thatcustomers understand that you
know if you're going to wait anextra 30 seconds to a minute for
that order is because there'sliterally a cook back there with
a saute pan, over a fire, overa burner, making that for you.
So making sure that customersand our business processes are
(14:17):
aligned in terms of what they'regetting for what they're
putting into it.
Speaker 1 (14:21):
How do you streamline or simplify that process right,
because that's a big challenge.
It's one of the things we'retrying to go through at
Loyalty360 is putting yourselfin that customer's view and, you
know, making sure thingsresonate.
So you know that 30-second waittime can be fine for some and
may be, you know, quiteoffensive for others.
How do you, you know, kind ofeducate them as to the changes
that you're making and thebenefit that it's going to bring
(14:43):
to them and to their brand andto the experiences?
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Yeah, I mean what we found is, you know, obviously
customers are, you know, alittle bit more patient when
they know that somebody ismaking it right, versus pulling
it off a shelf or out of awarmer, like a, you know, made
to order, ready to go, type ofan entree.
And so making sure that we'rebuilding a brand story that
we're clear about.
You know that we're choppingour vegetables daily, we're
(15:07):
prepping this.
You know we're sauteing it foryou after you order it, not
before, and so, ultimately,making sure that we're starting
to build that understanding ofwhat goes into that freshly made
dish that they've ordered, youknow.
And then, obviously, on theback end of the house, we're
very operationally driven, youknow, trying to trying to keep
track all the steps and all theseconds, trying to find ways
(15:27):
where you can, you know, be moreefficient with the process, but
never at the at the cost ofthat dish or the outcome that's
going to be there for thecustomer.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
That makes perfect sense.
That's great.
When you look at themacroeconomic trends we talked
about it a little bit to kind ofkick this off you know what are
you seeing with regard to theQSLR industry.
What trends are you seeing?
Maybe technology or a searchfor value?
And you know how are thosemacro trends in fact, you know,
impacting your customer loyaltyefforts.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah, we mentioned earlier.
But you know customers are morevalue conscious than they have
ever been.
Right now.
Consumer confidence is startingto get extremely low, with
inflation uh continuing to tickup and that discretionary
spending um, in general kind ofeconomic uncertainties is really
shaping how guests view, uh,the value of the money they
spend and how often and where.
(16:16):
You know where they spend it,right, and so, um, you know one
of that.
You know everybody's gottracking studies and they look
at all the attributes that youmeasure in research and things
like that.
But one of the measures I alwayslike to look at is the rate at
which people say I made a gooddecision after they bought from
somewhere, right, and after theybought from noodles and company
(16:37):
, because that takes intoconsideration that entirety of
that value proposition.
Right, if you made a gooddecision, it means I felt good
about the money I spent, I feltgood about the experience I
spent, I felt good about thetrade-offs and the choice that I
made and all of that.
And so you know what you'retrying to do with consumers and
environment and landscape likethis is make sure that when they
finally decide to give youtheir hard-earned money, right,
(16:58):
that they feel after the fact,like yep, that was a good
decision.
That's what that really is,kind of the genesis of customer
loyalty, as you know.
Right, if every time I do that,I feel like I'm making the
right decision, that's whereloyalty is at right.
Loyalty is not the lack of abetter option, right, it's it's.
(17:20):
I felt good about what I didbecause I had lots of options
and I made the right decision.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Absolutely.
And again, when you look at aeffective customer loyalty
program or more holisticcustomer loyalty strategy within
an organization, you know howcan you know?
Those two pieces, you know,address the macroeconomic trends
that the brands are facingtoday the macroeconomic trends
that the brands are facing today.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Yeah, so a lot of it is.
Obviously you want to bemindful of those macroeconomic
trends with the valueproposition that we're providing
.
Obviously, giving discounts andthe promotions, making sure
your loyalty program has a goodvalue exchange right, the base
level program, but also keepingfolks engaged, making sure that
they feel heard, making surethat they feel a personal
(18:05):
connection and engagement withthe brand, those are all the
things that make you feel like,yeah, this was a good decision.
And then, specifically for ourprogram, you know, like I
mentioned earlier, we do havethis kind of extra goodness
every day value offer.
So there's surprise offers, youknow, kind of accessible point
redemptions, things like that,personalized incentives that
make sure that our loyaltymembers know that there's always
(18:27):
something there for them whenthey're thinking about eating
with us.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Excellent.
You know, one of the things Itouched on a little earlier and
what we hear pretty consistentlyright now in most industries,
but particularly in restaurants,fast, casual, qsr and in hotels
as well, there's a big push forvalue right now.
When you look at value, itdefinitely seems to be evolving.
(18:50):
It's not just value for priceright, it's more.
Do you value me as part of yourcustomer, being part of your
customer set?
Does the program resonate andhave value within the
organization?
But when you look at a valueperspective from the QSR
perspective, is it affordability, is it quality, is it
convenience?
What are your customerssearching for in the quest for
(19:13):
value?
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Yeah, look, I think value oftentimes is used
synonymously with just discountor dollar off or things like
that.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Really, I mean value.
Is that relationship?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
between what I experience, right, what I get
and what I paid for, and theweighting of those things is
just shifting a bit more, right?
So how important is this now ina very kind of stressed
macroeconomic environment?
Well, the what I pay for partstarts to have a little bit of a
higher coefficient in thatvalue equation.
(19:45):
But value overall is that totalequation.
And so when we look at theloyalty program right, we look
at, okay, well, what do you getfor being part of this loyalty
program?
Right, what are you paying for?
But ultimately then, how doesthat loyalty program enhance
your experience as a noodlescustomer?
So, if it's not enhancing theoverall experience, then the
(20:08):
value equation just becomes whatyou pay for, what you get, and
that's not the entirety of whatyou need to focus on.
And so, again, that's where youget into using the data, using
the information that you get outof loyalty program to make sure
that you're able to personalizeyour offers, personalize the
experience a little bit more.
And so you get into a littlebit of a better engagement with
(20:31):
customers, and so what they getfrom it isn't just the food and
the outcome of what they paid.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
That makes perfect sense.
When you look at kind of thecustomer loyalty piece
investment or cost there's a bigpush around that as well.
Right, there seems to be abifurcation between brands who
view the customer loyaltyprogram as an investment and
those who view it as a cost andobviously cost.
You want to minimize it at allchords, right.
(20:57):
And when you look at that, howshould brands be looking at the
customer loyalty program?
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Yeah, look, it's an investment, right, it's an
investment in your customers.
It's an investment in drivingincremental traffic and dollars
to the bottom, you know, to thebottom line, and it should be
viewed as an investment, unlessyou're doing it wrong.
Right, if it's only a cost,then something's not, then
something's kind of out of whackwith the way that you're going
about it.
It is an investment.
(21:26):
I think it is how you look atit, how you use the data, how
you analyze the promotions, howyou analyze the base program to
make sure that it is having anincremental impact on your
customer's behavior, whetherit's visits or spend.
The loyalty program needs to bedriving that.
So we spent a lot of timefocusing on how do we make sure
we're doing the right analyseson whether it's base program or
(21:47):
whether it's promotions that werun or the campaigns that we run
, to make sure that they'rehaving an incremental impact on
a customer's behavior, andthat's done through the data.
Right, and you know thisbecause you've been in this game
a long time.
Right, you roll out your baseprogram and that gets you some
incrementality right away.
Right, people join up andthey're like cool, and they
(22:08):
start buying more often becauseof the base program.
Well, after that year goes by,you know that incrementality
from the base program wears offand the power is in how well you
use the data from the programto keep driving incrementality
out of the program andincrementality out of the
program.
And that's where we're reallyfocused on and that's why we
view it as an investment.
You know I'll go back to youknow I use this as an example
because everybody's like oh well, the value of a loyalty program
(22:31):
is in the data, right, andeverybody.
It's easy to say that andeverybody kind of sometimes will
question that, depending on theorganization you're in.
It's like I go back to Bordersthe last thing, that one of the
last things they sold, uh, otherthan like the furniture when we
went out of business, um, wasthe data from the borders
rewards program to barnes andnoble for like 14 million
(22:54):
dollars or something like that.
So a significant amount ofmoney was spent on the data from
a rewards program from acompetitor that was going out of
business.
That was no longer a threat,but the value of that data was
still significant.
Um, it's just it's a verytangible point for me to say
like, look, there is value inthe data.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
you know that's evidence to to support that and
also uh, you know, one of thethings that we see, uh and hear
a good deal about is uh, you,generations, younger audiences.
We hear that some of theyounger audiences may not
necessarily engage in theloyalty program right away but
once you get them involved inthe program they can be bigger
(23:35):
advocates for the programholistically and they can be
your best customers.
But they also can be a littleirrational.
They want simplicity, right,they don't want to necessarily
have to redeem 800 points to getthat free meal.
You know, when you look atnavigating kind of engaging a
more holistic audience, you knowhow are you looking to engage
(23:56):
the younger customers and how?
What success or you knowoutcomes have you been seeing?
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yeah, I mean, obviously younger customers can
be a little bit more fickle interms of what they're willing to
put up with in terms of theexperience and their patience
levels as well.
I think we spend a lot of timemaking sure our app experience
is easy to use and try tosimplify it as much as possible.
From that perspective we've got, I would say, a strong part of
(24:25):
our customer base is in thatyounger customer.
You know teens and early 20sgroup as well, and I just was in
my local noodles and company onFriday, went in and picked up
some catering for a daughter'sJV soccer team that I had over
at my house and so, like youknow, 24, 14-year year old girls
were ecstatic to have somenoodles and company and when I
(24:46):
went and picked it up, there wastwo more teams of the water
polo team in the noodles andcompany eating, and so there we
were very much a destination fora lot of that younger
demographic, and so we try tomake sure that we are conscious
of that, you know, make surewe're playing in spaces and
social and so forth and speakingthat, speaking that language if
you will, and engaging them andmeeting them where they're at.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Okay, when you look at customer loyalty for a new
design company, you know what'sthe next big thing for customer
loyalty, customer experience foryour brand.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
Yeah, you know, I think we've our program's been
in place for quite some time,right, so we're taking a look at
you know what are the benefitsthat we're offering.
You know to your point, youknow, being new to the
organization, kind of flippingover some of the rocks to make
sure that you know, are thesethings still incremental?
You know what are thepromotions that we run that are
working well, what are theexperiences that we're providing
and where there's maybe somewhite space within that
(25:36):
experience that we can improveon and really starting to try to
identify some of thoseopportunities for improvement.
You know, because I think onceyou've had your program in place
for a little while, you can'trest on your laurels for too
long, if you will.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Absolutely.
Employee engagement isimportant, especially with some
of the changes you went through.
Maybe longer wait timepotentially, and then, you know,
getting them educated on thenew menu offerings as well.
You know, how does employeeengagement, employee loyalty,
fit into that larger customerloyalty discussion?
Are you training your employeesdifferent, looking at the
(26:09):
program in a way to get it infront of them more frequently?
You know, and what do you seeand maybe how do you see that
going forward?
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah, totally.
So you know we go out of ourway to make sure that we've
trained our employees so theyfully understand the program,
they understand.
We go out of our way to makesure that we've trained our
employees so they fullyunderstand program, they
understand they can speak to it,they understand the benefits
from it, you know.
And then we work with them tomake sure that they're asking
everyone that comes in.
You know, are you a loyaltyprogram member?
Are you a loyalty member?
Did you do you need to check,check in?
(26:38):
So when folks come into ourstores they can check in on the
loyalty program, make sure theyget credit for the in-store
orders on their account.
So we make sure that we askeveryone that comes in and if
they're not, we make sure we tryto give them the benefit script
so they sign up and become amember.
Excellent, and when you look atit and you bring that up, you
know, when you look at therestaurants and locations that
(26:59):
you know have a higher kind ofpenetration of loyalty members
and so forth, yeah, restaurantsand locations that you know have
a higher kind of penetration ofloyalty members and so forth,
yeah, like, what's what'sworking?
What's working?
They ask and they ask everyoneand the stories and team members
, that and that, do thelocations do a better job of
doing that?
You see?
You see the loyalty penetrationtick up.
So it really is about gettingeverybody bought in, getting
everybody educated, um, and thenjust getting everybody asking,
(27:20):
having that discourse with thecustomer, no, no, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Last question what are two or three things you're
most proud about your program?
I know you're relatively newwith the organization, but when
you look at the customer loyaltyprogram, the customer loyalty
focus within the organizationwhat are you most proud of?
Speaker 2 (27:39):
two or three things.
Yeah, look, I think we've.
In the last few months, we'vere-doubled down on where we're
at as a brand and who we are asa brand.
Our new campaign came out amonth ago and we're really
talking about this idea of weknow noodles and basically
taking that authority positionthat this is what we do.
We're dedicated to makingwonderful noodle dishes and
(28:00):
we're putting that story at theforefront, right, like I
mentioned earlier, we're makingthese dishes fresh to order.
You know we've got folkssauteing dishes in the back and
we need to make sure that ourmembers and everybody understand
that's the quality that they'regetting from us, and so
delivering on a betterexperience through the way that
we do it, through the new menu,is really how we're going to
(28:23):
build customer loyalty and youknow the program is an enabler
of that right.
It enables us to know whatdishes people were ordering and
if we've changed them, how canwe proactively communicate that
to them before they find out inthe restaurant and maybe they're
not happy about it, right?
So how do we take proactivecommunication and leveraging
loyalty data and so we know whatthey were ordering?
(28:44):
We highlight some of the newdishes that we know, uh, kind of
fit in that flavor profile.
So this, this new menu, our newbrand strategy are really, you
know, are going to transformnoodles and company and the
loyalty program has been a keyconduit and kind of enabler of
making sure that that'ssuccessful okay, okay, excellent
.
And what can Loyalty360 do tohelp you and your team, man,
(29:08):
like I said, you guys havealways been helpful to me, mark,
over the years, and I thinkit's getting that holistic kind
of category competitor view ofwhat's happening in the loyalty
landscape, not just within QSRor within restaurants, but just
across the board.
Right, because, like Imentioned, customers'
expectations are set by theirlast best experience, right, and
(29:30):
that's true for loyalty, right.
And so they're not just lookingat Noodles Rewards in relation
to some other QSR's rewardsprogram.
They're thinking about, well,the folks at Delta that have my
membership number, what do theydo for me, and so forth.
And so to me, loyalty360 hasalways been super important,
enabling us to get thatcross-category loyalty-specific
(29:50):
view of what is thebest-in-class loyalty experience
, because that's where the barneeds to be set.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Excellent, okay, perfect, and looking forward to
seeing what you guys do with theprogram going forward.
I know we have our wonderfulquickfire questions now, so we'd
love to get your response tothis.
We'd like to keep them short,one word or a few word phrase.
First off, how would youdescribe your work life?
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Fast paced but fulfilling.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Excellent.
If you have a day or a week offfrom work, what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Catching up or spending it with my kids.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
Okay, and if you could live in any city or
country, where would you live?
Speaker 2 (30:31):
Am I working or not?
Speaker 1 (30:32):
working, working.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
If I'm working, probably where I'm at, Ann Arbor
, Michigan.
Okay, If I'm not working findme a beach hut in Aruba, please,
Okay there you go.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
If you could go back to school, what would you study?
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Probably global economics.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Okay, and is there a facet of the job that you'd like
to be more involved with thanyou are now?
Speaker 2 (30:59):
I don't want more involved, but more knowledgeable
, probably like the food science.
It's fascinating to me.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Excellent, and is there a facet of the job that
you currently are doing thatyou'd like to know less about?
Speaker 2 (31:11):
I don't think it's ever beneficial to know less,
but if I could do less of it,probably legal things.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Okay, there you go.
You know what motivates you intackling challenges at Noodles
Company.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
Unrealized potential that I see here.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
Okay, and what do you draw inspiration from generally
?
What lights your fire?
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Creativity.
Speaker 1 (31:34):
Excellent.
And what is your favorite sportand or hobby?
Soccer.
Okay and last question what doyou typically think about at the
end of the day?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
It's not going to be one word answer, two things.
One, not every day is great,but there's something great in
every day, and so I try tofigure out what that was that
day.
And then two, at the end of theday, usually rehashing the
things I did and what I stillhave left to do, kind of
prepping the brain for the nextday.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
Okay, perfect.
Well, Steve, thank you verymuch for taking the time to
speak with us today.
It was great catching up withyou.
It's been a while and lookingforward to hearing more from you
and your team at Noodles andCompany going forward.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Great Mark.
It's great to see you again.
Look forward to the partnershipand staying connected.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Absolutely, and thank you everyone for taking the
time to join us today.
Make sure you join us everyThursday for our Leaders in
Customer and Low-Wage BrandStories edition.
Until then, have a wonderfulday.
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