Noodles & Company Celebrates Pride Month by Pledging $30k to Support Workplace Equality

The Pride Crispy will be available for purchase at Noodles & Company restaurants nationwide and online or through the Noodles Rewards App from June 1 to June 30, 2023. Pride Crispy is a delectable, ooey-gooey rainbow rice crispy treat made in-house at Noodles with melted butter, marshmallows, and crispy rice cereal with added rainbow cereal in honor of Pride.

“For us, Pride Month means continuing to establish an environment where all feel welcomed and cared for, a value that is at the center of everything we do at Noodles,” said Sue Petersen, executive vice president of inclusion, diversity, and people. “We are taking direct action through our Out & Equal give back to advance our inclusion and diversity efforts and to further the mission of LGBTQIA+ workplace equality by educating our team members and guests.”

Message in a Crispy

For the first time, guests will receive more than dessert when a Pride Crispy is purchased. Throughout June, Noodles is promoting education and LGBTQIA+ awareness by placing an interactive QR code on the nutritional sticker of each crispy, called Message in a Crispy. The QR code drives guests to noodles.

com/pride where they can learn about LGBTQIA+ facts, history, and commemorate the message that Pride is a celebration of love. In addition, Noodles is introducing the Pride Crispy Cam, encouraging LGBTQIA+ couples to celebrate their love and affection with the world, by submitting a photo for the brand to share on its Instagram stories.

Noodles’ Ongoing Support

Noodles is dedicated to inclusion and diversity in every aspect of its business and celebrates its team members and community members for their differences year-round. For more than 25 years, Noodles has remained committed to nourishing and inspiring every team member, guest, and community it serves through cultivating a workplace environment where team members can be their most authentic selves.

As Noodles is committed to putting its people first, the Company remains devoted to its Noodles Resource Groups (NRGs), which were added to its lineup of industry-leading inclusive team member benefits last summer. The PROUD and THRIVE resource groups are impactful platforms that are available for shift managers, assistant general managers, general managers, and above at Noodles. PROUD is focused on elevating LGBTQIA+ team members and allies and THRIVE is centered on elevating BIPOC team members.

Noodles Resource Groups are a safe space for team members to come together to share ideas and institutions of support.

Noodles Leads with Inclusivity + Diversity

“Our approach to inclusion and diversity is to listen, learn, then act, and we care deeply about our responsibility to elevate our team members’ voices,” said Ashton Crowther, senior manager of inclusion and diversity. “At Noodles, we have a dedicated Inclusion & Diversity Advisory Council and established a DEI newsletter and inbox to receive real-time feedback from our team members. The concept for the Pride Crispy came from a team member and we will continue to foster an environment where our actions are directly influenced by our team members.”