Noodles & Company

Noodles and Company's first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. All participants are now in a listen-only mode. After the presenter's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce Noodles and Company's chief financial officer, Carl Lukacs. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone.

Welcome to our first quarter 2023 earnings call. Here with me this afternoon is Dave Benninghausen, our Chief Executive Officer. I'd like to start by going over a few regulatory matters. During our opening remarks and in response to your questions, we may make forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the company. Any such items, including details relating to our future performance, should be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Such statements are only projections, and actual events or results could differ materially from those projections due to a number of risks and uncertainties. The safe harbor statement in this afternoon's news release and the cautionary statement in the company's annual report on Form 10-K for its 2022 fiscal year and subsequent filings with the SEC are considered a part of this conference call, including the portions of each that set forth the risks and uncertainties related to the company's forward-looking statements. I refer you to the documents the company files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the company's annual report on Form 10-K for its 2022 fiscal year and subsequent filings we have made. These documents contain and identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements. During the call, we will discuss non-GAAP measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating the company's operating performance. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for our financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is available in our first quarter 2023 earnings release and our supplemental information. To the extent that the company provides guidance, it does so only on a non-GAAP basis and does not provide reconciliations of such forward-looking non-GAAP measures to GAAP Specifically, forecasted adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EPS, and contribution margin are forward-looking non-GAAP measures. Quantitative reconciling information for these measures is unavailable without unreasonable efforts. The corresponding GAAP measures, including net income, earnings per share, and income or loss from operations, are not accessible on a forward-looking basis, and such information is likely to be significant to an investor. Now, I would like to turn it over to Dave Benninghausen, our Chief Executive Officer.