Good afternoon, and welcome to Noodles & Company's Second Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As reminder, this call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce Noodles & Company's Chief Financial Officer, Mike Hynes. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our second quarter 2025 earnings call. Here with me this afternoon is Drew Madsen, our Chief Executive Officer; and Joe Christina, our President and Chief Operating Officer. I'd like to start by going over a few regulatory matters. During the call, we may make forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the company. Any such items 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 from those projections due to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those referred to in this afternoon's news release and the cautionary statement in the company's annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings with the SEC. 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 second quarter 2025 earnings release. To the extent that the company provides guidance, it does so only on a non-GAAP basis and does not provide reconciliations of forward-looking non-GAAP measures. Quantitative reconciling information for these measures is unavailable without unreasonable efforts. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Drew Madsen, our Chief Executive Officer.

Thanks, Mike, and good afternoon, everyone. Before we dive into our results, I would like to briefly touch on the announcement we put out this past week. After careful consideration, I have made the difficult decision to step down at the end of August as CEO of Noodles & Company due to health reasons that require my full attention and focus. And I'm pleased to announce that Joe Christina, our current President and Chief Operating Officer, has agreed to become our new CEO, and I have complete confidence that his fresh perspective and leadership grounded in his past experience as a CEO at 2 different restaurant concepts will be instrumental in positioning our brand for future success. I will work closely with Joe during this transitional period in August and remain a continuing Board member going forward so that I can continue to lend my insight and industry knowledge. With that, let's turn our attention to our second quarter results. While we delivered positive same-store sales in a choppy consumer environment for our segment, overall results were below our expectations going into the quarter. We have identified what we believe drove the traffic shortfall versus our expectations and have been working quickly to address it. Specifically, we experienced an unexpected decline in guest value perception following our menu launch in March, something we did not see during our test market phase last year. This is due in part to a change in the consumer environment over the past 12 months and the growing consumer demand for increased value and affordability, which is evidenced by the heightened discounting and promotions across the QSR, fast casual and casual dining segments of our industry. In response, we have worked quickly to strengthen value with the introduction of our new delicious Duos value platform…

Thanks, Drew. I appreciate your partnership over the last 6 months. I also want to thank the Board for their belief and trust naming me to lead this great brand. I'm honored to lead Noodles & Company in this next chapter as we welcome 30 years of brand strength and connection. I am focused on enhancing the guest experience, strengthening operational execution, driving increased traffic and expanding unit level margins. Backed by our dedicated teams, franchisees and partners, we will strive to deliver meaningful value to our guests and stakeholders. I look forward to working with Drew during this transition period in August and speaking with you all next quarter.

Thank you, Joe. With that, I will turn it over to Mike to review our second quarter financial highlights and full year guidance.

Thank you, Drew. In the second quarter, our total revenue decreased 0.7% compared to last year to $126.4 million. System-wide comp restaurant sales during the second quarter increased 1.5%, including an increase of 1.5% at company-owned restaurants and an increase of 1.6% at franchise restaurants. Company comp traffic during the second quarter decreased 2.5% and average check increased 4%, inclusive of 2.6% effective pricing during the quarter, primarily related to our menu launch. Company average unit volumes in the second quarter increased 2.3% to $1.35 million. As a reminder, we experienced a shift in the Easter holiday from the first quarter in 2024 to the second quarter in 2025. We estimate that the Easter holiday shift negatively impacted our second quarter comp restaurant sales by approximately 50 basis points. Turning to profitability. Our second quarter was also impacted by onetime costs related to our menu rollout totaling $1.7 million, primarily higher food costs, labor and marketing. These costs were isolated to the second quarter, and we do not expect them to impact the rest of the year. Our COGS in the second quarter were 26.5% of sales, a 180 basis point increase from last year, which was primarily driven by higher food costs associated with our new menu offerings. Our food inflation in the second quarter was approximately 2% Labor costs for the second quarter were 31.7% of sales, which was up 50 basis points to prior year, primarily due to wage inflation and an increase in hourly labor associated with the new menu rollout. Hourly wage inflation in the second quarter was 2.7%. Occupancy costs in the second quarter were $11.4 million compared to $11.6 million in 2024 due to a reduction in our company-owned restaurant count over the last 12 months. Other restaurant operating costs increased by 50…

Thanks, Mike. Though our positive same-store sales in the second quarter outperformed many in the fast casual segment, they were below our expectations. We have identified the challenges in the current consumer environment to improve our top line performance and are moving quickly to respond to them. And we are very encouraged same-store sales have increased to an average of a positive 5% over the last 2 weeks with our recent delicious Duos launch. The portfolio optimization reviewed by Mike, combined with ongoing cost reduction will give us a stronger and more profitable foundation moving forward. And to deliver sustained top line sales growth, we will continue to build on the improvements made to date that will clearly establish Noodles & Company as the best choice for more customers to satisfy their comfort food cravings. Thank you for your time today. I'll now turn the call back over to the operator.

Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude today's event. Thank you for attending, and you may now disconnect your lines.