Noodles & Co. (NDLS) Q1 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Noodles & Co. (NDLS 7.69%)
Q1 2022 Earnings Call
Apr 27, 2022, 4:30 p.m. ET

Contents:

• Prepared Remarks
• Questions and Answers
• Call Participants

Prepared Remarks:

Operator

Good afternoon, and welcome to today's Noodles & Company's first quarter 2022 earnings conference call. [Operator instructions] As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce Noodles & Company chief financial officer, Carl Lukach. You may begin.

Carl Lukach -- Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our first quarter 2022 earnings call. Here with me this afternoon is Dave Boennighausen, 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 means 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 2021 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 2021 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 on our first quarter 2022 earnings release and our supplemental information. Now I would like to turn it over to Dave Boennighausen, our chief executive officer.

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Carl, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm excited to share with you our results for Q1, which included a recapturing of the momentum we had gained through the majority of 2021, as well as a positive inflection point in our unit growth trajectory. Noodles & Company has made significant strides over the past few years. And with the temporary disruption of COVID-related closures seemingly behind us, we feel the company is well-positioned to accelerate growth meaningfully through the balance of 2022 and beyond.

While the first two months of Q1 were impacted by both our historical seasonality, as well as temporary closures due to the Omicron COVID variant, the company quickly regained momentum as we entered March, culminating in average unit volumes for the March fiscal period of $1.35 million, $170,000 above pre-COVID 2019 levels. This momentum has continued thus far in Q2 with quarter-to-date average unit volumes cresting $1.4 million. As our restaurant base has regained momentum, we also are excited at the success of our new units and the unit growth opportunity ahead. We opened seven restaurants systemwide during the first quarter, the largest number of new openings in the quarter since 2016.

More importantly, these restaurants, as a class, are already exceeding our internal projections and performing well of company average. As a reminder, our target is to achieve a 30% plus cash-on-cash return in new company locations, supported by our smaller square footage, off-premise oriented prototype, the majority of which include our order-ahead drive-through pickup windows. Our classes of 2019 through 2021 continue to track toward these return objectives and the class of 2022, thus far has been even stronger. Looking at their initial performance and accounting for typical honeymoon patterns of prior classes, we anticipate these restaurants will settle above $1.5 million in average unit volumes.

Ultimately, we believe the Noodles & Company has the potential for at least 1,500 units nationwide. We continue to be a differentiated category leader with proven mass appeal in a wide variety of trade areas, both urban and suburban, as well as strong residence in both college and small towns. We feel this growth opportunity is supported by our proven success in a wide variety of geographies, with our top 30 restaurants spanning coast-to-coast among 20 different MSAs with representation from urban, suburban, collegiate and smalltown locations. Additionally, as we exit the temporary disruption of COVID, we expect nearly 40% of our restaurants to meet our long-term target of $1.5 million of AUV during the second quarter.

With significant opportunity in both infill and new markets, this mass appeal broadens our unit growth opportunity, increases attractiveness to franchisees and mitigates risk in our growth strategy. We continue to make progress toward increasing the franchise mix of our business as evidenced by the recent refranchising of California with the agreement calling for 40 new locations to be opened during the next several years. Finally, the variety inherent in our menu, our strength in off-premise and low entry-level price point gives us the ability to win in a wide variety of consumer occasions and environments. While we can't ignore the near-term impact of the inflationary environment, which Carl will discuss shortly, simply put, I've never been more confident in the growth opportunity ahead of us.

This confidence is bolstered by the effectiveness of our strategies around menu innovation, guest engagement and operations. From a culinary perspective, over the past several years, we have executed a robust pipeline in menu development, resulting in additions such as zucchini noodles and Tortelloni that have increased both the reach and frequency of our brand. As an example of the effectiveness of these introductions, healthier items now represent 13% of mix, up from just above 10% a few years ago, while Tortelloni continues to perform very strongly at 7% of guest mix. Noodles & Company's ability to redefine traditional expectations of noodles and pasta has allowed the brand to resonate with a wide variety of audiences.

And we feel our upcoming introduction, LEANguini, is a particularly powerful representation of how our menu can meet several dietary preferences without sacrificing taste or flavor. LEANguini has the taste and texture of traditional linguine noodle and gets its name from having 56% less net carbs and 44% more protein than a traditional wheat noodle. The culinary formulation for LEANguini is a proprietary first-of-its-kind offering that is a result of over a year of innovation and exclusive to Noodles & Company. Guest response has been fantastic, and we're excited to launch LEANguini nationwide next week.

While LEANguini will be featured with our new light lemon parm sauce with our made-to-order approach to culinary, it can be substituted into any one of our dishes, allowing guests to have the same great flavors they've come to love from Noodles & Company with significantly fewer carbs and much higher protein. We believe LEANguini could be a transformational new menu introduction that could significantly expand our reach, encourage more repeat visits and provide a great option for the growing lunch occasion. As we do with Tortelloni, we will leverage our guest engagement program to give rewards to members an exclusive opportunity to try LEANguini before being available to all guests beginning on May 18. Our rewards program remains an important pillar in our overall guest engagement strategy.

And with over 4 million members, which compares favorably on a per unit basis with competitors, we continue to garner greater insights to foster more personalized relationships with our guests. Noodles' rewards continues to be supported by a top-tier digital ecosystem with digital sales accounting for 58% of sales during the first quarter. As our rewards program and digital assets strengthen, we will also soon be launching our new brand positioning, Uncommon Goodness. Through Uncommon Goodness, Noodles is bringing its purpose to life by elevating the Uncommon Goodness that has been core to the brand for more than 25 years from how we treat our team members and create a unique guest experience to how we carefully select ingredients and positively impact the communities we serve, Noodles infuses Uncommon Goodness into everything we do.

At the core of this brand positioning are our operations and people, and I'm incredibly proud of how our team has navigated in the recent environment. Staffing has improved dramatically over the past few months, with nearly all of our restaurants now return to full operating hours. Importantly, as we have navigated this environment, we have also gained efficiencies in our operating model through equipment and operational initiatives, resulting in significant improvements in throughput, as well as a reduction in the labor hours needed to provide a great guest experience. We've seen a 30-second reduction in cook times at our restaurants through these initiatives, as well as an over 15% increase in sales per labor hour since their implementation.

These efficiencies will be particularly advantageous as we navigate the current inflationary environment. Again, Noodles & Company as a brand has never been better positioned to accelerate growth. Over the past few years, we have made tremendous strides in nearly every aspect of our business, from menu innovation and guest engagement to new unit economics and bench strength. As I look at the balance of 2022, I feel we have an incredibly strong slate of initiatives, headlined by the launch of LEANguini and our new brand positioning.

Combined with the strength of our team and new unit pipeline, I'm confident that we have not only regained the momentum that was interrupted by the Delta and Omicron variants, but we are also approaching an inflection point in realizing the company's immense potential. I'll now turn it over to Carl to discuss in more depth our financial results and expectations within 2022.

Carl Lukach -- Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Dave, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to share our first quarter results, which reflect accelerated momentum throughout the quarter as we move further away from COVID and staffing-related volatility. In terms of the financial highlights, total revenue for the first quarter increased 2.7% to $112.6 million compared to last year. Comparable restaurant sales increased 6.4% systemwide, comprised of a 5.3% increase at company-owned restaurants and an 11.9% increase at franchise restaurants.

The gap between franchise and company comparable restaurant sales is due to less impact from Omicron geographically with franchise AUV now coming more in line with company averages. Our revenue for the quarter was adversely impacted by COVID-related temporary closures and reduced operating hours, predominantly during the earlier part of the quarter, which we estimate was approximately $4 million. Additionally, the year-over-year impact from the sale of our California locations was estimated at a $3 million impact to revenue, which includes lost revenue, net of royalty payments received. As mentioned before, the California transaction will have negligible impact on our full year 2022 EBITDA, however, is expected to be meaningfully accretive as the market grows and as a catalyst for future franchise growth.

Underlying our revenue growth, our average unit volumes were $1.25 million for the quarter, a 6.8% increase from last year and a 13.3% increase versus pre-COVID levels in 2019. Specifically in March, we reported AUV of $1.35 million, driven by a significant decline in COVID-related temporarily reduced operating hours in addition to our typical seasonal sales lift. We are pleased to see that sales further accelerated into April, reaching $1.4 million, which represents about 18% over 2019. Overall, we still feel very positive about our economic model and our ability to leverage sales momentum throughout the P&L.

For the first quarter, restaurant contribution margin was 9.7%, compared to 13.6% during the first quarter of 2021, representing a variance of 390 basis points. Within that variance, 150 basis points is a onetime revenue impact from temporary closures in addition to labor and COGS inefficiency related to those closures. Our first quarter contribution margin was further impacted by 300 basis points in our cost of goods sold, which increased to 28% of sales from our historical average of 25% of sales. The inflationary environment has pressured many areas of our commodity basket.

Although as a reminder, the primary ingredient in our dry pasta is durum wheat, which represent 10% of our COGS and has not been impacted by the current disruption in Europe to the same extent as other wheat markets. The more material inflation in our food basket has been within protein, particularly chicken. Chicken is our No. 1 spend item and our high-quality, boneless, all white chicken meat breast is an add-on chosen by over 50% of our guests for their dishes.

This chicken market has been particularly challenging over the past few months, including the inability to contract prices further into the year as we normally would do. This has resulted in our Q1 chicken cost being approximately 70% higher than prior year, with the expectation that a nearly 80% cost increase during the second quarter. We anticipate that the back half of the year will include meaningful relief from these unprecedented cost levels as we have already seen green shoots in the non-breast chicken meat market in addition to pricing benefits from normal seasonality during the summer. We are continuing to make strong progress in identifying and executing operational efficiencies with the support of our long-standing vendors to reduce food costs within our restaurants.

As a further mitigant to elevated chicken prices, earlier this week, we implemented a temporary $1 surcharge on our chicken menu prices. We view this temporary surcharge as onetime and fairly short-lived as the market is expected to normalize reasonably soon. We are fortunate that we maintain a strong value proposition and pricing power with an attractive entry-level price point of around $7. This has allowed us to take additional price without meaningful guest resistance, bolstered by the fact that our core price has been relatively stable during the last few years, as most of our pricing increases have been concentrated on third-party delivery.

For the full second quarter, we anticipate our effective price to be just above 10%, inclusive of the chicken surcharge, compared with 7.5% during the first quarter. Still, with the unprecedented inflation in our commodity basket, we expect COGS to be approximately 28% of sales during the second quarter before easing during the balance of the year. Turning to our cost of labor. Labor costs for the quarter were 32.3% of sales, which is 50 basis points above last year.

While the first quarter labor costs did not include any onetime expenses, our results were impacted by labor inefficiencies for COVID-related temporary closures. During March, which we expect will be more indicative of our second quarter performance, given more normal seasonality, as well as a significant reduction in temporary closures, our labor costs were closer to our typical labor expense of 30%. Our operating costs for the quarter were 19.9% of sales, compared to 18.8% in prior years. This increase was driven primarily by delivery fees, which increased 50 basis points to 6.2% of sales.

Additionally, we were impacted by deleverage from temporary closures during the first half of Q1, as well as increased utility costs. We expect other operating costs between 17.5% and 18% of sales in the second quarter, driven by sales leverage and a continued investment in our third-party delivery channel. With additional leverage anticipated in the occupancy expense line, we anticipate that second quarter restaurant level margins will be approximately 16%. G&A for the first quarter was $11.8 million, compared to $10.9 million last year.

The increase was driven by a return to travel and regular operating activities compared to last year. G&A included noncash stock-based compensation of $1.2 million during the first quarter, compared to $800,000 last year. For the second quarter, we anticipate G&A approximately in line with our spend last year, which was $13 million. Our G&A forecast for the second quarter is inclusive of the anticipated marketing support for our culinary launch of the LEANguini and our new brand positioning beginning next week, in addition to $1.6 million of nonstock compensation expense.

GAAP net loss for the first quarter was $6.4 million or $0.14 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $2 million last year or $0.04 per diluted share. We also report net income on an adjusted basis, which adjusts for the impact of impairment, divestitures and closures. Excluding these adjustments, our first quarter net loss was $5.8 million or $0.13 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $1 million or $0.02 per diluted share last year. We expect our effective tax rate to remain relatively low at least through 2022, and we do not expect to be a cash taxpayer for the foreseeable future, given our sizable NOL and other tax credits of over $150 million.

Switching to our outlook for the rest of the year. Through April, we have seen continued strength in our average unit volume growth and expect volumes to remain strong throughout the second quarter. As a result, for the second quarter, we anticipate total revenue to range between $130 million and $133 million and comparable sales in the mid-single digits. As Dave noted, during the quarter, we opened seven new locations systemwide, five of which were company-owned, the most openings that we have seen in a quarter since 2016.

We continue to anticipate 35 new restaurants to open systemwide for the full year, representing 8% unit growth, with approximately 70% of openings to be company-owned and 30% as franchise locations. As we discussed last quarter, we do expect the balance of the year's unit growth to be somewhat backloaded with four to five openings in Q2. For the full year, we expect $30 million to $34 million of capital expense, supporting new unit growth and continued innovation on our website and mobile app. Turning to the balance sheet.

At quarter end, we had cash and cash equivalents of $1.6 million and a total debt balance of approximately $35.3 million. Our first quarter cash flow included related expenses related to new unit openings during the first quarter, as well as typical timing and seasonality of payments. We expect to produce positive free cash flow throughout the remainder of 2022, and our strong liquidity position will provide ample room to meet our growth objectives. With that, I would like to turn the call back over to Dave for final remarks.

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Carl. One final note I'd like to make is that I recently had the opportunity to meet with nearly all of our general managers in the field. And I came away energized by our bench strength and the passion and quality of our leaders we have throughout the organization as we accelerate growth. As onetime business disruption moves behind us, I can confidently say Noodles & Company is better positioned than ever to become one of the premier growth stories in the restaurant industry, and I look forward to the balance of 2022 and beyond.

With that, please open the lines for Q&A.

Questions & Answers:

Operator

[Operator instructions] And our first question comes from Jake Bartlett from Truist Securities. Your line is now open.

Jake Bartlett -- Truist Securities -- Analyst

Great. Thanks for taking the question. I appreciate it. My first is on the cadence of same-store sales.

And I think what I'm hearing is that the same-store sales and maybe average weekly sales growth are diverging in some way. But I want to just focusing on the same-store sales, you had provided what they were in January and kind of quarter-to-date or month-to-date in February last time you reported. It looks like there's a deceleration in March, yet the average weekly sales growth seems strong. And then what I'm hearing just the guidance for the second quarter, it looks like maybe a deceleration from there.

And so one, I'm just wondering about the cadence of the improvement -- I would have thought that given the less exclusions that you would have seen in March and now in April, those two numbers would have gone up, but maybe it has to do with comparison. Just help us understand the trajectory of the business, from the same-store sales side, it's harder to see. And so any clarity theory there would be helpful.

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, Jake. First and foremost, we equivocally believe that we're actually seeing sequential and continued improvement and not deceleration of any shape, way or form. We find that the year-over-year one-year comparison remains somewhat challenging and volatile based on some of the just volatility that you saw throughout 2021. So how we look at it, first off, as I would look at a three-year growth.

So looking versus pre-COVID numbers and what we've seen is just a continued acceleration throughout Q1 from roughly 11% and 12% or so during the first couple of months up to 15% during March, and then that's accelerated, as Carl mentioned, to about 18% here in April. Even within April, we're seeing continued momentum and that accelerate as well. From an average year volume perspective, to your point, part of that seasonality, but we have seen those continue to improve and accelerate even throughout April as well. Specific to the year over year, you are correct in terms of there was absolute one year same-store sales was a little bit lower in March.

That's reflective of much more difficult comparisons, weather being a little bit different as well. And we see a similar thing in April in terms of same-store sales thus far around 4%. We expect and are very confident that you're going to see that number continue to improve as we go through the balance of Q2. As you see a little bit more pricing action in play and then very excited about the impact that both LEANguini can have, as well as our Uncommon Goodness brand repositioning rollout.

So ultimately, we look at that three-year growth, Jake, and we see that just continue to accelerate, week-in, week-out overall fundamental underlying momentum in the business is actually, we believe, accelerating, certainly not decelerating.

Jake Bartlett -- Truist Securities -- Analyst

Great. That's really helpful. And Dave, you touched on about the LEANguini, I think you made a comment that as it's been tested, you've seen the strongest response. I think potentially been stronger than the zoodles and we know what happened in the second quarter of '18 when those were launched.

So maybe give us some more detail on how those -- how the LEANguini has tested and maybe I don't know what kind of impact you think it could have?

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Yes, certainly. I think it can have a very meaningful impact on this business, somewhat similar to what we saw with zucchini, which as a reminder, that brought a lot of people back into the brand, really showcased our ability to meet different dietary preferences while maintaining the soul of the brand. What makes LEANguini so special, much lower net carbohydrates, 56% less, 44% more protein, but the taste and the texture, unlike Zucchini, is that of a traditional weak noodle. So what we are seeing in test, now granted, we have not put a ton of marketing muscle behind this yet.

It's much more for the national rollout, but we are seeing an increase in frequency as people try that particular dish that's very meaningful. And I think what's particularly important is all of our metrics that we look at from a very detailed real-time perspective, when you look at Net Promoter Score, overall satisfaction, taste of food, the linguini lemon parm, and you can substitute into anything, but the LEANguini lemon parm is No. 1 in our entire menu across all of those metrics. So the guest response, what we're seeing from EU are not sacrificing flavor and taste to having a healthy, healthy alternative with much less carbs, much higher protein and guests are very much responding to that.

So as we roll that out to our first exclusive to rewards members next week and then a couple of weeks later, go across the entire audience, we just feel it can be a very transformative introduction. So very excited for what that can do.

Jake Bartlett -- Truist Securities -- Analyst

Great. And then last question, Carl, on the COGS, you hit the low end of your -- of the range of the guidance range of 28% to 29% in the quarter. So one, what moved in the right direction? It seems like the news has generally been bad, especially as chicken breast prices have gone up a lot since you gave that guidance. So I'm wondering what drove you to the lower end of that guidance range? And then what kind of visibility do you have? I'm not sure, for instance, how much you can contract with durum wheat or some of the other proteins, but -- or other commodity exposures.

But how are you contracted now? What should we pay attention to at the margin here going forward?

Carl Lukach -- Chief Financial Officer

Sure, happy to. So starting with the first quarter, we ended up at the low end of our guidance because there has been some stabilization in our nonprotein COGS basket. And we're looking at now the ability to contract that through the second quarter from both a supply -- security perspective but also for pricing. So my confidence in the second quarter COGS forecast, which we guided to at 28%, it's higher now because we are able to secure some of those shorter-term pricing contracts.

On the flip end of that, there is still volatility in the chicken market. We are seeing that with outsized inflation both in the first quarter and leading into the second quarter. So that's one area where we're remaining in pricing that's more variable in nature. What I would say though is that we are beginning to see some green shoots in the chicken market, particularly in the non-breast market.

So we are seeing some prices come down in wing, thigh and other areas of the bird. And then secondly, just the chicken market overall, the fundamentals are strong. So we should be anticipating some normalized level of seasonality in that market coming into the summer and prices coming down.

Jake Bartlett -- Truist Securities -- Analyst

Great. Thank you so much.

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Jake.

Operator

And thank you. And our next question comes from Andy Barish from Jefferies. Your line is now open.

Andy Barish -- Jefferies -- Analyst

Hey, guys, just a couple of quick follow-ups and then another one. I may have missed the total basket inflation in the 1Q, Carl, please?

Carl Lukach -- Chief Financial Officer

Sure. So the total inflation in the first quarter was around 20% total inflation. And as I mentioned, in the non-chicken ingredients of our COGS basket, we have begun to see some stabilization and that was more in the low double digits. But just given the inflation we've seen specifically in chicken.

And as a reminder, chicken is about 13% of our food basket and that was about 70%. That's going to outsize the total inflation you see when you look at the total COGS.

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. And I'll add to that, Andy. I mean, clearly, what we've seen in the last few months is that inflation as a whole is not necessarily going to be transitory, but we are seeing stabilization across nearly every aspect of the basket. And as Carl mentioned, kind of that low double-digits perspective.

Boneless chicken breast and as a reminder, that with all white, highest quality aspect of the bird, that is the one area that we have seen just that volatility that's had an outsized impact on Q1 and we expect in Q2 as well. That is a market that we would expect normalization. As Carl said, you see it in thighs, you see it in other parts of the chicken. So that is one area we would expect to come down meaningfully over the balance of the year and return us closer to that lower double-digit inflation, which we're all seeing, it's stabilizing, but it's not necessarily going to be coming down.

Andy Barish -- Jefferies -- Analyst

Gotcha. And then on the pricing into 2Q, the 10% or so, does that include -- I know the chicken temporary surcharge, but is LEANguini going to carry a premium if that's substituted for another pasta in dishes?

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, it will carry a modest premium. We certainly believe this dish is so amazing that we want to make sure that price is not an impediment for people trying it because when people try it, they are really going to be amazed. So there is some potential average check benefit that we would expect to see, probably pretty nominal though because Andy, we do want to introduce it at a pretty low price because we think it's something that once people try really going to make them rethink how they view the carbohydrate and protein aspect of noodles and pasta.

Andy Barish -- Jefferies -- Analyst

Gotcha. And then just finally, as we -- as you continue to reiterate your '24 targets, you mentioned 40% of units are currently running at $1.5 million or above. What is the margin profile on those -- that group of stores, please?

Carl Lukach -- Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, the vast majority of those restaurants are north of the 20% target. It would be a little bit shorter than 40%, probably closer to 35% just based on some of this temporary chicken impact that they're not quite there, but close to 20%. As chicken normalizes, we would see that those percentages should be pretty equal across that 40%.

Andy Barish -- Jefferies -- Analyst

OK. Sounds good. Thanks, guys.

Operator

And thank you. And our next question comes from Andrew Strelzik from BMO Capital Markets. Your line is now open.

Andrew Strelzik -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Great, thank you, and thanks for taking the questions. The first one from me, I believe some of your key geographies, in particular, the Midwest had been lagging from a recovery perspective in prior quarters. And so, I guess I'm just curious if that's still the case? If so, how much is that holding back the AUVs and the AUV recovery relative to maybe where it would be if it was holding in with the rest of the system?

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. That's a great question, Andrew, and I'm glad you asked it. It's -- they are the markets that particularly got impacted by Delta, if we return back to Q4 and some of the temporary closures we had. Now that we are seeing ourselves fully staffed, so our staffing levels are back to where they were pre-COVID, if not a little bit better.

We are seeing that momentum come back quickly, as well as the regulatory environment becomes more favorable in those markets. So the impact that they're having as we go from $1.35 million to $1.4 million and beyond, that is continued upside as those continue to gain back some of what they lost. But they've already returned and are showing great momentum over the last couple of months. So tough to quantify exactly because we're still only a couple of months into kind of being fully staffed, but we certainly like what we're seeing from a momentum perspective and then being able to provide a tailwind as we go further into '22.

Andrew Strelzik -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

OK. Great. That's helpful. And then I think the labor side came in pretty meaningfully below where you guys were expecting as a percent of sales perspective.

I guess, I'm just curious on the efficiency side, are you at this point, realizing the full extent of that or is that build -- or is that what drove that favorability there or is there something else to consider?

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. One aspect that drove the favorability. And we also ended up on the high end of our revenue range as well, was that the staffing environment improved so dramatically. So as the staffing environment improved, we returned to full operating hours.

We didn't have the inefficiencies that you saw throughout Q4 and part of Q1 as well. So that is the largest driver is just returning to being nearly fully staffed. Additionally, we did finish the rollout of the steamers, and they continue to just be a tremendous asset for us, as we said, 30 second improvement in throughput, as well as mean meaningful improvement in sales per labor hour. That will actually carry on into Q2 and beyond because now just really Q2 will be the first quarter where we have the full implementation of steamers across the entire country.

So you're getting a combination of staffing, getting much better and now us being fully rolled out in those steamer initiatives. And any one thing that's exciting is we're pretty early on, but Andrew, we see certainly paths for us to have kind of this next generation of operational improvements, looking at everything from prep and processes within the restaurants, our current equipment and how they could potentially be more efficient and even looking longer term in aspects like robotics, we feel that while we're still in the early stages in some of these things, we've got continued momentum and opportunity for us to continue to get more efficient on the labor side.

Andrew Strelzik -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

OK. That's great to hear. And then my last one. I guess this is more philosophical because you're seeing -- you're obviously very excited about the unit growth potential and the momentum of the business.

But if we were to go into an environment where the consumer were to soften up a bit, would it change the timing, I guess, or the trajectory of how you're thinking about the unit growth or would you just think, look, the business is what it is, let's think longer term and plough ahead? I guess I'm just -- philosophically, how you're thinking about that would be helpful. Thanks.

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. I mean absolutely. We see elevated construction costs, but from the consumer environment, we're so well-positioned. And as a reminder, we were positive same-store sales throughout the 2008-2009 recession.

This brand, our gas tends to be a little bit more insulated and with our entry-level price point remaining at around $7, we feel that we've just got great momentum and the ability to meet all those different consumer type environments. We are above 30% cash on cash return for these classes of '19 through '21, as well as '22 and we really like what we're seeing from the development pipeline perspective. The unit prototype being smaller square footage, incorporating those drive-through, order head drive-through windows. The box is such that we still feel that regardless of the environment, we can do very strong from a cash-on-cash perspective.

And while others might be pulling back, that actually would give us even greater opportunity to have better results. And interestingly enough, if you go back in time, our best performing class of new restaurants prior to the classes of '19 through '21 and now '22, our best-performing class Andrew was actually the class of 2009. So they often actually gives you an opportunity to have even better results.

Andrew Strelzik -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Got it. OK. Great. I'll pass it on.

Thank you very much.

Operator

And thank you. [Opertor instructions] And our next question comes from Todd Brooks from Benchmark.

Todd Brooks -- The Benchmark Company -- Analyst

Hey, good afternoon. A couple of quick questions and then one bigger picture question, if I may. Carl, you talked about on the nonprotein side of the basket, seeing the opportunity to maybe hedge some of that through Q2. But with Dave's comment about really cost stabilizing, but not really expecting them to come down.

Thoughts about hedging out further to kind of lock in a surety to the cost base, risk of maybe being wrong about seeing some easing in the second half. I know Chipotle highlighted last night that they expect stable kind of at these levels, commodity basket costs across the year. So I guess, thoughts on why we're not contracting further out on some of these categories that we can contract in.

Carl Lukach -- Chief Financial Officer

Sure. So what I would say is when we -- as we're seeing prices stabilize, we're working with the vendors, and they're getting more comfortable that we can contract not only the supply but also the pricing. As we think about getting further into that stabilization, we're going to continue to have those conversations ongoing and think about a full pricing contract for the remainder of the year. We are starting to see some opportunities across certain areas of the basket where we are able to go longer duration, but right now, securing second quarter really [Inaudible] for us.

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, we can -- sorry, go on, go ahead.

Todd Brooks -- The Benchmark Company -- Analyst

No, I was just going to say, so it sounds like it's more of a supplier willingness to contract versus your desire to get into a contract potentially?

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

No. Our desire in our traditional approach has been to be about 12 months ahead in terms of contract and that typically and historically has garnered more favorable pricing. We are doing that. There are certain aspects of the basket that we've been able to do that.

We're being opportunistic. And as the opportunity arises, we are absolutely following that same strategy. But it does ultimately, Todd, kind of come down to a commodity-by-commodity type approach where there are certain ones like chicken, where we couldn't contract prices even if we wanted to. But then there's others people would be an example where we actually can add relatively favorable prices.

Todd Brooks -- The Benchmark Company -- Analyst

OK. Fair enough. And then based on that outlook, I know on the last call, you had talked about the restaurant level margins improving over the course of the year and hopefully exiting back toward that high 18s or better range with the AUV recovery in the stores. The slope of the recovery curve, I mean, if we get back to 16% in Q2, how do you see that kind of exiting the year now as you're looking forward with what you know on the cost side?

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

I mean, ultimately, it's probably a little bit premature in terms of we still see enough volatility in inflation that we don't know the duration of what that chicken surcharge will ultimately be nor not necessarily what the chicken prices will be. What we do feel significant confidence in is the average unit volume growth and the fundamental demand of the brand and then the leverage that we're able to achieve throughout the balance of the P&L. When you look at that guidance for 16% restaurant level margin in Q2, it really the only reason is even below prior year is COGS. So as that inflation environment becomes more clear, that will allow us to have a better answer.

But in terms of the balance of the P&L, we could not -- we feel extremely strong with where we're having the ability to expand margins as COGS normalizes.

Todd Brooks -- The Benchmark Company -- Analyst

OK. Great. Thanks, Dave. And then a final, and this is a bigger picture one for you.

Looking at the improvements in the operating model, which have been certainly material over the last couple of years and the AUV growth. And you see the stock trading at kind of sub four times at least our forward EBITDA estimate. I guess the market is obviously not believing something -- what was that? I said obviously, the market is not believing something about kind of the recovery potential and what you're driving here. And you've got other properties being taken out at kind of eight to 10 times.

I guess what's your thought on the disconnect between the public market valuation Noodles and the kind of acquisition values that you're seeing of properties being taken out at eight to 10 times? And how do we unlock some of that value for the Noodles brand? Can we do it within the existing model? Is it a transaction? Is it capital allocation? Just how are you thinking about kind of where we sit right now.

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Well certainly, as a management team and as a board, we have regular dialogue around how we can best create shareholder value. I do feel that when you look at the disconnect between where our price is today, we recognize that the near-term pressures that we saw with Delta variant, as well as Omicron certainly caused a air pocket in the trajectory of this business. So while we absolutely look at what are -- what we can do to create shareholder value, we do believe first and foremost, is continue to open very high profitable, high return on investment, new units, launch LEANguini and the new Uncommon Goodness brand platform show that continued average unit volume momentum and margin momentum, and that is our first priority. But certainly, it is something we look at in terms of best ways to create shareholder value.

Todd Brooks -- The Benchmark Company -- Analyst

OK. Thanks for that. And then the final one for me. Kind of the real estate opening environment.

I know you've been back half loaded by plans, and you got the seven opened in the first quarter. Can you just talk about the environment for equipment, for materials? And are you seeing at least the supply chain side of construction loosen up to give you enhanced confidence in hitting the full 35 for the year?

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, we have strong confidence in the overall pipeline, Todd. We're not seeing the material availability issues that we had seen during 2021. You are still seeing some challenges in terms of confidence in the timing of landlord delivery, particularly of new builds. That's the reason why we still want to be cautious with the timing of the restaurants, not the number, but the timing of restaurants in 2022, but overall availability actually is very strong.

Our 2023 pipeline is well above where we were last year in terms of several units that have already gone through lease, as well as the number of LOIs that are active significantly higher than where we were last year at this time. So continue to have strong confidence. It's not the best environment, but as people are pulling back, we actually see it as even greater opportunity.

Todd Brooks -- The Benchmark Company -- Analyst

OK. Great. Thanks, Dave, I appreciate it.

Operator

And thank you. And we have a follow-up question from Jake Bartlett from Truist Securities. Your line is now open.

Jake Bartlett -- Truist Securities -- Analyst

Hi. Great. Thank you. And I just wanted to ask this question on a public forum, so we don't miss it.

But Carl, could you give us what the traffic and the mix was in the quarter?

Carl Lukach -- Chief Financial Officer

Sure. So as I look at the total comp, I'm talking company for Q1, comp was 5.3% and then the pricing for the quarter was about 7.5%. So there was a slight decline in traffic year over year as you think about the comparable, particularly in March and with the Omicron impact that we had in the earlier part of the quarter.

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, and mix relatively negligible. As a reminder, the way that we account for traffic, Jake, is not pure transaction count, it's actually a number of entrees sold. So as we see still digital business, as you saw, still incredibly strong, even as we start seeing return to in-restaurant, we've already accounted for -- we already account for entrees in terms of traffic counts. So one reason why overall mix shift pretty negligible in Q1.

Jake Bartlett -- Truist Securities -- Analyst

Great. Thanks. And then one -- actually, one other question on the pricing we expect -- on the menu pricing you expect in the second quarter, and that includes the $1 surcharge. You mentioned that 50% of orders get chicken.

So I guess 50% of the orders we get a $1 surcharge. So that seems like a pretty big price increase built into that. So the question is, if you could disaggregate that 10% for us, what is the surcharge impact in that? And then what other -- I believe you expected to take just menu pricing on the rest of the menu in the second quarter anyway. So just what size of increase there? And then also just what you expect pricing to be in the third and the fourth quarter, maybe assuming no other pricing actions taken.

So how things roll off and what we should expect for pricing in the third and the fourth quarter?

Carl Lukach -- Chief Financial Officer

Sure, happy to. So first, there's two pricing actions we're taking in the second quarter. The first is the $1 surcharge and the second is an anticipated 3.5% increase, which we're taking next week on our core items. With that 3.5%, which we anticipated and we spoke about last quarter, that was going to take us at pricing just below 10%.

So our guidance to pricing being just above 10% now includes that $1 surcharge. And that surcharge, it's onetime in nature and the financial impact for pricing, but also the financial impact of the P&L is really going to be subject to the timing. So from a financial impact perspective, it really is dependent on if there's any change in guest behavior or there's a mix shift into any other protein. We've only been live with that for about a week and encouragingly, we have not seen any major shift into any other protein.

So overall, encouraged by that so far. And then in terms of the back half of the year, anticipate no further pricing actions. Again, we are looking at this as a relationship to the inflationary pressure on the business in the first half. So without any further pricing increases, that should step down nicely to probably around 7.5% for the full year.

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. And obviously, a very dynamic situation. And just to clarify as well, if you're trying to bridge between the 7.5% price in Q1 versus the expectations for Q2, also keep in mind, we will roll off some nominal price from prior year. Hence why the non-surcharge price is still a little bit below 10.

Jake Bartlett -- Truist Securities -- Analyst

Great. Thank you very much.

Operator

And thank you. And our next question comes from Nicole Miller from Piper Sandler. Your line is now open. And pardon me, and it looks like that line may have dropped.

I would now like to go ahead and turn the call over to Dave Boennighausen for closing remarks.

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Justin, and nicely done with the pronunciation. In closing, we certainly can't ignore the current inflationary environment, but I'll tell you, I've never been more convinced in our opportunity for Noodles to be a premier growth story in the restaurant industry. Momentum's accelerated meaningfully, staffing is back to pre-pandemic levels, and we've been continually strengthening new unit economic model. I'm really excited about the slate of initiatives we have for the balance of the year, headlined by LEANguini, as well as the launch of a new brand positioning.

And I look forward to sharing with you over upcoming earnings calls, our progress toward achieving those accelerated growth objectives. So thank you for your time today and stay safe.

Operator

[Operator signoff]

Duration: 53 minutes

Call participants:

Carl Lukach -- Chief Financial Officer

Dave Boennighausen -- Chief Executive Officer

Jake Bartlett -- Truist Securities -- Analyst

Andy Barish -- Jefferies -- Analyst

Andrew Strelzik -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Todd Brooks -- The Benchmark Company -- Analyst

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