One menu item brought 156,000 new customers to Noodles & Company. Now it’s making a big change

Fast casual chain Noodles & Company is about as far from an authentic izakaya as it gets, but it’s confident you’ll want to eat ramen there anyway. The cuisine-agnostic noodle chain serves everything from carbonara and mac and cheese to pad thai, but now it’s betting big on the Japanese casual dining staple. The company just announced that ramen would earn a permanent category on its menu following the success of a limited-time chili garlic ramen menu item last year. Noodles & Company...