PASTA RESTAURANT CHAIN COMING TO REGION.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer

Oodles of noodles are heading to Los Angeles under a deal announced Monday that will bring 56 restaurants specializing in various pasta dishes to the area in the next seven years.

Boulder, Colo.-based Noodles & Co. named Great Circle Management LLC of Los Angeles as franchisee for its restaurants in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties. Great Circle developed the Krispy Kreme franchise in Southern California.

The Boulder firm's Noodles & Company restaurants are noted for their quick-casual atmosphere and fare. The menu features Asian and Mediterranean noodle dishes and American comfort food.

Roger Glickman, a principal of Great Circle, said he hopes to open the first Southern California restaurant before next summer and that the San Fernando Valley will be one of the markets.

``We're trying to locate in areas that have good daily retail traffic patterns that are convenient to a large daytime population and a residential population,'' Glickman said.

The Valley could accommodate multiple restaurants, he said.

Each restaurant will measure between 2,200 and 2,400 square feet and will employ about 40 workers, he said.

The restaurants will typically be stand-alone facilities in shopping centers anchored by a bookstore or upscale market like a Whole Foods, Glickman said. Beer and wine will be served and the focus will be on dining in, though take-out orders will be offered.

Great Circle will operate the Noodles & Company restaurants in California under an entity known as A.O. One, which stands for area operator one, and Glickman will be its chief executive officer. The company already has 23 Krispy Kreme stores and will open three more by year's end.

Ken Keymer, Noodles & Co.'s co-CEO, said he was impressed with Great Circle's Krispy Kreme operations, the largest in the country.

``They have set the bar for franchising excellence,'' he said.

Since both companies are privately held, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Keymer also said the similarities between the two companies' cultures and values were critical to the partnership. This is Noodles & Co.'s first franchise arrangement.

``Franchise relationships last longer, and once you're in them are harder to get out of, than marriage,'' Keymer said.

Noodles & Co. was formed in 1995, and its first store opened in Denver. The company will have 76 restaurants open by the week's end; it operates in Virginia, Maryland, Minnesota, Illinois, Colorado, Wisconsin, Utah and Texas.

Keymer said the average customer's tab is in the $6.75 to $7 range. And he knows Southern California is a competitive market.

``Everybody that takes a dollar from someone who goes out to eat is our competition,'' he said.

Jack Kyser, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said this is a bold play by the Colorado company and that it will be challenged on several counts - like intense competition and finding good locations.

``It's very ambitious,'' Kyser said. ``A lot of time you see people come in with restaurant concepts that have been successful elsewhere but ... don't quite cut the mustard here in Southern California.''

Gregory J. Wilcox, [phone]

greg.wilcox(at)dailynews.com