A well-liked restaurant chain’s inventory value has dropped so considerably that it may very well be axed from the inventory market.

Noodles & Firm’s share value dropped beneath $1 as the corporate faces closing the doorways of its 471 eating places throughout 31 states.

The corporate had been trying to claw again earnings in 2024 below new CEO Drew Madsen who refreshed the menu and shut 20 underperforming eating places in addition to slicing jobs on the firm’s primary workplace to save cash.

Nevertheless, gross sales plummeted by 3.3 % within the third quarter in comparison with 2023 totaling a lack of $6.8million.

It has since been warned by Nasdaq regulators that it’s not complying with the principles requiring a minimal closing bid value of $1 per share.

The inventory had been buying and selling beneath that threshold for 30 consecutive enterprise days.

Noodles & Firm has till June 23 to extend its share value or face being delisted after its inventory plunged 80 % in 2024.

Its present inventory value is a mere 71 cents, above its 52-week low of 55 cents.

Fears are rising that the corporate may very well be following within the footsteps of many different chains like, Purple Lobster.

Purple Lobster, the informal eating chain that introduced seafood to the lots with innovations like popcorn shrimp and “countless” seafood offers, filed for chapter in Might final 12 months earlier than exiting in September.

A U.S. chapter choose authorized the informal seafood chain’s reorganization plan earlier this month, which included a lender group led by asset supervisor Fortress Funding Group buying the enterprise.

The inexperienced gentle arrives below simply 4 months after Purple Lobster filed for chapter safety because it pursued a sale, following years of mounting losses and dwindling prospects whereas it struggled to maintain up with rivals.

The Orlando, Florida-based chain, which misplaced $76 million in 2023, shuttered dozens of its North American eating places over latest months — each main as much as and through the chapter course of.

That included greater than 50 areas whose gear was put up for public sale simply days earlier than the Chapter 11 petition, adopted by further closures all through the chapter course of.

Purple Lobster’s new CEO is Damola Adamolekun, former chief govt of P.F. Chang’s. Adamolekun was beforehand appointed to go RL Investor Holdings, the newly fashioned entity that acquired Purple Lobster.

He beforehand mentioned that the corporate’s long-term funding plan included a dedication of greater than $60 million in new funding.

“Purple Lobster is now a stronger, extra resilient firm, and at present is the beginning of a brand new chapter in our historical past,” Adamolekun mentioned in an announcement.

Purple Lobster is now an unbiased, privately-held firm with 545 restaurant areas in 44 states and 4 Canadian provinces.