Operator
Good afternoon and welcome to today's Noodles & Company's first-quarter 2021 earnings conference call. [Operator instructions] I would now introduce Noodles & Company's chief financial officer, Carl Lukach. You may begin.
Carl Lukach --
Chief Financial Officer
Thank you and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our first-quarter 2021 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 performance of our company. As such, any such items, including details relating to our future performance 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 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 2020 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.