Are you ready for some football?
By Staff
Mike Self, FCT Sports Editor
Super Bowl Sunday is here and while millions of Americans will be gathered around their televisions, millions more will be hovering over their pizza ovens, trying to feed the frenzied masses.
"We see our business increase about 25 percent on Super Bowl Sunday," Five Star Pizza manager Tim Sage said.
Five Star will have three delivery drivers standing by tonight to serve the customer increase.
Many businesses offer special pricing to lure football fanatics, and pizza places are no different. Still, there is one fan favorite that Sage feels confident will walk out the door tonight several times.
"The most popular pizza is our Superstar pizza with everything on it," Sage said.
And while the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts slug it out in Miami, Sage and Five Star Pizza will be giving back to the community.
Five Star is hosting a canned food drive to benefit the Faith Mission Outreach. Beginning today, everyone who brings in a canned food item for the Faith Mission will receive a free order of cinnamon sticks with their pizza purchase, Sage said.
The canned food drive will be an ongoing event until Feb. 14. All items will be taken to the Mission on Valentine's Day as a love offering to our community.
Sage's mother, Barbara, is also getting her Girl Scout troop involved in the project.
"I want my girls to be community service minded, so this is a great opportunity for the girls to be of service," Barbara said.
The sandwhich crowd
Not everybody orders pizza on Super Sunday. Some prefer to munch on a sub sandwich while they watch the big game.
"We probably see an increase in sales of about three to four hundred dollars [on Super Bowl Sunday]," said Pat Willingham, manager of the local Subway store.
"Most people place their order between noon and about 3 p.m. I guess they're planning those last-minute parties, and they want to be able to pick everything up and be back home by the time the game starts."
Willingham said that most orders on Super Bowl Sunday are for one of two items.
"Some people order one of our big sandwiches, and other people like to get the party platters," she said. "It's pretty much an even split between those two."
The do-it yourself crowd
The football fans that chose not to order out for their Super Bowl spread have hit local grocery stores harder than Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher hopes to hit Colts quarterback Peyton Manning in tonight's big game.
"We've had a good week," Assistant manager of Big Star Grocery, John Cook said. "It's been busy."
Cook said the annual rush typically hits the Friday before the big game but noted there has been a steady stream of shoppers leaving in droves with party food.
"Our big sellers are frozen pizzas, chips, dips, Chex Mix, any type of party food," he said. "We plan shipments months in advance with our vendors just so we don't run out."
Planning, Cook said is the key to not running out of food before the big game.
"Statistics show that more food is eaten at Super Bowl parties that any holiday," he said. "I couldn't believe it. I would have thought it would have been Christmas or Thanksgiving, but I don't guess that's so."
Note: Melissa Dozier-Cason and Jason Cannon contributed to this report.
