Super Bowl Sunday drives restaurant sales for pizza and chicken wings

Super Bowl Sunday is a big day for football and restaurants.

But the chains most likely to benefit from feeding hungry fans have already seen their sales soar during the coronavirus pandemic.

Thanksgiving alone tops Super Bowl Sunday as the biggest eating holiday, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. The big game last year attracted more than 100 million viewers. Non-soccer fans tune in to the NFL Championship for interesting commercials, an entertaining halftime show, and the food distributed at watch parties.

For Yum Brands Pizza Hut, Super Bowl Sunday is the busiest day of the year. Domino’s Pizza typically delivers about 2 million pies that day, 30% more than on a typical Sunday. Fat Brands, which owns the Hurricane Grill & Wings, Buffalo’s Cafe, and Buffalo’s Express locations, sells half a million chicken wings on Super Bowl Sundays. For Wingstop it is one of the top five sales days every year.

Throughout the pandemic, pizza and chicken wings were staples in Americans’ quarantine diet. Both are known for traveling well, and the category’s biggest players have been working on making their food easier for years.

In the fourth quarter, Pizza Hut reported same-store sales growth in the US of 8%. Domino’s saw double-digit sales growth at the same store in the US in the second and third quarters. And Wingstop, which already outperformed the rest of the industry’s sales growth before the crisis, reported that same-store sales increased 25% in the third quarter.

“If what we’ve just experienced over the past 12 months is any indication – beating the industry in sales – we expect it to continue next Sunday,” said Brian Gies, Church’s Chicken global chief marketing officer.

Church’s Chicken, which serves boneless chicken tenders and wings, launched its Texas Tenders’ N Shrimp meal this year in time for the Super Bowl to meet that demand. The menu item was created to appeal to customers observing Lent, which doesn’t start until February 17th.

Wingstop CEO Charlie Morrison said through a spokesman that the company still expects strong sales for the big game. However, compared to recent years, the chicken wing chain can receive more orders and a lower average check due to the smaller size of gatherings. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended minimizing guest lists for viewing parties and celebrations outdoors or virtually.

“I think it’s going to be a really big weekend for us, and I think sales will fall off the charts,” said Andy Wiederhorn, Fat Brands CEO.

The pandemic has also created supply chain challenges for the restaurant businesses waiting for a busy Super Bowl. Prices for mozzarella cheese have gone up, which will hit the profit of pizza chains. In the first week of February, Wisconsin wholesale prices for a pound of mozzarella cheese soared to $ 2.70, according to the United States Department of Agriculture report released Wednesday. In February 2019, mozzarella prices averaged about $ 2.15 per pound.

Chicken wing chains are under even more pressure. Wholesale prices have gone up and restaurant managers are reporting shortages.

Wiederhorn said the company usually sees a tight supply at this time of year anyway.

“The only time it wasn’t a fight was when McDonald’s entered the chicken wing business, like seven or eight years ago, and it failed miserably. They threw all the wings in the market because they had to get rid of them,” Wiederhorn said.

As a result, Fat Brands is starting to plan its orders for the Super Bowl wing a year in advance. But the supply problem is particularly serious this year, due to outbreaks at meat processing plants and increased demand for chicken wings as a result of higher supply sales for the category. Fat Brands is bringing in some frozen chicken wings in addition to its usual supply of fresh wings.