On Super Bowl Sunday, fewer Americans will head to large parties and bars because of the raging COVID-19 outbreak. Yet many will still be snacking and ordering meals — straight from their couch.
According to Frito-Lay’s U.S. Snack Index, 40 percent of Americans plan to snack more than they did during Super Bowl 2020. That means the Pepsi (PEP)-owned snack giant is shipping even more ahead of the game.
To meet this expected demand, Frito-Lay shipped more than 70 million pounds of snacks in the week leading up to the game. According to the company, salsa is most popular dip (42 percent) for the third year in a row, followed by cheese dips and spreads (38 percent each). French onion dip (33 percent) and guacamole (32 percent) rounded out the top 5.
Yet what’s football — especially the Super Bowl — without chicken wings?Despite a slow down in demand for finger foods throughout the pandemic, Buffalo Wild Wings, owned by Inspire Brands, hopes to capitalize on the mega event.
Last year, BWW sold more than 11 million wings during the big game; the most popular sauces that night were Honey BBQ, medium, mild, parmesan garlic and ‘Asian Zing.’ This year, the wing chain is upping the ante with special deals.
Should the Super Bowl go into overtime, the chicken wing giant is offering free wings for everyone in America. If the game ends in a tie after regulation, consumers in Canada and the U.S. can can redeem six free boneless or traditional wings at Buffalo Wild Wings on February 22 for just a few hours, through dine-in and in-person takeout only.
Wingstop (WING) is also expecting a “strong day” for the marquee event of professional sports, which pulled in over 100 million viewers last year.
Charlie Morrison, Wingstop CEO, told Yahoo Finance the company that because of the pandemic, “we may see more people and smaller transaction sizes as we expect gatherings to be smaller, but more widespread.”
Pizza giants are also gearing up to head into the arena during this unconventional Super Bowl Sunday.
Domino’s (DPZ) typically sells about 2 million pizzas for the big game, which is 30% more than a normal Sunday, and enough to span across 6,000 football fields.
Likening it to the AFC and NFC champs battling it out on field, “it takes focus, practice, a great player lineup and extra hustle to come through on game day,” Domino said in a release.
Pizza Hut (YUM) also gearing up for the big game. During Super LIV, the fast food giant sold nearly 1.5 million pizzas — twice as many than a typical Sunday — and some new offerings may help boost this year’s sales.
“Given our strong momentum fueled by the recent launch of our new Detroit Style Pizza and with more families staying home for the game this year, we’re expecting this to be one of our biggest Super Bowls ever in terms of sales,” Kevin Hochman, Pizza Hut U.S. Interim President told Yahoo Finance. Over 150,000 Pizza Hut workers “are gearing up across the country for the busiest pizza day of the year.”
Of course, no sporting event is complete without liquor. The beverage industry hopes consumers will say a toast to kick-off the game, and celebrate throughout.
“It's a very slow time of the year for us typically [so] the first quarter winter, the Super Bowl, football, the playoffs are really important,” Dan Kenary, Harpoon Brewery’s CEO, told Yahoo Finance in a recent interview.
Brooke DiPalma is a producer and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter at @BrookeDiPalma.
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