Two of the biggest pizza days collide to equal huge sales opportunity for pizzerias
Super Bowl Sunday and National Pizza Day happening this weekend. On Sunday, February 9, Americans will flock to pizzerias for not one, but two occasions. Super Bowl Sunday has long been one of the busiest sales days, if not the busiest day, for pizzerias. With the popularity of National Pizza Day, the holiday has also provided a huge boost for pizza sales and could mean even more sales on top of the Super Bowl sales.
What happens when the two giant pizza sales days collide? It could mean record-breaking sales for those prepared and operational meltdowns for those who haven’t planned ahead.
What We Know About February 9th
Super Bowl LIX
The 2025 Super Bowl LIX will kick off at 6:30 p.m. EST from the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Kendrick Lamar will headline the Halftime Show. Check out more on Super Bowl LIX.
Who is playing in Super Bowl 2025?
The Philadelphia Eagles will face the Kansas City Chiefs.
National Pizza Day
It’s the day to celebrate America’s favorite food. National Pizza Day is the biggest single day food holiday in the pizza industry. While for pizza pros, everyday is National Pizza Day, February 9 is an opportunity to showcase a pizzeria’s unique pizza in the local community.
What do you do with the two massive pizza sales days?
There are a few approaches to take with your promotions that will allow you to capitalize on one or both marketing opportunities.
- You could focus on either Super Bowl or National Pizza Day promotions. If you go this route, I recommend reviewing your sales history for both occasions, as well as tracking Sunday patterns and peaks, to decide which will be the most profitable for you.
- If you promote both occasions, you could focus National Pizza Day marketing efforts on the lunch daypart and Super Bowl marketing on dinner. This would give you an opportunity to stagger the rushes and allow for a possible rebound midday.
- Or you can promote both and expect to be slammed all day long. You could market both and gear up for potential record-breaking sales.
Regardless of which you choose to promote, your customers are being inundated with social posts and news about the Super Bowl and National Pizza Day, so they may shift your plan based on their buying preferences. When it comes to customer turnout, the X factor could be the weather in many parts of the country. Keep an eye on forecasts in your area.
Promotions Note: Commercial use of trademarked terms is a no-no, including Super Bowl. I had to go way back in our article archive (it’s time revisit the subject in an upcoming Pizza Today issue), but “That’s right — the term “Super Bowl” isn’t free to use. For that matter, neither is “March Madness,” “Olympics” or “World Series.” Don’t think about using a professional team name in your advertising either, Paioff says. “Some restaurants may do a ‘congratulations’ ad with their team’s name, thinking that’s okay,” she explains. “But it’s still using the name without permission, and if a trademark owner really wanted to, they could take legal action.” Go to the full article: Avoiding Trademark Trouble in Advertising.
How to plan for Super Bowl Sunday and National Pizza Day happening the same day
Could February 9th be the perfect storm of pizza fans all ordering at the same time? Or is there crossover between the two groups celebrating? There is no doubt Sunday, February 9th pizzerias across the country will see a bump in pizza sales.
Michael Androw, owner of E & D Pizza Company in Avon, Connecticut, says “There are two main principles that we want to keep in mind throughout this entire process, and those are ‘speed’ and ‘efficiency’.” Mike penned a great article on how to effectively prepare for the pizza industry’s biggest days. Read Prepping for the 5 Busiest Pizza Days.
Preparing for a February 9th Record Breaker Checklist
This is your over three-weeks out warning! You should be rolling through your February 9th checklist. In case, you need help, we’ve pulled together a sampling of the things you’ll want to consider adding to your list. Many of these items should be done at least two weeks before February 9th. Here is a quick checklist of some of the operational areas to focus on:
- Crunch the numbers for projected sales based on sales history and forecasting.
- Evaluate your menu. Do you want to roll with the entire menu or offer a condensed menu to expedite your kitchen efficiency?
- What are your February 9th promotions, specials, packages and celebration details? It’s time to start getting the word out to your fans, giving them the first opportunity to mark the occasion with you. Then you go after other markets and media.
- How will people order? Will you keep all lines of ordering open? Or, go preorder only a portion or all of the day? Will you pause third-party ordering at any point? How will you stagger ticket times? Plan for the time when your kitchen is extremely backed up on orders. What will you do?
- Conduct a thorough inventory and supplies check to make sure you can handle that day’s rushes, as well as the days surrounding it.
- Make adjustments to your standard inventory sheet based on your estimated sales increase projections and inventory findings.
- Don’t wait until it is time to reorder products. Talk to your vendors now about your must-have items. (If they can’t fulfill them, have a backup plan and make sure you’re stocked.) Don’t wait until the Wednesday before the Super Bowl to find out that your vendor can’t fill your chicken wing or pepperoni order.
- This is an “all hands on deck” day. Plan your Staffing Schedule well in advance. Don’t be afraid to overstaff. Your crew will be needed.
- Hold a team meeting to go through how you will execute this day to create an effective and efficient operation amid the rush. Let them know how you will support them when the rush hits.
- Stock up on your non-perishables well in advance and know where you are stocking the overflow. This includes extra storage containers for dough, makeline and prep lines that will include, in many cases, double or triple the amount of backups.
- Mark tasks that can be done in advance of February 9 and start adding them to daily checklists. Also have a plan for where you will store the items like folded pizza boxes and such until the day.
- In accordance with optimal food freshness, plan out how and when your team will begin stocking the fresh prepped perishable items. Make a list of what you will need and when the team will do things like dough making, cheese shredding, cutting vegetables and all of the abundance of food prep. You must take into account your cold storage capacity.
There are many other tasks that need to be completed. This should help get you thinking about your lists. So take time now to plan for Super Bowl Sunday and National Pizza Day on February. Good luck and we will be following along on your social channels. Share all the fun with us on social.