Buffalo Wild Wings’ promotions aimed at football fans and the happy-hour crowd drove positive results in the third quarter, company executives said in an earnings call on Thursday.

The 795-unit Minneapolis-based chain, whose net income rose 32.5 percent for the Sept. 25-ended quarter, logged same-store sales increases of 5.7 percent in company-owned stores and 4.2 percent at franchised locations.

Chief executive Sally Smith said the start of the National Football League season, as well as an Ultimate Wings lunch promotion and happy-hour and late-night drink and appetizer specials, boosted traffic and sales.

A rush of traffic, sales

The chain kicked off the pro-football season with more fantasy football draft parties than it had hosted in previous years, Smith said. The brand reprised its “Tablegating” campaign on Sept. 5 and is running a social-media challenge all season on the location-based platform SCVNGR.

Smith and chief financial officer Mary Twinem said Buffalo Wild Wings’ marketing spending would increase “significantly” in the fourth quarter due to higher same-store sales from the first three quarters of the year bolstering the chain’s marketing budget. The brand will advertise on television for an additional week this October, and will run cable ads in November, and radio and TV ads in December for the first time.

The chain’s happy-hour and late-night specials of $3 appetizers and featured mixed drinks drove value perceptions and traffic, the executives said, and the resulting mix shift eroded margins only slightly while still contributing to the bottom line.