Opinions abound as to why the sight of men grappling over a pigskin on the gridiron attracts and inspires so many. But restaurateurs know with certainty that the August arrival of football season delivers a sales bonanza made even better with the beginning of bowl season in December.
The drama brought on by such football finality makes people hungry and eager to socialize with likeminded fans, and simple afternoons in front of the TV with family morph into game day carryout and delivery feasts with friends. Others get up and go out to restaurants and bars where they join a crowd as busy cheering as chewing.
“Football’s great for us, so we offer an extended happy hour every Monday night when the season’s on,” says Brian Renn, executive bar manager at 20-unit Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que. Based in Long Beach, Calif., the company sees sales spike when UCLA and USC teams land bowl bids. “There’s a definite bump in traffic, and we hear lots of guest requests for those games to be turned on” the TV.
In addition to extending happy hour prices through game time, Lucille’s conducts social media campaigns to push to-go sales of its Barbecue Feasts for four to 10 people.
“There are a lot of groups eating those days,” Renn says.
At Atlanta-based Wing Zone, the college bowl season makes for great training in preparation for the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl. Many of its 100 units are located near college campuses, and they are always busy on game days, the chain says.
“But Super Bowl is our busiest day of the year, crazy busy,” says Dan Corrigan, marketing manager for the delivery-centered fried wing and chicken sandwich chain. “Sales to Millennials are strong during college games, but sales really rise for NFL games at our residential stores.”
Introduced this fall is Wing Zone’s Flavorholic Survival Kit that consists of 25 original or boneless wings served with a jumbo order of Flavor Rub Fries, dressings for dipping and a 2-liter cola product for $25.99. A new spicy flavor is set to launch at the beginning college bowl season, along with a beverage promotion to boost drink transactions.
Corrigan says the chain will use social media to encourage customers to guess game scores in order to win free wings and T-shirts during NFL games.
“We always want them thinking about us when a game is on,” he says.
To lure people in for smoky ribs during football season, Tony Roma’s corporate units let guests enjoy happy hour prices if they wear their favorite team’s apparel to the restaurant. According to media and communications manager Jay Winborne, that includes $4 bar snacks, $6 to $9 appetizer prices and about half price on select beers.
“We know that when you think of Tony Roma’s, football doesn’t always jump into your head,” Winborne says. So the Orlando, Fla.-based 150-unit chain is promoting the use of its private dining rooms as zones where fans can become fanatics without disturbing other guests. “You can close the doors and be as loud as you want. You get the fun atmosphere of being in a sports bar but in a place where you can take your family.”
Not surprisingly, Minneapolis-based Buffalo Wild Wings is pulling out all of the stops for football bowl season. Dubbed the “Official Hangout for NCAA Sports,” the 1,045-unit chain introduced its GameBreak multi-platform game experience this fall. GameBreak allows guests to engage the brand and earn points through question-and-answer challenges on sports trivia and what’s happening during live events.
Prizes as large as $10,000 are awarded to guests who accumulate the most points for correct answers in a season. But come bowl season, the stakes soar. The guest who correctly predicts the winners of all 39 college bowl games wins $1 million.
According to Bob Ruhland, vice president of North America marketing for BWW, the chain will add excitement to the million-dollar challenge with multiple new food and drink offers.
“We break up the year into engagement zones, and bowl season kicks off the beginning” of that calendar, Ruhland says. “Many come to us for wings, but we also have to have something for the non-wing eating public.”
Though he could not provide details in advance of the January rollout, he says new Healthy Starts menu items will be introduced alongside a new lineup of mixed drinks.
“We sell a lot of beer, but mixed drinks are becoming big,” Ruhland says. “We’ll activate around those items during bowl season.”