The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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  • Alex Sukalski at Toppers Pizza in Mankato has pizza delivery boxes literally stacked to the ceiling to meet the Sunday Super Bowl demand. John Cross

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February 3, 2012

Pizza makers gearing up for big game Sunday

By Brian Ojanpa The Free Press

MANKATO —  

On Super Bowl Sunday the players won’t be the only ones taking a pounding.

Your neighborhood pizza purveyors expect major pummelings about 6:30 p.m. or so.

“At halftime it’ll hit hard. That’s when everyone wants pizza,” said Alex Hathaway, assistant manager of a Mankato Domino’s.

There are no fewer than 15 pizza outlets in Mankato/North Mankato, and for all it will be on all hands on deck.

Mike Markman of Pizza Hut said that store uses seven or eight drivers on a normal Sunday. This Sunday 12 or 13 will be in play on what Markman said is Pizza Hut’s busiest day of the year.

Nationally, that chain alone expects to sell more than 2 million pies. To put that into the perspective of goofy statistics, that’s 442 miles of pizza, enough to lap the Indianapolis Speedway 176 times.

Because Super Bowl Sundays are house-party intensive, per-household purchases on that day increase accordingly.

Nate Vierling of Little Caesars said the store’s everyday $5 pizzas lend themselves to bulk orders.

 He expects five to six pizzas per order on Sunday compared to two to three normally. And because the chain doesn’t deliver, he and his staff are preparing for a customer tsunami to come through the door in early evening.

Meantime, an employee at Toppers Pizza said although the Super Bowl  always results in a hefty sales day, she regards it as perhaps the store’s second-busiest day of the year along with St. Patrick’s Day. It’s busiest day? Halloween.

Then there’s the venerable Jake’s Stadium Pizza, for which Super Bowl Sunday is just another notch on its belt.

Owner Wally Boyer said that because Jake’s is primarily a sit-down pizzeria with a loyal clientele of weekend regulars who fill the place, this will be just another Sunday.

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