Super Bowl Festivities to Inflate USA Frozen Food Sales

The big game and big parties are about to begin. As the clock ticks down for the February 1 Super Bowl XLIX football extravaganza in Arizona between the defending champion Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots, America is preparing to kick off its second biggest food feasting occasion of the year. And producers of frozen pizza, chicken wings and lots of other things will score big time!

So who in frozen food business is concerned about the continuing controversy over the use of deflated footballs (AKA “Inflate-Gate”) during the AFC championship game in which the Patriots triumphed over the Colts in a lopsided 45-7 romp? Not those suppliers who stand to reap the rewards of inflated sales on Super Sunday. Well, maybe with the exception of a few from the Indianapolis area.

While Thanksgiving ranks highest as a heavy-duty communal dining occasion in the USA, a recent survey conducted by submarine sandwich chain Blimpie reveals that 41% of Americans actually consume more calories on Super Bowl Sunday than is the case on Turkey Day. Furthermore, 93% of the respondents host house parties and 33% spend $250 or more on the bash.

Those who stock up on eats from Aldi will spend a lot less, according to the discount grocery store chain. Its current advertising flyer boasts: “You can throw a better big game party for under $40 at Aldi.”

It doesn’t say how many guests that tariff will cover, but does list reduced prices for many items, including a 16-ounce pack of Appleton Farms Pulled Pork for $3.99, a box of Mama Cozzi’s Pepperoni or Combination Pizza Snacks for $2.29, and a 16-inch Take & Bake Supreme Pizza (topped with sausage, pepperoni, peppers, tomatoes, onions, mushroom and a five-cheese blend) for only $4.99.

The Aldi deal does not budget for beer. Super Bowl fans will reportedly buy 50 million cases of the amber fluid to wash down their chow on Sunday, a day when Domino’s pizza delivery crews are expected to drive four million miles to fill orders from coast to coast.

However, slow pizza delivery services can annoyingly interfere with consumers’ plans during the most important football faceoff of the season. Indeed, during the 2014 Super Bowl, pizza dominated food conversations, with 93% of nearly 40,000 pizza-related tweets during the big game focusing on excessive delivery wait times, according to research from DiGiorno, North America’s leading frozen pizza brand.

That’s why the Solon, Ohio-headquartered Nestlé USA company says it is helping party planners around the nation this year prepare to have the best game day party ever with its hot, fresh-baked and always-on-time DiGiorno pizza – a practice referred to as “PreGiorno.”

Forty-eight percent of consumers preparing for game day festivities cited food as a top party-planning stress factor last year, but tackling party preparation doesn’t have to be hard. With a little pre-game shopping and easy-to-bake DiGiorno pizzas, the manufacturer says that they can leave game-day stress on the sidelines.

“We know that the main goal of any host is to throw a successful party, and that means preparing with a proper game plan,” said Todd Macsuga, director of marketing for Nestlé Pizza. “When you ‘PreGiorno’, you’re ready to serve DiGiorno pizzas baked up hot and fresh in your own oven.”

Red Baron Offers Rival Recipes
The Red Baron will be flying high on game day. Marketers for the frozen pizza brand produced by Marshall, Minnesota-headquartered Schwan Food Company have been having a good deal of pre-game fun on their Facebook page by dishing out suggestions about how to pump up culinary competition among football fans. A recent post reads:

“It’s almost game time. The final recipe showdown is a battle of East vs. West. Our New England Shrimp Chowder Pizza hopes to #deflate the hopes and dreams of Seattle’s Surf & Turf. Which recipe do you think will come out on top?”

Patriot fans may cheer for the following:

New England Shrimp Chowder Pizza
Ingredients:

• 1 Red Baron Classic Cheese Pizza
• 10-12 small Shrimp, raw (51/60 count)
• 3 slices of thick cut apple wood smoked bacon, raw, cut into 1 inch segments
• ½ small sweet onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 stalk of celery, thinly sliced
• 2 small Yukon potatoes, cut into thin slices
• ½ cup cheddar cheese, white, shredded
• Fresh thyme
• Old bay seasoning to taste
• salt and black pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Preheat your oven to 375°F
2. Place a pan over medium high heat
3. Add the bacon and cook until crisp. Remove to paper towels to drain; set aside. 
4. Turn heat to med low and Sauté celery and onion in the bacon fat until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the potatoes, salt, pepper and thyme
5. Continue until the potatoes are tender
6. Add the shrimp, Old Bay seasoning and cook for 3 minutes
7. Remove pan from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes
8. Arrange the shrimp chowder mixture and bacon to the top of the Red Baron Classic Cheese Pizza
9. Top with white cheddar
10. Bake until the cheese begins to brown and is fully melted in the center, about 20-22 minutes
11. Remove from oven and finish with chopped thyme

Seattle Surf & Turf Pizza
“You can’t really do a Seahawk’s-inspired pizza without visiting the sea,” says Red Barron’s kitchen quarterback. “In this nod to Seattle’s Puget Sound, our chefs paired popcorn shrimp with apple wood smoked bacon, roasted bell peppers and Washington’s classic Walla Walla sweet onions.”

The recipe follows…

Ingredients:

• 1 Red Baron Classic Cheese Pizza
• 10-12 Shrimp, raw (51/60 count)
• 6 slices of thick cut apple wood smoked bacon, raw, cut into one-inch segments
• ½ sweet onion, thinly sliced
• 1 bell pepper, large dice

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F
2. Place a pan over medium high heat
3. Add bacon and cook for 6-8 minutes
4. As the bacon begins to render, add the onion and bell peppers and cook till the onion are browned
5. Add the shrimp and cook for 1 minute. (shrimp will finish cooking on top of the pizza)
6. Remove pan from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes
7. Arrange the shrimp, bacon, onions and peppers mixture to the top of the Red Baron Classic Cheese Pizza
8. Bake until the cheese begins to brown and is fully melted in the center, about 20-22 minutes

Wings Over America
The Red Baron won’t be alone flying high on February 1. Chicken Wing sales will soar astronomically as 1.23 billion of them are expected to be eaten at Super Bowl parties. If laid out end-to-end, they would stretch across the United States more than 25 times.

While some folks will take the trouble to fry or bake their own wings, frozen food specialists such as Tyson, T.G.I. Friday’s and Farm Rich will make short work of the job for consumers with their microwaveable and quick oven-bake offerings.

Tyson’s Buffalo Hot Wings and assortment of Any’tizers snacks will be on hand at lots of game day gatherings, as will T.F.I. Fridays Crispy Chicken Wings and Farm Rich Bone-in Chicken Wings and Boneless Bites.

The list of frozen, easy-to-prepare treats goes on and on – from shrimp corn dogs and shrimp cocktails to mozzarella cheese sticks, french fries, bagels, onion rings, spinach and artichoke dips, macaroni and cheese, meatballs, sausage and burgers. While most of the food fare will be enjoyed indoors, there will be plenty of tailgate parties where the weather permits. Indeed, more than 14 million burgers are expected to be grilled, many of them outdoors.

Let’s not forget ice cream, cakes and other sweet treats. Pennsauken, New Jersey-based J&J Snack Foods’ OREO® Churros will be sold at concession stands throughout the University of Phoenix Stadium during the Super Bowl. Distributed to foodservice operators in frozen form, they are served up warm as traditional sticks, double-twisted or in bite-size portions.

While the frozen food industry will take a nice piece of the action from the USA’s biggest sports spectacle of the year and the battle royale for share of stomach, who will be the biggest winner overall? Players on the Seahawks or Patriots football team, one of which will come out on top to be the National Football League champion? Perhaps.

Or just maybe it will be those who split proceeds raked in from TV commercials shown during the game, as advertisers pay up to $4.5 million per 30-second spot in the creative competition for eye balls. Now that’s a super ball game, and a number of leading food and beverage companies are in the running! – Reported by John Saulnier