Super Bowl Weekend Local Sales Playbook
Super Bowl weekend represents one of the biggest revenue opportunities of the year for local businesses, yet many owners miss crucial tactics that separate sold-out success from empty seats. This playbook compiles proven strategies from restaurant operators and retail experts who have mastered the art of capitalizing on game day traffic. These five actionable moves will help you maximize sales from the moment customers start planning their weekend through the final whistle.
Drive Rush With Google Updates
For Super Bowl weekend, we just updated our client's Google profile to highlight 'open now' and added a 'game day pickup' deal. That was it. Foot traffic during the pre-game rush jumped. Here's my takeaway: a timely offer plus a quick local search update gets people through the door. Being easy to find right when people are looking is what matters.
End Happy Hour at Kickoff
Here's what worked for us at Zinfandel Grille. We ran a game-day happy hour that ended exactly at kickoff, promoted with simple texts and table tents. Bar sales tripled. My advice? Make sure your team knows the cutoff is sharp, keep the message simple, and staff up for the last-minute rush before the game starts.
Set Noon Cutoff Text Your List
For venues I've advised, the Super Bowl plan that's worked best is "lock in pre-orders, then fill in with walk-ins".
The offer that's moved same-day sales most is a simple "Game Day Pack" bundle, not a long menu. One price, feeds a set number of people, very few choices (for example: wings, 1-2 pizza options, 1 side, drinks). It cuts decision time and lets the kitchen batch everything.
The key lever has been a hard pre-order cutoff around 12pm local time on game day. The message is blunt: "Order by 12pm to lock in your pick-up time and avoid the wait." That deadline gives people a reason to act now, but still feels late enough for most groups to organise.
In the last 48 hours, SMS to the existing customer list has been the workhorse. Short text, one clear link to a bare-bones order page, and then a single reminder a few hours before the cutoff. Email and social still run, but SMS is what tends to spike orders because people are already out, on their phones, planning where to watch.
On staffing, the most useful change has been splitting the team for the 3-4 hours before kickoff: one crew only handles pre-order production; a separate crew handles pick-ups, phones and walk-ins. When I've seen venues mix those roles, they get bottlenecks, missed orders and poor reviews later.
Where venues went from "no set Super Bowl offer" to this bundle + SMS push + midday cutoff + split roles, I've seen same-day revenue land roughly 20-40% higher than the previous year. The jump hasn't come from more seats, just higher average order value and faster throughput.
Push Platter Special and Add Staff
In my case, one of the local marketing and staffing strategies I effectively used during the Super Bowl weekend was to give a one-time promotion during the game day. A special was introduced: Game Day Platter, via which we offered a sampler of the most popular appetizers at a reduced price. This was an enticing offer that was marketed on social media and local email newsletters in order to create buzz prior to the event.
In order to have a smooth running, I also thought about staffing by incorporating more members of staff during the busy times, especially just before the kick-off. This tactic not only improved the speed of service but also the atmosphere of a more welcoming environment to the customers. We enjoyed massive boosted sales on the game day, where we had a boost of 30 percent compared to a normal Sunday. I think that swift, captivating promotions with sufficient staffing can be effective in maximizing same day sales and facilitating an enjoyable experience for the customers, which will eventually lead to them being loyal to our establishment.
Launch Halftime Flash Sale for Collectors
Our shop is pretty niche, but we once ran a 'Touchdown Treasure' flash sale on our fantasy swords during the Super Bowl halftime. We posted on Instagram and Discord to move fast, giving our community first dibs for just two hours. From my retail days, I've learned that simple offers with a hard deadline make an event feel special. It actually worked, we got a nice bump in orders from both new collectors and our regulars.
