On the day of the Big Game, everyone seems to turn into a football fan for at least one day. Here is a host of tips and best practices for all store departments to help you impress shoppers and give them the best game day possible.
The Big Game is second only to Thanksgiving as the largest food holiday of the year. Last year, about 127.7 million people watched the event — snacking before, during and after the game. Some of the most popular items devoured include:
- More than 64.9 million avocados
- 1.47 billion chicken wings
- More than 8 million pounds of tortilla chips and 11 million pounds of potato chips
- Nearly 30 million pounds of cheese
NCG offers resources that can help you prep for the national food frenzy and help shoppers get ready to celebrate with food. Simplicity is key. Customers are looking for snacks that are easy to prepare, serve and transport. Get your game day playbook ready and avoid a last-minute scramble.
- Cross-merchandising is a great way to get shoppers thinking about food ideas for the upcoming game. Complete workbooks of endcap planners are available for each month, too.
- Get shoppers in the mood with game day promotional materials. Posters with inviting food photography, table tents, recipe cards and party menu planners help to create in-store excitement. If your store makes its own promotional materials, you can use NCG’s proprietary game day food photos; contact us for details.
- You can make your customers’ mouths water before they even enter the store by sharing Game Day Food recipes from the grocery.coop website. Also share our Game Day Entertaining article for a guide to planning and preparing party food.
For co-op teams looking to score big game day sales, check out this department specific guidance.
Produce
Game day festivities in the produce department are centered on that superstar known as the avocado. Industry reports show that the Big Game generates the highest volume point of the entire year for avocado sales. Well-prepared teams will be set up for a blowout weekend for selling produce!
- Ensure you have ripe and ready-to-eat avocados available the entire weekend, starting on Friday morning through the start of the Big Game on Sunday evening. Sales on “ripe-n-ready” avocados increase 99.9% vs. avocados that are green and require ripening.
- Utilize item movement reports to help with decision making. Ordering in advance will guarantee ripe-n-ready product for your customers.
- Running a price promotion on avocados for the weekend is a smart strategy for increasing volume. Pricing avocados as multiples (3/$5, 4/$5, etc.) is a great way to build sales and increase volume. Make sure to have a variety of sizes; small, large and bagged avocados will all sell very well.
- If you offer pre-made guacamole in store, have a work-ahead program in place so you don’t fall behind in production.
- Additional items fulfill your customers’ game day needs while driving basket size and margin include: Roma or plum tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeño peppers, an assortment of hot/spicy peppers, green onions, tomatillos, lemons, limes, garlic and complementary snack items.
The game day shopping experience in produce will be championship level by focusing on the true MVP — ripe and ready-to-eat avocados!
Meat and Seafood
Americans will eat more than 1.4 billion chicken wings this year while watching the Big Game, according to the National Chicken Council. Every player in the NFL would have to eat 825,000 wings to consume that many!
A winning wing strategy in the meat department focuses on a few key plays:
- Secure promotional pricing with your vendors at least six weeks out to avoid the risk of being shorted on deliveries.
- Pre-packaged wing displays should include at least three full rows of aggressively priced (5% to 10% margin) family packs and four full rows of small packs.
- Co-ops with a full-service case should aim for three to four varieties of marinated or seasoned wings, featuring both drumettes and wingettes/flats.
- Try to keep the pricing gap for regular wings versus value-added to no more than $1 more per pound. These displays should be “large and in charge.”
- Sign all your displays aggressively utilizing two- and four-up signs for each display.
Cross-merchandise to make up the margin reductions on the wings (see tips below). Ranch dressing has been the historic favorite dipping sauce with wings, but also be sure to include a variety of hot sauces and barbecue sauces.
Consider offering meat appetizers that are regional to the teams playing in the Big Game. Check out NCG’s collection of value-added meat recipes for more ideas. Other must-haves for game day include:
- Ground beef and meatballs
- Bacon (people love to make their own bacon creations at home)
- Bacon-wrapped jalapeños (and anything wrapped in bacon)
- Jerky, snack sticks, summer sausage and charcuterie
- Thematic sausage displays, cocktail wieners and brats
- Ribs
- Smoked fish and oysters
- Shrimp (both cooked and raw) and dipping sauces
Prepared Foods
Football games scream entertainment, creating the perfect opportunity for you to inspire your shoppers with fantastic food ideas that set the stage. Whether your shoppers are looking forward to a quiet day watching the game or are planning a gathering with family and friends, food is key to an amazing Game Day spread.
Game Day recipe favorites, from dips and meatballs to appetizers and main dishes, make the party as memorable as the game. Help your deli customers score big points by providing convenient items featuring Game Day Deli Recipes such as:
- Black bean chili
- Stuffed falafel balls
- Cheesy caramelized onion dip, jalapeño cheddar dip or ranch bean dip
- BBQ bourbon wings
- Chicken avocado roll-ups
- And these easy grab and go recipes
Remember that historically, nearly half of consumers say they will either throw a game day party or attend one.
Grocery
To round out game day, go big with displays in grocery and create a dynamic and engaging shopping experience.
- Drink up! Last year, more than 325 million gallons of beer were consumed during the game. If your co-op sells alcohol, be sure to feature favorite local brews, ready to drink cocktails and hard seltzers.
- Recent SPINS data for the natural enhanced channel shows strong results with alcohol sales.
- Ready to drink cocktails are huge — both alcoholic and nonalcoholic.
- Hard seltzer trends have leveled off, but this category is still forecasted to continue to outpace all other beverage categories over the next three years.
- Dish up! Over 65% of shoppers who plan to host an event for the Big Game indicate that they will be serving chips.
- Tortilla chips are an essential pairing for all of the guacamole to be whipped up.
- Sour cream and onion ranks as the number one potato chip flavor.
- Bulk up! Consider doing a promotion on bulk nuts. People ate 3 million pounds of nuts during the game last year!
- Cross-merchandising is key to absorbing lower promotional margins in fresh departments.
- Feature selections of sauces, rubs and dips alongside boneless and bone-in wings.
- Display hot dog and burger buns, condiments, pickles and relishes beside ground beef, sausages and hot dogs.
- Add a case stack of tortilla chips, pretzels or chips near your in-store prepared salsas and dips.
Staff who contributed to this article include Meat, Seafood and Food Safety Retail Programming Senior Manager Greg Johnson; Interim Supplier Programs Director Colin Lyons; and Prepared Foods Retail Programming Senior Manager Linda McCann; and Produce Retail Programming Senior Manager Joshua Crone.
