Customers flock to wings and more on game days

Sports fans are serious about their snacks, planning menus for game days sometimes weeks in advance. Whether it’s a company cafeteria, a college dining service or a nursing home dining room, onsite operators can help root for the home team and capitalize on interest in big games by working tailgate-style fare into the mix, either for regular meal service or special events.

Nacho bars, grilled items, crunchy salty snacks and dip, loaded fries, pizza, meatballs, sliders, tacos, mile-long sub sandwiches: the possibilities are limitless. The only rule: No forks or knives required.

Depending on the event—March Madness, the World Series, the Big Game or a historic rivalry—building menus around the theme is a way to engage with and delight guests. Foods associated with the opposing teams’ hometowns—Philly cheesesteaks, Chicago-style pizza, New Orleans gumbo—add a clever touch to the menu. Ballpark fare—hot dogs with toppings, popcorn (also with toppings), Cracker Jacks, peanuts, nachos and soft pretzels—offers a fun and nostalgic way to kick off baseball season. Specials tied into sporting events should be heartier and more celebratory in keeping with the time of year and the occasion. But nothing is off limits when it comes to sports fans, considering the explosion in culinary creativity coming out of stadiums over the last five years or so.

Wings are a welcome player in any game day food lineup. According to the National Chicken Council, Americans scarfed down an estimated 1.35 billion wings over 2018’s Big Game weekend alone.

Among protein appetizers, chicken options lead the field: according to Technomic’s 2017 Starters, Small Plates & Sides report, 41% of consumers say they would purchase barbecue wings, 41% would order chicken strips and another 36% would buy buffalo wings. What’s more, 41% of consumers say they order an appetizer because they are craving it, which makes wings a prime opportunity, since they tend to be so craveable.

While Technomic found that chicken wings on menus are most commonly paired with Buffalo, blue cheese, barbecue and spicy flavors, operators have some incentive for innovation: 48% of consumers said they would be encouraged to order an appetizer that was considered a signature item. First Energy Stadium in Cleveland, for example, serves Crispy Confit Chicken Wings with Sweet and Spicy Peach Sauce. At CenturyLink Field in Seattle, sweet tea-brined applewood-smoked Smokehouse Wings are served with a hot honey glaze.

Boneless-style wings further open up the field for game day recipe innovation. Poutine, a Canadian import that’s trending up on menus at casual restaurants and sports venues, provides a solid base for wings in a Boneless Wing Poutine recipe. Crispy fries are loaded with Pierce Chicken Boneless Wing Dings, creamy cheese curds and chicken gravy. And this Boneless Wing Po Boy piles crunchy Pierce Chicken Boneless Wing Dings atop a hoagie roll layered with mustard seed cabbage slaw and spicy remoulade aioli.

Game day foods are a welcome way to mix up menus, demonstrate team spirit, create a festive atmosphere and more, no matter where you’re serving them.