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The Super Bowl is more than a championship game for the NFL — it's a championship day for pizza and wing shops all over Utah.
The Pie Pizzeria at 273 S. 1300 East is busy from open until close for the game — and takes a "fully staffed" approach to meet the local portion of a national demand that's estimated to amount to 12.5 million pizzas ordered by Americans on Sunday.
"We've got everybody here. The drivers, cashiers, prep [cooks], cooks. Everybody is on call, even I'm on call," Pie general manager Zach Kellogg said.
Kellogg ordered extra cheese, sauce, toppings and flour for the weekend — and stacked pizza boxes nearly to the ceiling in the back near the kitchen. But when the action kicks off on Sunday, the eight-year Pie veteran said he "acts as the oil can to the rest of the machine" as the staff handles the details of pushing pizza into the oven and out the door.
The Pie handles Super Bowl Sunday with a "first-come, first-served" protocol — but other restaurants like Trolley Wing Company in Sugar House are taking preorders.
Bartender Jessie Pham said the restaurant has already received seven preorders of 50 to 100 wings, with many more expected on Sunday.
Americans will consume 1.33 billion chicken wings for the game, up 2 percent from 2016 and 6.5 percent from 2015, according to the National Chicken Council. That's enough wings to stretch between the Patriots' and the Falcons' home stadiums — in Foxborough, Mass,. and Atlanta, Ga. — nearly 80 times when laid end to end.
Kellogg said the Pie serves "tons of wings" in addition to the restaurant's pizza output. Cheese, pepperoni, combination, Hawaiian and the "mountain of meat" pies are crowd favorites.
Kellogg compares the natural coupling of pizza and football to having turkey on Thanksgiving or ham on Christmas.
"Pizza, beer, wings. It just screams football," Kellogg said. "It screams: 'Let's go.' "
For Este Pizzeria founder Dave Heiblim, the Super Bowl eating phenomenon perfectly encapsulates age-old customs — sharing a meal and watching a competition. But the modern take lends itself more to lethargy, he said.
"We're fat and lazy and we like to be entertained instead of learning how to build a clock radio," he said.
Este's downtown location will shift its hours to 1 to 7 p.m. rather than the regular hours of 4 to 9 p.m. and the Sugar House location will have extra staff and has ordered extra wings.
Heiblim expects the restaurants to sell "a lot of pepperoni and a lot of plain" in addition to a heavy load of buffalo wings.
Kellogg said he's excited for the topping tidal wave that will begin Sunday.
"You throw out so many pizzas and help so many people you're left with a sense of: 'How much food did we make for everybody?' " Kellogg said. "It's great."
Twitter: @BrennanJSmith