Pizza shops are ready for some football

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 2 February 2014 at 12:00 am

Super Bowl makes for hectic day at pizzerias

Photo by Tom Rivers – Brian Christiaansen, owner of the Mark’s Pizzeria in Albion, gets ready for the onslaught of orders later for the Super Bowl. Christiaansen also owns the Mark’s Pizzerias in Medina and Newfane.

ALBION – The biggest game of the year is also the busiest day for many local pizzerias. They have all of the employees working today, preparing pizza and chicken wings, with a fleet of drivers ready to make deliveries.

“It’s like cooking the Thanksgiving dinner for everybody,” said Ken Printup, owner of Uncle Sal’s Place in Albion.

With nearly two decades in business in Albion, Printup said he and his staff of 17 employees have the frantic pace of the Super Bowl down to a science, doing prep work and managing the kitchen to get the orders out for the game.

“The first few years we did half as much as we do now, but there was twice as much chaos,” he said. “We’ve got it down now.”

The Super Bowl is his biggest day, followed by Thanksgiving Eve and then Halloween, Printup said.

At Mark’s Pizzeria in Albion, employees and owner Brian Christiaansen started at 9 this morning, after a busy day on Saturday prepping for today. Christiaansen has his entire staff of 27 working in Albion today, including 14 delivery drivers. He also owns the Mark’s sites in Medina and Newfane.

“This is by far our busiest day,” he said. The action peaks between 4 and 7 p.m.

Dan Passalacqua, co-owner of Avanti Pizza in Albion and Medina, said Avanti is actually busiest on Halloween and Christmas Eve. But today will be huge.

“It’s all hands on deck,” he said. “It will have its challenges because everybody wants their pizza before game time. We’ll just keep going until the phone stops ringing.”