The NFL Super Bowl is a major snacking day in the U.S. and one of the most popular days for takeout. The increase in food delivery during this time is leading to a need for grease resistance on the containers used to effectively shepherd wings from fryer to fingers.

The idea for this message came to me as I read an apology note on social media from my local pizza place, who also happens to make excellent wings. The message was a sincere apology, perhaps to get out ahead of the inevitable social media complaints and scathing yelp reviews, explaining the scale of Super Bowl 2021 on their operations. During Super Bowl 2020 they sold 1,750 wings on all of game day. However, this year they sold 2,000 wings in only three hours and were forced to buy more from the local supermarket…leading to delays in orders as they struggled to cope with demand. Luckily for the restaurant, customer responses were understanding and pleasant, so there’s a happy ending to this particular social media story.
 

The NFL Super Bowl is a major snacking day in the U.S., our largest food “holiday” after Thanksgiving, and one of the most popular days for takeout. According to Premio Foods, 100 million pounds of chicken wings are eaten on Super Bowl Sunday - which works out to 1.25 billion wings! According to a couple of sources, wings take the silver medal on Super Bowl Sunday to either chips or pizza, depending on your source. All this snacking with abandon does not happen without consequences. However, as on the Monday after the Super Bowl antacid sales increase 20% and ~1.5M Americans call out of work (for more fun Super Bowl facts, I’ve included an infographic from Premio Foods.)

In a broader sense, this instance helps to spotlight a combination of broader market trends - food delivery, increased snacking trends among consumers - with our new COVID reality. Already a big day for take-out food, a COVID Super Bowl represents a package-apalooza as multiple smaller groups gather at home and order delivery from their favorite restaurants. More than a few of these game-day foods are on the greasy side, leading to a critical need for grease resistance on the containers used to effectively shepherd those wings from fryer to fingers. JONCRYL® HPB 1702 is a great choice for coating formulators and package converters in these applications as it provides the necessary grease resistant performance for paper-based packaging, across a wide temperature range even after the package may be folded or creased. 
 
While only a select few will have the chance to play, or even attend, a Super Bowl, all of us can share in this great food and snacking tradition, just make sure you order those wings ahead of time!
 
No double dipping, especially during a pandemic,
- Simon
 

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