Just a few days ahead of Super Bowl LV, Boston’s local restaurants and bars are gearing up for what’s poised to be the NFL’s first championship amid a pandemic.
The big game comes a day before the state lifts temporary gathering restrictions enacted in December, which will allow restaurants to increase dine-in seating from 25 to 40 percent capacity.
Steve Clark, Massachusetts Restaurant Association vice president of government affairs, said restaurants’ operational abilities have been impacted by the pandemic.
“The restaurant industry has probably been impacted the most of any industry out there,” Clark said, “just in terms of loss of business, loss of employees, government restrictions on operation and also consumer confidence in going back out.”
Clark said sports-centered restaurants and bars usually see increased business on Super Bowl Sunday, but many fans often host their own parties at home, opting for takeout and delivery.
Now, businesses that normally seat sports fans at tables and bars are adapting for an unprecedented night of football.
“Most full-service restaurants were probably at 15 to 20 percent takeout business [before the pandemic], and then it became 100 percent of their business,” Clark said. “I think you’re absolutely going to see takeout and delivery be a more common choice for customers.”
Restaurants across the city shifted to delivery, including The Smoke Shop BBQ, which serves award-winning barbeque at four locations across Boston, Cambridge and Somerville.
Andy Husbands, pitmaster and owner of The Smoke Shop, said he expects business to be “booming” — with 75-80 percent of orders being taken out.
He added that, although The Smoke Shop will be open with safety precautions such as plexiglass dividers between tables, he didn’t feel promoting the Super Bowl as a dine-in event was the right move.
“That’s what we decided to do with that, and then really double down on the takeout, to-go experience,” Husbands said. “We’re really focusing on pre-sales, and that’s been very successful for us.”
Husbands added that on game day, guests should consider ordering early — it’s going to be a busy day.
“It’s literally going to be the Super Bowl for restaurants,” Husbands said. “DoorDash, our partners, everybody’s ramping up, but it’s still going to be bumping.”
The major sporting and entertainment event comes amid a troubling time for the restaurant industry.
Compared to March of last year, approximately 22 percent of Massachusetts eateries and bars have never reopened, have reopened only to close again or are prohibited from reopening due to health restrictions, Clark said.
“I think everyone’s kind of looking forward to having more vaccinations,” Clark said. “We have to get through the next couple weeks, next couple months until the weather gets nicer, but I think once we hit April 1, the industry is going to come back pretty strong.”
Historically, Super Bowl weekend has raked in significant consumer spending, peaking last year at $17.2 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.
This year, overall spending is expected to dip to $13.9 billion — the lowest it’s been since 2014.
“These days, every single little dollar counts more than ever,” Husbands said. “And it’s always counted before because our margins are small.”
The restaurant industry is known for its thin profit margins, which can hover between three and five percent.
Generating revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic has required creativity for some restaurants, said Melissa Baker, associate professor of hospitality and tourism management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
“Your traditional revenue source of hundreds of people gathering in your establishment, we’re not going to be able to do that,” Baker said. “What some savvy restaurateurs are doing is they had started marketing and coming up with other plans.”
Even as dine-in options for customers are limited, the standards for hospitality at restaurants remain high, Baker said.
“In today’s world, even before the pandemic, customers were looking for experiences more than just the things,” Baker said. “So while of course, the food products and the quality of the beverages you have or the quality of the decorations are important, customers, especially millennials and Gen. Z., we want experiences.”
Such a passion for cuisine remains a priority for Husbands this weekend.
“Keeping quality up, keeping customers happy, executing to our desire to the level that our guests have expected,” Husbands said. “It’s going to be intense.”
For now, restaurants prepare for the rush of takeout orders they might receive from potential customers, like Chuck Cordeiro, 52, of Scituate, Massachusetts.
“We order locally there, so yeah … [takout’s] a potential option,” Cordeiro said.
Although some Boston restaurants have kept the option to dine in-person at 25-percent capacity, customers like Cordeiro remain wary of that choice.
Cordeiro said he plans to stay in on Sunday.
“Just being at home, maybe a little FaceTime action,” Cordeiro said. “But just be home with my wife and two kids watching Tom Brady.”
