Super Bowl LXI on 14 February 2027: takeout, catering and a full dining room on the same night

The calls for wing platters start the week before the game, and this year the game falls on Valentine's Day, with your dining room full of couples.

Super Bowl LXI is on Sunday 14 February 2027. Open platter pre-orders on Monday 1 February, the day after the conference championships, and take full payment when the order is placed. Cap orders at what your fryers can cook in the pickup window, stagger pickups in 15-minute slots that end before kickoff, and give takeout its own crew so the Valentine's dining room keeps its kitchen. Last checked: 5 November 2026.

When is Super Bowl LXI, and when do guests order food?

The NFL lists Super Bowl LXI for Sunday 14 February 2027 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, with the AFC and NFC Championship Games on 31 January, in its 2026 to 2027 important dates. As of 5 November 2026 the league has not published a kickoff time. Super Bowl LX kicked off at 6:30 pm ET on 8 February 2026, according to the NFL's game preview, so this guide plans on 6:30 pm ET (3:30 pm Pacific). That is a planning assumption, not an NFL announcement: confirm it on NFL.com in late January.

Guests order late. US searches for "super bowl catering" average about 590 a month and reach 4,400 in February, according to Google Ads volume data (DataForSEO, November 2026). Our analysis of Google Trends daily US search interest for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 games (1 January to game day, pulled on 5 November 2026) shows how late:

Method: for each search and year we summed the daily index and counted back from game day to the day the running total passed half. Google Trends returns a sampled, scaled index, not counts, so read the timing rather than the size. Two things stand out. Catering searches start when the matchup is known, about two weeks out, and pile up in the final week. Wing searches are a game-day decision. So pre-orders should open right after the conference championships, and you need a short day-of menu for the guests who decide at noon.

Is game-day takeout worth the effort in February?

Yes, because it lands in one of the weakest months for takeout. Our analysis of the Census Bureau's Monthly Retail Trade Survey (not seasonally adjusted, downloaded 5 November 2026) looked at limited-service eating places, the Census category for counter-service and takeout restaurants. In every year from 2017 to 2025 except the pandemic years 2020 and 2021, they sold 2.5% to 7.0% less per day in February than on their average day of the year. January was weaker still, 9.8% to 15.5% below.

Method: each month's sales divided by its days, against the year's sales divided by the days in the year. The category also includes cafeterias and snack bars, and monthly data cannot isolate one Sunday. No free public dataset reports restaurant sales by day or week, so the ordering timing above comes from search data. The point for your plan: a sold-out platter list is extra revenue in a month that usually runs below average, so it is worth a capped, prepaid pre-order rather than a free-for-all on the day.

What should go on a Super Bowl platter menu?

Three or four platters and a few add-ons, built from food that travels well and cooks on equipment you already run hard. Fewer choices means faster phones, faster packing and less waste.

Rules that keep game day calm:

• Price per platter, not per piece. Guests compare by how many people it feeds. Print "serves 8 to 10" on every line.
• Fix the sauces. Two or three, with a set number of dips per platter. Custom requests are where pickup lines stall.
• Pack for the trip. Vented lids for anything fried, sauces on the side, and a label with the name, pickup time and contents on every bag.
• Hold it hot, safely. Keep hot food at 135°F or above until pickup. That is the hot-holding limit in paragraph 3-501.16(A)(1) of the FDA's 2026 Food Code; the Food Code is a model, so your state or county code is the one inspectors use. Print reheating instructions on the label.

How do you price a Super Bowl catering platter?

Add up the food, the dips and the packaging, then divide by your target cost percentage. Packaging is the line owners forget, and on a platter it can be a tenth of the cost.

Worked example (example costs; use your own invoices)

The bundle shares one carrier, so its packaging costs less than the three platters packed separately. Its price sits just under the three bought separately ($229), which is enough of a reason to choose it. Do not discount it further: the bundle is your most labor-heavy order. Check each price against your normal takeout prices per person; a platter that works out cheaper per guest than ordering off the menu is underpriced. If you ran platters last year, the BLS CPI release of 14 October 2026 puts limited-service meal prices up 3.2% in the 12 months to September 2026, so an unchanged price is a real cut. The menu price calculator does the division for each line, and the US profit margin guide shows where food cost sits in a healthy P&L.

Take full payment when the order is placed. A platter that is not collected is food you cannot sell, and prepayment is the only protection. Your state may treat catering, delivery charges or service fees differently for sales tax, so check with your tax department or accountant.

How many Super Bowl orders can your kitchen take?

Work it out from your fryers, not your phone. Set a cap before you open pre-orders, and stop taking platters when you hit it.

Platter cap = wings per hour × pickup hours × (1 - share kept for other orders)
              ÷ wings per platter

Worked example. Two fryers with two baskets each, 20 wings per basket and a 12-minute cycle including recovery cook 80 wings every 12 minutes, or 400 an hour. Pickups run for two and a half hours, ending 30 minutes before kickoff, so the fryers can cook 1,000 wings. Keep 30% back for walk-in takeout and the dining room, and the cap is 700 wings, or 14 platters of 50.

Three ways to raise the cap without buying a fryer:

1. Widen the window. Start pickups an hour earlier and the same fryers allow about 19 platters.
2. Move work off the fryer. Sliders, dips and nachos use other equipment; sell them as the second item in every order.
3. Cut the dining room's fryer load. Take fried items off the Valentine's prix fixe for the night.

Pickup or delivery on Super Bowl Sunday?

Lead with pickup. It is the order you control: you set the slot, the guest comes to you, and nothing depends on a driver at the busiest hour of the year.

• Stagger pickup slots. Fifteen-minute slots, a fixed number of orders per slot, and the last slot 30 minutes before kickoff.
• One shelf, sorted by time. Bag each order with its label, and line the shelf by pickup time, with the guest's name facing out.
• A runner at the door. For large orders, someone carries the platters to the car so the counter keeps moving.
• Delivery only with your own drivers or a firm plan. If you also sell on a marketplace app, set honest prep times and pause it when you hit your cap.

How do you run takeout and a Valentine's dining room on the same night?

Treat them as two restaurants sharing a building: separate menus, separate crews and separate timings. Takeout peaks in the hours before kickoff; the dining room peaks at the dinner seatings.

Ask your team early who wants the game off, and schedule around it. For the dining room side, seating times by time zone and the two-top layout, see the Valentine's Day guide. For the weeks around it, the January marketing plan puts the platter email in its calendar.

Super Bowl platter menu and pre-order timeline to copy

SUPER BOWL LXI PLATTERS (Sunday 14 February 2027)
Pre-order by Friday 12 February, 8 pm, or until sold out.
Paid in full when you order. Pickup in 15-minute slots.

50 WINGS, two sauces, celery, carrots, 4 dips ....... serves 8 to 10  $[95]
24 SLIDERS, cheese, pickles, sauce on the side ...... serves 10 to 12 $[79]
NACHOS TRAY, chips packed separately ................ serves 10       $[55]
GAME DAY BUNDLE, all three .......................... serves 20+      $[219]

Add-ons: extra dips $[1.50] each, cookies by the dozen $[18]
Sauces: [mild], [hot], [garlic parmesan]
Pickup: [3:30] pm to [6:00] pm ET, last slot 30 minutes before kickoff

PRE-ORDER TIMELINE

Mon 25 Jan   Set the menu, prices and platter cap. Ask staff about the game.
Sun 31 Jan   AFC and NFC Championship Games. Matchup known.
Mon 1 Feb    Open pre-orders. Email and post the menu.
Mon 8 Feb    Reminder: "Pre-order by Friday." Check orders against the cap.
Thu 11 Feb   Final supplier order for wings, buns and packaging.
Fri 12 Feb   8 pm: platter pre-orders close (or earlier if the cap is hit).
Sat 13 Feb   Prep dips, sauces and vegetables; portion sliders; print labels.
Sun 14 Feb   Confirm kickoff. Pickups in 15-minute slots; day-of menu only
             after pre-orders are out. Last pickup 30 minutes before kickoff.

Can TablePort handle this for you?

Yes, for the ordering and the pickup. The platter menu and the cap are your decisions.

1. Take scheduled orders on your own page. Guests can order pickup for a later time slot, up to 7 days ahead (set by the restaurant), and your team starts each scheduled order when it is due.
2. Let intake throttle. Order intake throttles automatically when the kitchen is at capacity, so guests see a longer quote instead of a missed promise.
3. Run the pickup shelf. Pickup orders show on one screen by collection time, with the guest's name in large type.
4. Tell your guests. Marketing Suite emails the platter menu to guests who agreed to hear from you.

The honest limit: guests can order at most 7 days ahead, so online slots for the game open on Sunday 7 February. Take first-week platter orders by phone. See Pickup & Delivery.