With the kitchen of their Canton home under construction and out of commission, Lisa Walther and Brigitte Ronnett headed to the Harbor East Whole Foods Market yesterday afternoon for last-minute prepared foods to bring to their annual Super Bowl Day party, a gathering of six that rotates to the home of the friend with the newest television.
A few minutes into their trip, their cart was filling up with a vegetable tray, an array of cheeses, a loaf of whole-wheat bread, guacamole and cheese dip. It was nothing fancy - just finger foods to share with their friends.
"It's the wintertime; it's a time to socialize with friends," Walther, 46, said, as she placed a container of cheese dip in the cart.
"I don't really like football," Ronnett, also 46, said with a laugh. "I just eat the food and watch the commercials."
By noon, Whole Foods Market in Harbor East was bustling with shoppers on one of its busiest days. Customers were in search of the perfect party foods to munch on through the course of the iconic sporting event. That meant tortilla chips, cornbread, "blazin' beef chili," spiced shrimp, nuts, miniature crab cakes, assorted chicken wings and meatballs were flying off display cases with the speed of an Eli Manning touchdown pass.
"It really is a pop-open-the-bag-and-put-it-on-a-tray kind of holiday," said Sarah Kenney, Whole Foods' director of marketing for the Mid-Atlantic region. "It has never been gourmet. There's no goat cheese and dried fruit - it's all about pizza and wings and cheese balls. And that makes it fun because it's casual, and everyone - the hostess and the guests - knows what they're going to get."
Super Bowl Sunday is one of the busiest days of the year for the snack food industry, according to Chris Clark, vice president of operations and membership for the Snack Food Association, an international organization of snack food companies based in Arlington, Va.
"It tastes great and it is easy to eat," Clark said, referring to the ever-popular potato chips, tortilla chips, pretzels and cheese curls. "You can hold a drink in one hand, snack with another. It is fun food, it is social food."
By contrast, Super Bowl Sunday is not among the most profitable for the beverage industry, according to John Sicher, editor and publisher of the Bedford Hills, N.Y.-based Beverage Digest.
"It falls at a time when most of the country is cold," Sicher said, adding that summer holidays have better beverage sales. "There is a spike [in sales], but it is not a huge one."
The beverage industry cares more about the Super Bowl because it ushers in a new year of marketing and advertising campaigns that build through the spring and fall, he said.
Seventy-five percent of the people shopping at Whole Foods Market yesterday bought something Super Bowl-related, estimated Alex Torres, the Harbor East store team leader.
"The big focus is on snacks," Torres said as he weaved through the aisles of the store. "We sell lots of sodas. Root beer kegs are really popular."
Linda Payne, the prepared-food supervisor, spent most of the day handing out samples of chili, cornbread, chips and salsa near the bakery.
Employees at the Harbor East location spent the past three weeks promoting Super Bowl-related products, Torres said.
One display featured an array of canned nuts beneath a small flat-screen television that showed memorable Super Bowl moments. Avocados were purposely ripened for customers who wanted to make last-minute, fresh guacamole. Spiced shrimp and cornbread were sold in platters shaped like footballs. Loaves of sourdough bread were baked in football molds.
"We're not trying to get fancy," Torres said. "It's about good food that is fun to eat with your fingers."
A few feet away, Brandon Snyder, who works in the prepared-foods section, adjusted a heaping mound of Buffalo wings in the center of a display case. Snyder began work at 5:40 a.m. to package dozens of Super Bowl party favorites - ribs slathered in barbeque sauce, chicken satay and meatballs - and then arranged them in the enormous case.
"We stack it high and watch it fly," Snyder said. "We do anything to draw your eye to the [Super Bowl foods]. We want to make you hungry even when you're not."
Jeannine Saran, 32, and her fiance, Erik Fahlund, 37, picked up a pizza, chicken salad, bread and a loaf of blueberry cornbread to bring to a game-watching party at Saran's parents' home in Hagerstown.
"We want to have a lot of snacks so we don't have to get up and miss the game," said Saran, a Rhode Island native who proudly claimed to be a die-hard New England Patriots fan. The best part of the game, she said, will be "watching my team break every record."
john-john.williams@baltsun.com