GOSHEN — Today’s Super Bowl will result in a super effort from local food outlets that will be hustling to meet the demand for groceries and takeout orders.

“Super Bowl week is certainly by far the biggest sales week we have in the first quarter. It far outstrips New Year’s week,” said Randy Jones, assistant manager of the Martin’s Supermarket in Goshen.

Martin’s is just one of hundreds of Elkhart County businesses that will be tapping into the demand for party foods and drinks — pizzas, chips, dips, beer and pop. As families and friends gather to watch the football extravaganza, Madonna’s halftime show and the often quirky and comedic TV ads, they will be eating and drinking. And that consumption means cash for local stores.

Jones said the Super Bowl rush began on Thursday and continues through Saturday each year before the big game. Sunday sales are not as brisk as most party planning is completed.

“It’s a holiday week for us. That is how we term it,” Jones said.

At Gerace’s Pizzeria along Ind. 15 in the Waterford neighborhood, Daniella Panetta said her family will spend the day making and delivering pizzas for Super Bowl fans.

“We have a team ready,” she said.

That team consists of two delivery drivers, the Panetta family members, and four other people.

The restaurant usually tells customers orders will be filled in 35 minutes. But on Super Bowl Sunday it make take longer.

At Papa John’s Pizza on Pike Street, manager Judy Hibdon will have her entire staff of 30 people working. Fifteen are drivers and 15 will be making pizzas, wings and other food items.

“We will probably do a couple thousand pizzas,” Hibdon said.

She ought to know, as she has been through six other Super Bowl Sundays at Papa Johns.

“We will do about double what we would normally do on a Sunday,” she said of pizza orders.

For orders of wings, the outflow will probably triple. “People order 50 wings at a time instead of 10,” she said.

On Friday she said customers had already logged orders online for today. And she has a tip for those ordering today: Use the phone to place an order instead of online as the online order service gives a maximum delivery time of one and a half hours. If the wait time is longer, customers ordering online won’t know that.

“Calling will always give you a more accurate delivery time,” Hibdon said.

Some are flying

Not everyone will be staying home to watch the Super Bowl. Sixty-eight-thousand fans will flock to Indianapolis today to occupy a seat at Lucas Oil Stadium. They get to tell their friends, “I was there.”

A Goshen air charter company, Goshen Air Center, will be ferrying a few of those fans to and from Indianapolis.

“I think we have two jets on charter. One is picking up in New York City and taking customers to Indianapolis for the Super Bowl on Sunday. One will be from Elkhart taking a group of gentlemen down,” said Randy Sharkey, co-owner of the business.

With the top Super Bowl tickets selling for $17,000 and up, the cost of a charter jet to the game is not a deterrent for some.

Sharkey said the company charges up to $2,850 per hour, depending on the jet, for the service.

The Super Bowl is noted for drawing heavy charter jet traffic. This year is no different.

Sharkey said pilots operating out of the Indianapolis International Airport on the city’s west side, have been given only a 30-minute time slot for boarding passengers and taking off.

“That makes it difficult on the pickup side. If they (passengers) get stuck in traffic, there we are. We have to take off without passengers,” Sharkey said.

The other logistic problem for companies providing charter jet service is where to park their plane once passengers are dropped off in the Circle City.

“There just isn’t enough concrete, enough ramp space,” Sharkey said.

That means pilots will take off from Indianapolis and land at other central Indiana airports to park and wait for the final whistle. They will then have to wing back to Indianapolis to pick up their customers.

The Indianapolis area has several airports, and all will be busy, according to Sharkey. Besides the main International Airport there is the Indianapolis Executive Airport, Indianapolis Regional Airport (Mount Comfort) and the Eagle Creek airport. But there are not control towers at some of those facilities normally. Sharkey said the Federal Aviation Authority will set up portable control towers for the Super Bowl to direct plane traffic.

One of the Goshen jets will be parked during the game at Eagle Creek, which is expecting 100 planes today. He said Mount Comfort is expecting 200 planes.

And like everyting else in Indianapolis during the Super Bowl, ramp parking will cost more than usual. The game-day fee will be $650, up from the normal $100.

Once the jets are parked the pilots, who are so important to others enjoying the game, will be relegated to watching the event on TVs.

“They will watch it from the pilot’s lounge,” Sharkey said.