Exclusive new research from Nielsen CGA reveals that bars and restaurants in the U.S. saw average sales drop around a third on Super Bowl Sunday (February 4) compared to the Sunday before (January 28). Casual dining restaurants suffering the worse declines at 37 percent. Neighborhood bars were also hit, with sales down 13 percent on the Sunday before.
Comparatively, Nielsen’s off-premise data shows that dollar sales of Beer/FMBs/Cider increased by 5.4 percent on the week of the Super Bowl over the previous week, supporting the growing trend of sports fans choosing to celebrate Super Bowl Sunday with parties at home.
Bar and Restaurant Sales Plummet in New England and Pennsylvania
The latest Nielsen CGA research shows that on-premise outlets were hit particularly hard in the home states of the Super Bowl finalists. In Pennsylvania, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, average value sales in on-premise outlets dropped 62 percent on Super Bowl Sunday compared to the previous Sunday. In Massachusetts, home state of the New England Patriots, sales plummeted by 50 percent. These were the two of the largest declines seen by any state.
A Bright Spot For Sports Bars and Breakfast
While not all doom and gloom, the Nielsen CGA research shows that Super Bowl Sunday was much better for some segments of the on-premise market. Within the U.S., dedicated sports bars saw a 52 percent sales uplift compared to the previous Sunday. Irish pubs also saw an upswing of 22 percent week on week.
Additionally, there was better news for on premise operators in the early parts of the day, too. Breakfast and brunch sales were up by 24 and 14 percent, respectively, week on week, suggesting that many NFL supporters like to kick off Super Bowl Sunday by eating out with family or friends.
Scott Elliott, senior vice president at Nielsen CGA, says, “Overall, Super Bowl Sunday 2018 was a tough trading day for U.S. bars and restaurants. However, areas of opportunities definitely do exist for some types of venues and day parts. Through data-driven insights from check-level data sets, on-premise operators are able to better understand the sales dynamics of specific events, which can help bars and restaurants unlock the potential of big sporting occasions in the future.”
This research reflects insights from Nielsen CGA’s unique CLIP (Check-Level Insights Pool) data, which offers granular insights around sales performance in both Chain and Independent on-premise bars and restaurants.
