BY LUCIE KRISMAN
Around this time last year, the Musick family was preparing Barbwire Barbecue’s range of ribs, wings and more for the Eudora community as the community cheered on the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
Now the Chiefs are back in the Super Bowl but this year is different. While Barbwire Barbecue worked and sold primarily out of their locally well-known food truck before, this year they have the added bonus of their recently opened restaurant space and the unusual circumstance of a Super Bowl during a pandemic.
“Last year we were selling for the Super Bowl at our parents’ house,” Jason Musick said. “I think having a bigger facility allows us to take on more but stay more organized.”
Eudora businesses are preparing for the return of the Chiefs to the Super Bowl next weekend by preparing inventory and offering themed deals.
Barbwire Barbecue will continue to offer tailgate package specials from now up to the big game next Sunday. On Feb. 7, the lobby of the restaurant will open at 11 a.m. and close at 4 p.m., with the restaurant continuing to offer online ordering until 4:30 p.m.
Jay Musick said they will push on Facebook for people to order their Super Bowl packages ahead of time if possible due to how quickly food went during the playoffs. He expects Super Bowl preparation and filling orders will be just as busy as it was last weekend, if not more.
“We went through 22 slabs of ribs on Sunday,” Jay Musick said. “We couldn’t take any more orders before we even opened up because they were all gone.”
Gene’s Heartland Foods is offering a baby back ribs special for the Super Bowl, which some residents have already placed orders for. Assistant manager Michelle Martin said the store is expecting a surge in purchases of chips, crackers, beer and various dips just as they saw last year.
“I expect on Sunday from noon to 4:30 or 5 (p.m.) it will be pretty busy,” Martin said.
Torched Goodness owner Julia Ireland said the local dessert truck and catering company just finalized its Super Bowl menu of barbecue pulled pork sandwiches, lasagna, sides like potato salad and coleslaw, and creme brulee.
Torched Goodness will take orders from now until around 5 p.m. Friday and will allow orders to be picked up on Feb. 7. Ireland said the Super Bowl menu will come in four-packs and family-sized portions to accommodate the smaller gatherings happening this year in place of larger party platters.
“The Super Bowl typically is a big party scene,” Ireland said. “I don’t see that happening this year, so that’s why we decided to sort of focus more on something that’s more of a family size.”
Despite the differences in gathering to celebrate, Martin said while celebrations may be limited to two or three people this year, she expects just as much food to be purchased as it normally would.
“I’m expecting numbers like we had last year because it’s a hometown game,” Martin said. “I think it’s going to be a good year for it.”
Neither Jay nor Jason Musick anticipate the COVID-19 pandemic will impact demand, especially after how busy they were during the playoffs.
“Instead of one person ordering a whole bunch of stuff, it might be two or three people ordering medium amounts of stuff, since they aren’t having a huge party,” Jay Musick said. “I still feel like it will be the same amount of food or product going out, but just to more people.”
“I think us going to the Super Bowl and being able to have fun and cheer kind of lifts our spirits and gets us out of the dumpster fire we’re all in called COVID,” Jason Musick said. “I think at this point we’re all craving some sort of normalcy.”
Ireland hopes Eudora residents look to their local options when preparing their Super Bowl spreads after the challenges those businesses have faced due to the pandemic.
“Everything in the food business has been so heavily affected,” Ireland said. “I think there’s going to end up being some pretty good options in town for people so hopefully they’ll buy local and it’ll be good for all of us.”
Reach reporter Lucie Krisman at eudoratimes@gmail.com.
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