How many pizzas do Americans eat on Super Bowl Sunday?

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Pizza restaurants all over the country saw a rush of customers on Sunday as Super Bowl Sunday is one of the busiest days of the year for pizza.

At a Papa John's location in east Louisville, employees and managers say they were expecting to at least double the store's normal day-to-day output.

"We're going to have pretty much everybody (working)," said General Manager of training, Fisher Kraft. "Everything has to go right in order for us to make it happen for the customers."

Super Bowl Sunday is widely considered the second-busiest day of the year for pizza orders in the United States. The American Pizza Community estimates that 12.5 million pizzas are sold every year.

The hard part, Kraft says, is that those orders aren't spread out throughout the day.

"5:30 to 6:30 is nuts," he said. "We kind of liken it to compression. Everybody wants their pizza right at game time or right before. So that hour, you've got just about everybody that's going to order pizza from you is going to do it then."

Things pick up again at halftime. During those busy stretches the workflow changes.

"On a normal day it's kind of light enough to where we're fairly fluid, people might be bouncing around and helping out people where needed," Kraft said. "You've got a spot where you're going to plant yourself and you're going to be there until halftime."

Halloween is the only other day that trumps Super Bowl Sunday for pizza orders.

"If we're doubling on Super Bowl, let's call it tripling on Halloween," Kraft said.