Pizza a big Halloween treat in Western New York

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Halloween is traditionally a busy day for pizzerias. In fact, it's a busier day for pizza orders than Super Bowl Sunday.

Walt Smietana of Franco's says there's a big reason why people order pizza on Halloween. "I think it's obviously a lot of people are busy and they're rushing home to do what they need to do to get ready for the kids coming over or they're hosting parties, and it just you know pizza is just one of those things, and you know everything else we sell that just lends itself to that type of an event," says Smietana. He says there are a lot of party size orders on Halloween, ranging from sheet pizzas to buckets of wings and fingers. He says last year was extremely busy because it was on a Friday, but on a Halloween Saturday, it could be different. "I think it's going to be spread out more throughout the day, and we won't probably see the businesses, but we'll see a lot of that on Friday as people have their Halloween parties on Friday," says Smietana..

But he says Super Bowl Sunday isn't the busiest day for pizza. "if you compare it to Super Bowl, which everyone says obviously that's a busier day, that's because wings double in volume on a Super Bowl. So we'll do double the amount of wings we would do in any other day. So it really does. You know, wings wings is king on Super Bowl, but for pizza, Halloween, and and lately Valentine's Day have become very big," adds Smietatna.

John Bona of Amherst Pizza and Ale House says many want to order out for Halloween. "I think on Halloween nobody wants to spend time cooking dinner or cleaning up, and pizza is an easy way to feed the Whole family, something reliable, and pretty economical too," says Bona.

He says order early. "If it's a phone call, ordering online, especially if they need their pizza at a specific time. Everybody seems to want dinner about the same time on Halloween, and make sure you get them in and confirmed early," advises Bona. He says the peak times are 4 to 7pm.

He says dressing up to dine in at his place will have a special incentive. "For anybody who comes in to dine in at the bar or sit down at a table in costume, we're giving 15% off of their food orders. So maybe there's a little outlet there for some parents or groups of older kids who want to come in and that don't do the normal trick or treating thing, but that should be fun. Also, we're looking forward to a great weekend."