With nearly 93,000 seats at Sanford Stadium, more than 2,600 hotel rooms and nearly 200 bars and restaurants, Athens is primed to host some of the biggest football games in the NCAA Southeastern Conference.
With a large influx of locals, football fans and college students, it is crucial for the city’s eateries and restaurants to keep up with the fast-paced atmosphere of college football.
Preparation before the game
Christopher Belk, the owner and founder of Saucehouse Barbecue on West Broad Street, is taking game-day prep to a new level. During the offseason, Saucehouse employs about 75 people, but during football season, he hires another 25, according to Belk.
On a typical weekend, chefs must start work at 7 a.m., but on a football game day, the kitchen staff at Saucehouse arrives as early as 4 a.m. to begin cooking food for the restaurant and also prepare 40 to 60 catering orders.
Preparation, such as grating the cheddar for the macaroni and cheese and preparing the sides, usually begins the Monday before the game, as all of the food is prepared from scratch.
“Everything has to be done in huge quantities; that requires an army,” Belk said.
Julianne Heine, a rising senior studying management information systems and international business at the University of Georgia, is a bartender at Chuck’s Fish. Chuck’s is normally open from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. year-round, but during football season, the restaurant opens as late as 11 a.m.
Heine said that to prepare for a busy shift, the restaurant schedules an extra bartender or two, for a total of three to four employees serving cocktails, beer and wine. Additionally, employees are not allowed to take weekends off with home games unless it is done months in advance.
The bartenders’ job is to squeeze lemons, limes and grapefruits to have fresh juice available for making the typical cocktails.
“It takes many hours to prepare, so we usually have eight containers of each,” Heine said. “That’s the amount we use… just for one day.”
South Kitchen and Bar also prepares its cocktails in advance. Alexander Cowen, a former South Kitchen and Bar employee who is now working on his MBA at UGA, said he prepares various syrups and juices the night before a home game, but that’s not entirely unusual.
“There wasn’t that much of an increase in preparation because we were already prepared for busy Saturdays,” Cowen said.
On match day
Every time Sanford Stadium hosts a UGA football game, nearly 100,000 visitors come to Athens, and those numbers are reflected in the revenue generated by the restaurant industry.
Cowen said the rush at South Kitchen and Bar begins “as soon as the doors open.” Despite the hustle and bustle, the increase in customers is attractive to Cowen.
“The best money you can make on game days is working in the service sector in Athens, Georgia,” Cowen said.
Belk estimates that between 1,000 and 2,000 people flock to the Saucehouse on any given game day. The Saucehouse is an indoor-outdoor venue, with an indoor seating area and bar that opens to an outdoor area with picnic tables and flat-screen TVs.
“Man, it’s fun. It’s high energy and exciting,” Belk said. “It’s game time for the football team, but it’s game time for (the staff), too.”
Chuck’s Fish has stopped taking reservations for the past four years and wait times can be as long as three and a half hours, but that hardly hinders the restaurant’s ability to handle the large number of visitors, according to Heine. In Athens, all kinds of people line up to eat at Chuck’s.
On the match days that Heine worked, one bartender was in charge of the terrace bar, one took care of the drink vouchers that the waiters redeemed, and the third was responsible for the quick serving.
“(We’re) trying to streamline the process,” Heine said. “(We’re) going to be super busy basically the entire shift.”
Football and food
Heine said that after a shift, she had a “good feeling of achievement” when she and her colleagues had successfully fought their way through a game day crowd.
“When you work in such stressful situations, you are tied together as a team,” said Heine. “The shift goes by so quickly that you don’t notice it, but that’s only possible if everyone works as well as they can.”
The success of the UGA football team has a tremendous impact on the amount of revenue that local businesses in Athens generate during football season.
Belk said he saw a huge increase in sales and business when the Bulldogs competed in the national championships.
“I don’t bet on UGA football games, but it kind of feels like I’m in the business because when the Dawgs do well, we do better,” Belk said. “A win at any UGA football game is a win for our business, too. And frankly, it’s a win for every business in town.”
