Businesses score big during football season

As football season kicks off, so does the business for the restaurants around the UCF community.

Restaurants such as Domino's, Tailgaters Smokehouse and Spirits, Kyoto Sushi and Grill and Jimmy John's, all located near the arena, are experiencing an increase in traffic on game day thanks to UCF students and fans in the community.

Most of the businesses agree that on Saturdays business has increased significantly due to the home football games.

"It definitely gets busier on game day," said Alicia Kapusta, Kyoto Sushi and Grill employee. "We have a line out the door with a lot of students and families before and after games."

Jimmy John's has also experienced a significant increase in sales. The sandwich store reaches an average $11,000 in sales on a typical game day compared to its regular $3,000, sales associate Blake Schulte said.

"In the summer, we were doing all right," Schulte said. "But now we get a ridiculous amount of sales. We get constant people all day on Saturdays, but we hold our own."

In the season that is a make or break, stores are advertising game-day specials to fight off competition.

Jordan Barr, a server at Tailgaters, said that the restaurant is promoting sales throughout the week which are available for students, such as mahi-mahi Mondays, 49-cent wings on Tuesdays and College Nights on Wednesdays in order to keep attracting new business to the store.

"We are trying to promote our weekly specials to the students, especially our college nights on Wednesday nights, come in from eight to close and get 50 percent off your entire tab," Barr said.

The restaurant sees a significant increase of customers and revenue during the football season, and this year is no exception.

"This is usually when we make all our money," Barr said.

Barr said that although business has picked up significantly from the summer time, she expects a lot more traffic as the season continues.

"Football games make and break us," she said.

To prepare for football games, Tailgaters blocks off the premises for all customers to sit, watch the game and enjoy the BBQ wings, ribs, drinks and more.

On game day, specifically, there are all kinds of food and drink specials geared toward customers.

To deal with the competition from other food venues, Domino's employee Ryan Kaynan said the pizza place is upping its ante.

"[Domino's] will offer better deals and service our customers better," Kaynan said.

Domino's is offering $5 small cheese pizzas and $10 large cheese pizzas all day on game days.

Kapusta said students seem to be taking advantage of Kyoto Sushi's $5.99 Chicken Hibachi special. She said the $9.95 sushi lunch special is also a popular choice.

Unlike the other restaurants around the community, Kapusta said she doesn't feel there is much competition because Kyoto is the only sushi place on campus.

"I think we are doing very well," she said. "I don't think we are affected by any competition."

Not only are these businesses racking up on hot deals for the students, but they are also preparing for business by hiring new employees.

Jimmy John's and Tailgaters are hiring new individuals in order to keep up with speed and efficiency for their customers.

"When I was hired over the summer, I was about the 80th employee; now I know there is a lot more than that," Schulte said. "We hired a lot of new faces to keep up with the start of school and the football season."

At Tailgaters, five new employees were hired to the staff, as well as one bartender, to prepare for football season.

These businesses hope to continue to excel along with the Knights during the UCF football season. They are continuing to expect heavy traffic on game days and look forward to new clientele.