A super Super Bowl bash - with 2,000 pounds of wings
Even the biggest TV on the East Coast wasn't enough to entice Jasper Alivia into watching the Super Bowl - he was too busy serving his guests 2,000 pounds of wings.
Even the biggest TV on the East Coast wasn't enough to entice Jasper Alivia into watching the Super Bowl - he was too busy serving his guests 2,000 pounds of wings.
And there's more where that came from at the sold-out XFinity Live! tonight - the biggest Super Bowl party in Philadelphia. Alivia, the venue's executive chef, said he expected to to serve 100 pizzas, 150 nacho platters, 300 cheesesteaks and 200 orders of crabfries to the 1,500 to 2,000 people walking through the doors Sunday night.
"Last year I only got to watch the last play of the game," said Alivia, who has worked at XFinity Live! for one and a half years. "But I knew what I was getting into when I joined the restaurant industry. We work a lot of holidays and busy times when other people aren't working. It's part of the job."
Alivia spent the game making sure the food - all prepared from scratch - came out in pristine condition. He was watching his 30-plus chefs closely, sending back any burnt pizzas and filling his customers' plates as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, Peter DeLone, the general manager, had the job of circling the floor to check on the sound system and disc jockey, plus double-checking that orders were filled and tables cleaned. Four other managers are walking the floor to help him tackle the task, and in total, about 150 staff members were on call for the Super Bowl - many more than for a typical football game.
"You feel good when you're able to throw a party and help other people have a good time," DeLone said. "It's always more fun when it's busy."
XFinity Live! started preparing for the Super Bowl two weeks ago. From small tasks like setting up the sound system properly to big tasks like forecasting how many wings people will eat, Alivia and DeLone have kept themselves busy. They used numbers from last year's super bowl as reference.
XFinity Live! hosts over 200 events a year, but the Super Bowl stands out. For most sports games, guests come in and out. For the Super Bowl, reservations are blocked off for the duration of the game. People want to sit and watch, even if the game's taking place on the other side of the country.
"We want to make you feel like you're there, even though this game is taking place as far away from Philadelphia as you can get in this country," DeLone said.
Johnny Warren, 35, from Hockessin, Del., arranged to bring up to 40 people affiliated with his title insurance company to the venue for the game.
"We thought a lot about where we wanted to host this event," he said. "Out of every place in the nearby states, we chose this one."
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