Expect someone to deliver a piping hot pizza to your Super Bowl party?
Be patient. Be understanding. And tip well. Because pizzerias around Chicago were bracing Sunday for a big rush in the middle of a blizzard that could dump as many as 16 inches of snow on the city.
“We’re holding our breath,” said Sean Asbra, manager of Pequod’s Pizza in Lincoln Park. “It’s just gonna be rough.”
Pizza delivery drivers aren’t exactly known for having vehicles with four-wheel drive, he said. And Asbra noted he’s already heard from a few with car trouble. That’s why Pequod’s was suggesting partially cooked pizzas delivered three hours early to its customers.
Meteorologists expected the brunt of Sunday’s storm to begin around 2 p.m. It was expected to continue through the night, and through the 5:30 p.m. Super Bowl.
Kurt Keko, manager of the Gold Coast Giordano’s on Rush Street, said the restaurant had already planned to have all of its drivers working Sunday night. The snow simply means pizza will take a little longer to be delivered, he said.
“Drivers are proceeding with caution,” Keko said. “I hope.”
Others simply planned to embrace the chaos. A manager at the Lou Malnati’s restaurant in Lawndale — who only identified herself as the “nice young lady” — told the Sun-Times “We’re having a blast, baby.”
She said the chain has extra drivers and locations all over the city.
“A little snow does not stop — does not interfere — with Lou Malnati’s,” she said.