‘Super crazy, but it’s fun’: Working at Ledo Pizza on Super Bowl Sunday
For most sports fans, Super Bowl Sunday is the most important day of the year. But, for a lot of us, it’s the tastiest day of the year.
The two most popular items ordered for the big game last year, according to DoorDash, was chicken wings and pizza.
This is not a surprise to Jim Robertson, the owner of Ledo Pizza on River Road in Bethesda, Maryland.
“We’ll sell 600 to 700 pizzas today,” Robertson said. “And probably 2,000 wings.”
On a normal Sunday, that Ledo location sells around 250 pizzas.
Robertson has spent the last 34 years working on Super Bowl Sunday.
“When we opened in 1992, it was the last time the Commanders were actually in the Super Bowl. So, it’s been a long dry spell, but, we’ve grown a lot over those years,” Robertson said.
Super Bowl Sunday and Halloween are the two biggest days for Robertson’s Ledo Pizza, which means it’s all hands on deck.
“Everybody works on Super Bowl Sunday,” Robertson said. “When we hire people, we definitely say for Super Bowl, you have to work.”
Longtime customers of Robertson’s Ledo Pizza know that many of his employees have been a part of his team for a very long time, like supervisor Fatou Manneh.
“I’ve been working here for over 15 years,” Manneh said. “I feel I’ve worked every single one.”
WTOP asked Manneh: “What would surprise people about working on the day where the two best teams in the NFL compete for the Lombardi trophy?”
“The phone rings like crazy,” Manneh said. “The chaos, I don’t know, I love it.”
“It’s super busy, super crazy, but it’s fun,” she added.
Sunday is such a busy day that Robertson said they posted signs in the restaurant and on top of pizza boxes reminding people to order early for the big game, a move that proved successful as they received their first order last Monday.