Image provided by Habit Burger & Grill.
By the time Seattle won Sunday’s Big Game, millions of pro football fans munched on their favorites, like KFC’s wings, Pizza Hut’s Big New Yorker, Taco Bell’s Nacho Fries and Habit Burger & Grill’s sliders. And several of these order decisions were made about an hour before kickoff, also known as “game-day decisions,” which means that Yum!’s four brands remained top of consumers’ minds on football’s biggest night. Here’s how they stood out in the QSR crowd.
During the game, both Seattle and New England fans anxiously listened for their quarterbacks to utter “Pizza” before “Hut.” If one of them had, his city’s residents would’ve celebrated with a free pizza party from Pizza Hut as part of the brand’s #PizzaBeforeTheHut campaign, which included legendary quarterback Tom Brady promoting the $10 New Yorker in a television ad. But fans didn't leave hungry. Pizza Hut surprised one with free pizza for a year after they guessed how many times both quarterbacks yelled, "Hut!" during the Big Game. (It was 67.)
Fans in the host city got their chance to yell “Pizza Hut Hut!” with legendary NFL Coach John Gruden at an on-site promotion with Barstool Sports on Saturday. This integrated campaign was part of a larger strategy, enticing fans to preorder their pizzas, and included nudges on TikTok, Meta and X. Hut Rewards members were also granted 200 loyalty points for every preorder ($50 minimum spend), which translated into a medium-sized pizza. And the brand's game plan worked, bringing in more daily preorders from the previous year before the Big Game on Sunday.
Pizza Hut’s sister brand, Habit, rolled its food trucks north of its Santa Barbara birthplace to San Francisco to feed hungry football fans. On Friday, Habit was the exclusive food partner at Shaq’s Fun House presented by Credit One Bank, a high-energy mash-up of carnival spectacle and festival vibes. On Saturday, Habit brought the flavor to Sports Illustrated’s SI The Party presented by DraftKings, one of the weekend’s most talked-about parties.
All of the fun was captured by a handful of creators and posted to Habit’s Instagram account for fans across the nation, and Habit ran a Big Game promotion at participating locations for a Sliders Family CharBox, with each box featuring eight chargrilled beef sliders, stacked with melty cheese, caramelized onions, pickles and Thousand Island dressing on toasted seeded buns, with a choice of four sides and four orders of house-made ranch dressing for $40. With the purchase of any Family CharBox, customers could also score a FREE 10-piece Crispy Chicken Bites at participating locations all weekend long.
“There’s nothing better than great food, great people and an epic game,” said Jason Triail, executive chef at Habit. “With our sliders at some of the biggest parties of the weekend, we brought flavor that’s ready to play.”
By game’s end, Habit had served over 5,600 sliders to Shaq and SI partygoers – proof that fans are adopting a new Big Game “habit.”
For its part, Taco Bell’s biggest football flex was announcing the anticipated No. 1 NFL draft pick Fernando Mendoza as its latest “Franchise Player,” a unique brand ambassador role a week prior.
“It’s a privilege to take on a role that carries both responsibility and possibility, and to do so at a brand that has never been afraid to push culture forward,” Mendoza said in his LinkedIn post. “I’m excited for what’s ahead, for the ideas we haven’t cracked yet, and for the work still to be done. Just getting started.”
For the Big Game, the brand ran deals with food delivery services, like $15 off a $50 minimum order or a free Supreme Taco or medium Pepsi with a $22 minimum order.
Meanwhile, KFC winged it during the Big Game, offering 20 wings for $20. The promotion proved to be more than a flight of fancy, delighting football watchers across the U.S. on the big night.
Whether on the ground like Habit and Pizza Hut or online like Taco Bell and KFC, Yum!’s four brands were everywhere during the Big Game, and fans nationwide scored big deals for their halftime feasts, proving that they’re winners no matter what the final score revealed.
