They may have missed the game, but pizza delivery drivers probably didn't mind much.

"Delivery drivers love Super Bowl Sunday," said Shantel Loehr, manager of the Pizza Hut on Broadway. "It's one of the best tip days of the year."

While fans gathered around television sets and big screens, in bars or living rooms or lounges, phones at pizza places buzzed nonstop, ovens were always on and full, and the drivers were, well, always driving.

That's because it's the second busiest day of the year for deliveries of those delectable pies: On Super Bowl Sunday, pizza places expected to at least double their business from a normal Sunday afternoon.

"We sell close to $3,500 of pizza," Loehr said, noting that cold weather - it was about 2 degrees Sunday afternoon, and negative 12 degrees in the early morning, according to Jim Fors at the Bismarck National Weather Service - was also a factor in high-delivery volume.

By the end of the night on Sunday, she expected the store to sell between 500 and 700 pizzas. The busiest day of the year for deliveries, New Year's Eve, has only slightly more volume, she said.

So to prepare for higher volume, pizza places across the city did much of the same thing: Bulked up on staff.

"Usually, we're good during Super Bowl Sundays," said Steve Raywalt, the shift manager at A&B Pizza on Seventh Street, commenting on staffing.

Raywalt said orders don't normally start rolling in until later in the afternoon.

At Pizza Hut, a normal, eventless Sunday would've warranted three drivers, one cook, two servers and two managers, Loehr said. But Super Bowl Sunday was worthy of amping up coverage, especially when well over 60 percent of their orders were delivery, she said.

That means eight drivers, four cooks, three servers and three managers for the Broadway pizza place.

Heavier staffing worked: By late afternoon, pizzas were still being delivered within the hour as promised.

Papa John's in south Bismarck was just as prudent in its staffing: At least 14 Papa John's drivers rushed through the city, originating out of their south Bismarck location.

Store manager Matt Weiss, who worked at the north Bismarck Papa John's for last year's Superbowl, said that the volume may not have been as high as one would expect, but the orders are often larger, averaging about $10 more an order. He expected to end the day at around $3,000 in orders.

And with 14 drivers, most of them rookies, Weiss said problems were bound to arise, but was confident that pizzas would be delivered within the hour.

"Sometimes drivers forget things," he said. "Slows them down."

(Reach reporter Crystal Reid at 250-8261 or at crystal.reid@bismarcktribune.com.)