Grocery Baskets Runneth Over for Super Bowl

Super Bowl television ratings continue to slip but the game remains one of the nation’s biggest excuses for a party. Hosts will spend an estimated $1 billion on snacks alone, and spending on food, soft drinks and beer will be double normal levels, according to grocery industry observers. “Sales will hit a peak equal to any summer spike,” said Stanley Makadok, president of Princeton, N.J.-based Century Management Consultants. Giants like Nabisco Holdings Corp. and General Mills Inc. might balk at Super Bowl television commercial rates, but they’re flooding grocery aisles with in-store displays. “More manufacturers are taking advantage of what used to be a media event, and they are creating a holiday,” said Don Stuart, a partner at Cannondale Associates, a Wilton, Conn.-based marketing group.