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Score Big on Game Day with Shareable Platters
Published: September 16, 2025
Menu Ideas That Help Keep Sports Fans Coming Back All Season Long
Game day dining can bring in a lot of dollars for restaurants. It’s about more than just the game. Diners flock to bars and eateries to watch their favorite teams compete, but they’re also there to spend time with fellow fans and friends, while eating and drinking good food and cold drinks. For restaurants, it’s important to offer menu items that not only draw customers in but keep them excited and coming back for more. Since a big draw of game day dining is the atmosphere and experience of group dining, shareable platters play a key role. They encourage guests to linger, to try more of the menu and to celebrate together. By offering food and beverage options that match the energy of game day, restaurants can not only enjoy higher check averages, but increased traffic and repeat visits. Make sure you’re prepared for game day, from the menu to operations, marketing and more.
What Fans Crave: Game Day Menu Favorites
When watching their favorite teams, fans want variety. They want the chance to try multiple dishes that they can share with everyone at the table. When planning what to offer on game day, remember that favorites consistently include items such as chicken wings, nachos, dips, sliders and handhelds, hot dogs and burgers, pizzas and more.
Having a variety of these choices on the menu as standalone items is a good start, but offering them as eye-catching shareable sampler platters is even better. Platters packed with the goods are shareable in more ways than one—at the table, of course, but also on social media, where they can spark conversation and entice more people to join in on the party.
Need some inspiration for what to put on a platter to help generate excitement? Showcasing one type of food in a variety of styles is a great way to satisfy a group of diners who want to try more than one item but don’t want to order more than one dish just for themselves. Try offering the Ultimate Hot Dog Tower—a dish that 83% of Millennials said they would visit a restaurant specifically to try.1
The Ultimate Hot Dog Tower, paired with parmesan fries and dipping sauces, features three styles of gourmet hot dogs:
- The Big Game Dumpster Dog, with chili, cheese, jalapeños, slaw, bacon and dill relish.
- The San Francisco Stack Dog, a bacon-wrapped dog with griddled onions, serrano peppers, lettuce, tomato, avocado and mayo.
- The Patty Melt Dog, wrapped in bacon and topped with shoestring fries, cheddar cheese sauce, caramelized onions and Thousand Island dressing—all on a pretzel bun.
For a barbecue option, offer up the Ultimate Game Day BBQ Platter, which scored a 99 out of 100 with consumers.1 It’s a shareable platter that brings the heat with chili-crisp tossed Tyson Red Label® Breaded Authentically Crispy Spicy Wings, Tyson Red Label® Unbreaded Applewood Smoked Wings and tender ibp Trusted Excellence® St. Louis-Style Pork Ribs at the center. It’s served with seasoned fries, fried pickles and crisp carrot and celery sticks, along with honey bourbon BBQ sauce and dill pickle ranch for dipping.
Appetizers also make for great shareable platters—stack them up with foods such as mini corn dogs, french fries, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, chicken tenders, pretzel bites and more.
For more shareable platter inspiration, you won’t want to miss our full Game Day Menu Inspiration—click here to get more menu ideas!
Entice Sports Fans and Help Boost the Bottom Line
Shareable platters aren’t just fun for sports fans—they’re a proven way to help boost revenue, generate a buzzworthy game day atmosphere and drive loyalty and repeat visits among all types of customers. Tyson Foodservice can help restaurants plan ahead with insights into fan dining behavior; high-quality, operator-friendly protein solutions that elevate menus; and a collection of new game day recipe ideas designed for versatility and ease. Access the full Game Day Menu Inspiration Guide now.
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