Restaurant sales boom on Thanksgiving Eve

Amarillo, TX - Black Friday is for shoppers but local restaurants say Thanksgiving eve is Black Friday for them.

For many, Thursday will be a cooking spree.

So Wednesday thousands of people are hoping to either eat out or order in.

We went to a few restaurants in our area to see how they are holding up.

"Pepperoni is probably number one," says Velma Cagel, assistant manager, Pizza Planet.

This is not an ordinary day for Pizza Planet.

"We expect to make over a couple of hundred," says Velma Cagel, assistant manager, Pizza Planet.

They've taken several weeks to prepare.

"We stock up especially on the dough," says Velma Cagel, assistant manager, Pizza Planet.

Besides that, they stock up on much more.

"Well we double up our delivery drivers and then we need a ton of people to answer the phones," says Velma Cagel, assistant manager, Pizza Planet.

They are racing to keep up with the high demand because Thanksgiving eve ranks among the five best days for pizza sales.

Right down the street Papa John's Pizza is also having the same rush.

"The day before Thanksgiving we get so busy that we normally staff up the store like Superbowl Sunday. We have normally between 30 and 40 carry-outs per hour and we are out delivering about 50 deliveries each hour," says Johnny Michie, Papa John's Pizza.

But pizza places aren't the only one's staying busy and bringing in all the business.

"T today we've had a really busy lunch, so we'll probably be sold out by three this afternoon," says Tyler Frazer, owner, Tyler's Barbeque.

That's after he prepared double the amount of food.

"It's also tricky to guess how much food to cook. For us, being a barbeque place we have to cook everything so far out."

After the rush is over, they will all be raking in the dough.

"It will definitely be in the thousands," says Velma Cagel, assistant manager, Pizza Planet.

"Nobody in the restaurant business wants to sell out because that means there's some customers that come in later that don't get to have what they want. At the same time, it's critical for us so we can pay the rent, pay the people and pay for all of our food bills," says Tyler Frazer, owner, Tyler's Barbeque.