Game day food has one job: feed everybody, keep people where the TV is, and don’t turn the host into a short-order cook. Hot chicken is built for exactly that. Trays of Nashville hot wings, hot chicken tenders, hot chicken sliders and Crimson Nugs travel well, stay good through a long afternoon, and eat perfectly standing up.
And because everything we make is 100% halal certified at every location, one order covers the whole room. Nobody gets handed a plate they have to politely push around.
Why hot chicken beats the usual game day order
Pizza goes soft. Burgers need assembling. Anything that has to be eaten hot the second it arrives puts the host on a timer. Hot chicken does the opposite: it’s good hot, it’s good forty minutes later, and it doesn’t need a plate and a fork to work.
There’s also the crowd problem. Wings night is traditional, but a wings-only order leaves out the people who want something they can actually hold in one hand. A mixed order solves that: wings for the regulars, tenders and sliders for everyone else, nuggets for the kids, loaded fries for the table.
What to order, by headcount
Build the order from full-size trays. A rough guide:
- Tray of Wings (six dozen) — about 12 to 18 people.
- Tray of Tenders (50 pieces) — about 12 to 16 people as the main.
- Crimson Tray or Homestyle Tray (25 sandwiches) — about 25 people, one each.
- Tray of Sliders (25 sliders) — 12 to 25, depending on what else is out.
- Tray of Crimson Nugs (100 pieces) — 10 to 16, and the easy pick for kids.
- Side trays — fries, mac and cheese, fried pickles, potato salad and slaw. Most groups add one or two per main tray.
Appetites run higher on game day than at an office lunch, so round up rather than down. Leftover hot chicken is not a problem anybody has complained about.
Pick the heat per tray, not per order
Our scale runs across five heat levels: Country (no heat), Mild, Medium, Hot and Burrrrn, Baby, Burn. Heat is chosen per item, which matters more than it sounds for a party.
It means the same order can carry a Country tray for the people who came for the company and a Burrrrn, Baby, Burn tray for the ones who came to prove something. Medium is the crowd-pleaser if you only want to pick one.
Order it a few hours ahead and forget about it
Catering orders need at least three hours of lead time, and pickup times run inside store hours, 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM daily. For an afternoon kickoff, that means ordering in the morning. For a big group or a Sunday, order the day before.
Everything is cooked to order rather than held under a lamp, and the chicken is fresh, never-frozen chicken, seasoned with our Crimson Rub a full 24 hours before frying. That’s the difference you taste in the third quarter, not just the first.
Local to Downey?
If you’re in Downey, Bellflower, Norwalk, Paramount or Pico Rivera, everything above is on the halal catering in Downey page, including tray sizes and how to order for a specific date and time. Anywhere else, pick your Crimson Coward location and order from there.
Frequently asked questions
How much hot chicken do I need for a game day party?
As a rough guide, a tray of wings (six dozen) feeds about 12 to 18 people, a tray of 50 tenders feeds 12 to 16, and a tray of 100 Crimson Nugs feeds 10 to 16. Most groups add one or two side trays per main tray.
How far ahead do I need to order game day catering?
Catering orders need at least three hours of lead time, within store hours of 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM. For Sunday afternoon kickoffs and big groups, ordering the day before is safer.
Is Crimson Coward catering halal?
Yes. Every item is 100% halal certified at every location, catering included, so one order covers the whole room.
Can one order have different spice levels?
Yes. Heat is chosen per item, so you can put Country (no heat) trays next to Hot or Burrrrn, Baby, Burn in the same order.
Set the order, pick your heat levels, and spend the game watching the game. Start on the catering page.