Cheese Shop owner Dan Weiss is a big Eagles Fan and announced the start of the season with a chalkboard message last week. (Photo by Pete Mazzaccaro)

by Tyller Moorer

Everyone knows that the city of Philadelphia is happier when the Eagles are winning; what you might not know is that businesses are a lot happier when the Eagles are winning, too.

Here in Northwest Philadelphia – In Mt. Airy and Chestnut Hill – there is one thing, aside from food, that taverns and bakeries have in common: business is booming and customers are happy when the Eagles are playing well.

During the Eagle’s remarkable 2017-2018 season, which ended in a Super Bowl trophy, owners noticed a shift in business from the years prior of them not doing so hot. Both owners of McMenamin’s Tavern and McNally’s Tavern agreed that the day after the Eagles lose business is a bit slower than usual. Why you might ask? No one wants to come out and celebrate.

McMenamin’s Tavern is owned by PJ McMenamin and has been around for 30 years in February. He is a die-hard Eagle’s fan, which runs in his family; his father being the longest season ticket holder. His pride for the Eagles is projected throughout his tavern.

When asked if there is a difference when the Eagles are winning opposed to losing he didn’t need to think about it.

“Oh my God, there’s a huge difference sales wise,” he said. “The people’s attitudes are much better; people are coming in to watch as a group and we got a bunch of TVs We always do pretty well for sporting events. But it just uplifts the whole city and Mt. Airy seems to come out strong for us.”

McMenamin prefers the Sunday games around 1 p.m. opposed to weekday games because on Sunday, they are packed. Since they open at 12:30 p.m. there is always a line outside the door, people waiting to get seats at the bar and others reserving tables to watch the games. A lot of people also tend to linger around after the game continuing to eat and drink and have a great time, especially after a win.

In order to prepare for the season and upcoming games McMenamin stated, “We always do a wing special when the games are on Sunday, $5.95. We make sure that everything is stocked, beer is ready to go, and food is all loaded up.”

While they have no rituals for games it was made clear that the Sunday bartenders always, “rock it out.” Head down to McMenamin’s for your Sunday special on wings and to enjoy the Eagles on their journey to, hopefully, another Super Bowl.

Amy Eldeman is the owner and baker at The Night Kitchen. During the last football season, she came up with the idea to do Eagle specific cupcakes, cakes, and cookies due to the obvious excitement around them. She wanted something that people could bring to their pre-game, playoff and Super Bowl parties.

She too notices a difference in business mentioning, “We don’t have sports themed items in cases on a regular basis. I’ve run the bakery for 18 years and that was the first time that we have done this many Eagle specific things.”

The Night Kitchen will be doing their Eagle specific cupcakes, cakes, and cookies again this year, except she will only make the cakes upon request. They sold cupcakes and cookies last week for the Eagles pre-season game and sold out immediately. They will continue to make the cupcakes and cookies every week.

One ritual that the staff have is all wearing green when the Eagles are going to play. Eldeman hopes that they will make it to the Super Bowl again because, “it adds to the positivity of Philadelphia and brings great attention to its growing population.”

Anne McNally is the owner of McNally’s Tavern here in Chestnut Hill. McNally’s is known for its famous sandwich, The Schmitter. The sandwich consists of Beef, Salami, cheese, onions, tomato, and special “Schmitter sauce” on a Kaiser roll. They have a stand where they sell, “The Schmitter,”  at Lincoln Finical Field.

When recalling Thursday night’s game McNally stated, “We have a stand at Lincoln Financial Field. We sold our signature sandwich and sold out, 350 of them. It was really great to be there, attendance was high.”

She is pretty confident that the Eagles will make it back to the Super Bowl. She pointed out, “we have a really great coach and a great team and they work really well together. I don’t mind being the underdog, we work a lot harder.”

While McNally’s does not offer any special discounts for Eagle’s games you can always head to McNally’s or Lincoln Finacial Field to try out their famous sandwich, “The Schmitter”.

These business owners are confident that the Eagles will take home another Super Bowl trophy. The city of Philadelphia could use another win and another way to unite the city once again.

Tyller Moorer is a Local intern.