A Look at Thanksgiving by the Numbers

In November and December will sell more than 7 million pounds of turkey and ham, according to the company's retail marketing manager.

Such a statistic seems excessive but according to Melissa Pumphrey, this is only the average number of expected sales.

And don’t forget about those oh-so-important Thanksgiving side dishes. Pumphery says HoneyBaked’s potato side dishes are the customer favorites.

“Our potatoes are huge,” she said. “We sell, between mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes soufflé and potatoes au gratin, more than 275,630 pounds. Our potato sides are definitely the most popular, especially our sweet potato soufflé.” 

Last but certainly not least come the desserts. Pumphery told us that during this sales period HoneyBaked anticipates selling more than 38,144 Thanksgiving pies.

“Typically our pecan and pumpkin pies are really popular, but this year we are also offering a caramel apple walnut pie that we think is going to do great,” she said.

The fun doesn’t stop once Thanksgiving is over. HoneyBaked has many recipes for your leftovers on their website. Pumphrey said a southern favorite is the Turkey and Corn pudding recipe. Other top choices are the Holiday Turkey Gobbler Sandwich and the Hambone Soup Mix.

To sell all of that holiday food, HoneyBaked is hiring more than 6,300 people nationwide. HoneyBaked’s Georgia Division, with approximately 300 stores across the U.S., will hire 4,100 seasonal employees through Jan. 1, 2012.

Personnel at stores during the holiday season support a major operation to prepare and distribute HoneyBaked’s products, and to ramp up frontline customer sales at more than 400 stores nationwide.

Metro Atlanta HoneyBaked corporate stores will account for nearly 700 new hires, and Birmingham, Denver, Greensboro, Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans, St. Louis and Tampa each add between 125 and 200 seasonal employees.