As the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers prepare strategies for the Super Bowl tonight, pizza delivery stores in the Ann Arbor area have a general strategy of their own: do everything possible not to disrupt customers’ plans.

Customers want to be able to order pizza quickly, get it made accurately and delivered on time - all on a day when orders rise 30 percent and more for area pizza-makers.

But pizza companies’ increasing reliance on online ordering systems introduces a new wrinkle into Super Bowl Sunday: What happens if the overwhelming web traffic causes the online ordering system to become inaccessible?

That’s what happened to one of Domino’s Pizza’s main competitors last year during the Super Bowl, said Lance Shinabarger, vice president for information systems for Domino’s.

Minutes of downtime can result in sales losses on the most important day of the year for the pizza delivery industry.

Online ordering now represents about 25 percent of orders placed at Domino’s, an international chain with some 9,000 locations.

But the Super Bowl threatens pizza companies’ online ordering system, because it’s a live event watched by 100 million people, and most orders are placed around the same time: kickoff and halftime.

That’s why Domino’s plans to assemble a group of more than 50 tech workers in a conference room during the game to monitor traffic to the company’s website to ensure continuous, high-quality service.

“We’ve done a ton of simulation testing to make sure we have enough (server capacity) to handle the Super Bowl,” Shinabarger said. “We’ve been doing this since July.”

Online ordering - which is generally lucrative because it reduces the number of workers needed to take orders by phone - is also emerging as a significant opportunity for smaller players in the industry, too.

Ann Arbor-based pizza chain Cottage Inn, which operates 60 locations, is aiming for more than $2 million in online sales in 2011, said Bob Miller, marketing director in charge of digital operations. He said the company’s online ordering is up 40 percent to 50 percent since last year.

“We’re continuing to improve it and make it as convenient as possible for customers. We’re promoting it on e-mail, we’re promoting it in print,” he said. “Online ordering is never rude to customers and it promotes accuracy, too, where communication breaks down.”

Miller said Cottage Inn would monitor the company’s website during the Super Bowl in hopes of avoiding troubles that can arise when a website experiences a massive surge of visitors in a short time.

At the Pizza House restaurant on Church Street, about 20 percent of delivery orders are placed through the Internet, said manager Chris Bortz. The restaurant contracts with various online ordering services to handle its orders.

“We started almost two years ago and the percentage does nothing but grow and grow over time,” Bortz said.

Here's a slice of just how big Super Bowl Sunday is for pizza delivery stores:

• Domino’s, which expects to deliver 9 million slices of pizza today, is projecting a 33 percent surge in orders over a typical Sunday.

• Cottage Inn expects an increase of 30 percent to 35 percent.

• Pizza House plans to have about 80 employees working to handle demand during the Super Bowl, including more than 30 delivery drivers. Bortz said delivery orders rise about 40 percent on Super Bowl Sunday over a typical Sunday. But business inside the restaurant during the Super Bowl is slow, he said.

Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.