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S05.E06: Shrimpin' Ain't Easy

radishcake

By radishcake
in The Great Food Truck Race [V]

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radishcake

radishcake

The three remaining teams roll into Mobile, Ala., where Tyler challenges them to cook locally. After enduring sub-zero temperatures, one team walks away with nearly 100 pounds of fresh gulf shrimp free of charge from a local wholesaler. Once they hit the streets of Mobile, Tyler challenges them to add a brunch dish to their menu, and local chef Pete Bloeme is on hand to help Tyler determine the winner of the Truck Stop Cooking Challenge. One team is eliminated on the deck of the USS Alabama, leaving the final two teams primed for the grand finale.

 

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donnamarie

donnamarie

I was really hoping bacon would be in the finale (which looks like they came to my neck of the woods in Southwest Florida). I liked them. They were low key and supportive of each other. I'm not a fan of Chuck wagon at all. So I guess go Middle Feast?

  • Love 3
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cooksdelight

cooksdelight

The fact Texas has all those shrimp to peel and clean, and Bacon had extra money and less shrimp... tells me that Texas' food must have tasted better and/or been priced higher, time management issues aside. Imagine if Bacon had bought all their shrimp?

  • Love 1
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cooksdelight

cooksdelight

Wonder what would happen if Tyler suddenly decided to count the number of tickets for meals sold instead of the money? To me, that would be more fair for everyone, and be a true reflection of the quality of food if people kept coming back to buy more at a reasonable price.

  • Love 16
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Totale

Totale

They were supposed to "cook local" and both Chuckwagon and Feast had tilapia on the menu?  It was probably farmed in China and flown in.  I think of it as a trash fish and don't even buy it when it's on sale for $4 a pound because it doesn't taste very good.  I've never had grouper and maybe it is an expensive and tasty fish, but that doesn't mean you can replace it with river rat and sell it for $30.  I'm happy Feast told them to keep their (non-kosher) shrimp, and then kicked everyone's ass.  But their blackened salmon isn't exactly a local product, either.  Take a look at what you really get "local" in Alabama:

 

http://eatgulfseafood.com/userfiles/pdfs/Gulf%20Species.pdf

 

I'm just as happy to see Bacon go as they were ten years late all along.

 

Is there still a substantial population of retired New Yorkers in FL?  Maybe they'll turn out for some authentic Jewish treats.

  • Love 3
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mlp

mlp

 

Is there still a substantial population of retired New Yorkers in FL?  Maybe they'll turn out for some authentic Jewish treats.

 

I'm not Jewish but that's the truck I'd head for if I had to make a choice.  I can get steak dishes and tacos and so on anywhere.  And for a lot less money.  I'd much prefer to try something I can't get locally plus I like the Middle Feast people better than the Texans.

  • Love 7
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GaT

GaT

I'm amazed that Bacon lost even with the extra money they won.  I guess time management is a must when selling food out of a truck.

If they won an extra $1000.00 & still lost, they must have sold nothing. 

 

Wonder what would happen if Tyler suddenly decided to count the number of tickets for meals sold instead of the money? To me, that would be more fair for everyone, and be a true reflection of the quality of food if people kept coming back to buy more at a reasonable price.

Except that the trucks would suddenly start writing up multiple tickets for each order, if someone ordered two items, they would write up two tickets instead of one, & if the show prevented that somehow, if someone came up with a huge order, the truck would lose out on tickets, even though they sold more food. Maybe if they counted the number of items sold? Not including drinks, just straight how many.

  • Love 1
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Lillybee

Lillybee

(edited)

It's weird to me that "Lone Star Chuck Wagon" is serving high-end restaurant-style food. With that name, they ought to be doing mostly chili.

I doubt that they are serving high end restaurant food; they just think that they are. Most of their food is simple tex-mex stuff like burritos,etc. I think that most of their food is way over-priced, but, hey if people will pay 20 dollars for a burrito, it works.

Edited by Lillybee
  • Love 1
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HappyDancex2

HappyDancex2

I feel like the final 2 trucks played the best game but lost the spirit of the competition. The Lone Star truck was ok price gauging quesadillas and Middle Feast went further and further away from their flavors for short prep times and short cut foods. Bacon and Vocal Fry Beach Cruisers had more cooking integrity at least how I saw it or how it was edited. Middle Feast didn't exactly embrace the local part of the challenge this week and didn't get penalized. Bacon should have abandoned their menu a long time ago for bacon and cheese tacos for 20 bucks. They were making loaded burgers, pancakes and lettuce wraps. Yikes.

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cooksdelight

cooksdelight

Maybe if they counted the number of items sold? Not including drinks, just straight how many.

That's what I meant, I never thought about them doing separate tickets for a group order. They'd have to be very specific about the rules.

I hope MIddle Feast wins it all. And I hope Tyler lets them stay true to their food next week without any more ridiculous challenges.

  • Love 2
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backformore

backformore

$40, or even $30, kid what I spend on a steak, seafood or ethnic dish at a restaurant with tablecloths, real plates and forks, and table service. And if the food tastes off, I can call the server over and get the issue resolved.

There are no food trucks near me. Probably because there are so many fast-casual places around, there's no demand for trucks. To me, a food truck would be an option for a quick cheap meal. Panera , Roti, Chipotle, these are chain places where I can get a decent $10 meal. A food truck would have to provide something tasty and unique for $10 or less to get my business.

  • Love 5
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MortysCleaningLady

MortysCleaningLady

When Lone Star was starting to hunt for the missing gulf grouper, they even climbed through their car.  Umm, were they going to attempt to cook fish that had been unrefrigerated in the car for the length of their prep time (30 minutes minimum is my guess, but I think closer to an hour?)  If so, I'm relieved that the poor diner didn't get the grouper.  Yuck.  E coli anyone?

  • Love 6
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xaxat

xaxat

I guess that Gulf shrimp promotion didn't go like the producers thought it would. One team literally walked away from it (funniest moment in the episode) and the other two essentially suffered a time penalty from having to clean it.

 

Tyler, those jeans you wore on the first day? Not for anyone over 25.

  • Love 1
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BensBritches

BensBritches

I actually fell asleep while watching last night, so I missed most of the second half and had no desire to go back and watch the parts I missed.  I still can't get over the Lone Star truck actually charging 40 bucks for some grouper- because unless it was bathed in just picked truffles from France, I can't see how what they were making could possibly be worth that amount of money.  Like others have said... most of us don't visit food trucks for the high cost of the food. 

 

Really, the show should actually work at teaching these potential truck owners that inflated prices will lose them business.  I wish someone had walked up to Lone Star and said, "40 frickin' bucks for some fish that may or may not have been sitting in your car for the past hour??  F off.  And no, I don't think getting a super cheap fish as a replacement for $10 less is a bargain." 

 

This show has so lost the plot.  Nothing they actually do on the show has much baring on what the realities of running a food truck would be.  And the teams are boring, boring, boring, as is their food.  I am rooting for Middle Feast but frankly it is not with much passion.  I agree with those poster above who suggested that wins should be based on number of items sold, not total $$ amount.  Or the thing should go back to actually being a race... go here, sell this amount, move to the next place and the first team to the finish line wins!

 

Oh, and "guessing when you have 100 lb of shrimp" when you can actually lift the bags and test the weight?  How did two teams come up with something like 40 lbs? Because that's less than 20 lbs per bag.  Couldn't they at least figure out that 100 lbs would be quite hard to lift?  Did any team have one person try to lift all 3 bags at once?  I'm pretty strong, but I have trouble holding a 30 lb bag of cat litter for any significant length of time.  I think I would know that if my share of 1/3 the weigh was easy to lift and run with, I wasn't even at 20 lbs... maybe I missed something in that challenge.  Or I'm over-thinking it, which I'm prone to do when shows are this mundane!

  • Love 7
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GaT

GaT

Really, the show should actually work at teaching these potential truck owners that inflated prices will lose them business.  I wish someone had walked up to Lone Star and said, "40 frickin' bucks for some fish that may or may not have been sitting in your car for the past hour??  F off.  And no, I don't think getting a super cheap fish as a replacement for $10 less is a bargain." 

 

 

 

I think people pay for the "privilege" of maybe being on TV & at least being able to say that they ate at one of the food trucks competing on the show. IRL I can't imagine anyone paying that much for food off of a food truck.

  • Love 1
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jackjill89

jackjill89

I wouldn't pay those prices even to say I was eating from one of the competing trucks. I've never been been to a food truck, know that they have become all the rage the last few years, but I can't get past the old idea of them -- cheap crap from a truck. I don't like those flimsy paper bowls they use. I hate cheap plastic utensils. While some of the stuff looked good, overall, I'd rather go fast casual that try a food truck.

 

I barely tolerate the show. Don't know why I'm still watching. The quality of the contestants seems to have really gone down. The first few seasons had people who had experience, were successful and had some tasty looking food and good reputations. Now? Not so much.

  • Love 1
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needschocolate

needschocolate

If the were to spend an episode following the winner for the first week they were open, then I would hope for Lone Star to win, only because I would love to see the looks on their faces when nobody bought a $15 quesadilla or a $40 grouper meal - "Gee we lowered the price of the quesadilla to $12.99, but still nobody is buying it."

  • Love 2
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backformore

backformore

I want Middle Feast to win because that kind of food appeals to me.  I think they deserve to win because they are  original, they serve food you can't get just anywhere.   The  only reason I would buy food from a food truck would be to have something unique.   (and cheap)

  • Love 3
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Madding crowd

Madding crowd

I like the food Middle Feast serves and hope they win. I do wish they wouldn't go around looking like someone died though. They are the saddest group of contestants ever. I was worried that Bacon guy was going to collapse; it seems to be too much stress for him. I have never liked the Chuck wagon folks and still don't.

  • Love 4
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jhlipton

jhlipton

(edited)

I really want Feast to win. That is the type of food I would want to try. The Texas team doesn't seem to make anything that isn't available almost everywhere.

 

And mis-labeling it at that.  This wasn't the first time they sold something ("Taquitos") that was really something else.

 

Taquitos are rolled tacos.  They tend to be about an inch in diameter, not the honking thing the Lone Star Losers were making.  Hate them, hate them, hate them.

 

 

========================================================

 

At least one winner is doing well.  The Lime Truck guys have made enough to open 2 brick-and-mortar restaurants.

Edited by jhlipton
  • Love 2
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Wings

Wings

There is so much wrong with this show it is hard to know where to start.  What started out with promise (season 1) has degraded into a cheezy mess.  

 

Money in the till is the only way to judge their success.  Allow them to tweak and change their menus as would any start up business.   It would be interesting to see this process.  Let them decide how to alter their menu for different venues.  Stop with these ridiculous challenges that have nothing to do with the food truck craze that is sweeping the nation! 

  • Love 3
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windfall

windfall

I agree that this show really needs a format rework. There must be some way to run this show that doesn't encourage contestants to keep charging more and more. $40 really? That's more than what restaurants charge in Times Square.

  • Love 2
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xaxat

xaxat

I think it would only take a couple of tweaks to fix this. Teams need to be afraid of catering to people that will pay inflated prices because they are going to be on TV.

 

Judging by profits is important, but perhaps in an early challenge they let the teams set up their menu and then tell them they will be judge by tickets served, not cash in the till. This might benefit teams with more reasonable prices, and it also might discourage price gouging down the line.

 

They could also set up a "Thunderdome" . Each team sets up for the day separately, but just before open Tyler tells them to come to a central location where all of the trucks compete against each other with the ability to change prices and menus. That forty dollar plate is going to drop in price pretty quickly when going against twelve dollar fish tacos. (Will there ever be a season when at least one team doesn't serve them?)

 

Introducing uncertainty in a couple of early twists could really put in a disincentive to charge exorbitant prices for the rest of the competition.

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needschocolate

needschocolate

If they base the winner on profits, they will have teams that will charge very high prices because people will pay them.  If they base the winner on the number of items sold then they will have teams that make really small portions and charge very little for them.  Neither case reflects real world food truck operation. 

 

It would be great if they could have them sell without the public knowing that the trucks were part of a tv show (which would also make the crowds more realistic), but I doubt that is possible  - they must have to have them sign some sort of release. 

 

The only solution I can think of, and it isn't ideal by any means, is to have Tyler or some other food truck expert give the teams a range that they can sell each item for  - "Your quesadilla can be priced between $4 and $10, your fish taco can be priced between $3 and $8." Chances are the teams will go for the top of the range, because people will pay it, but it would make it a bit more realistic.  And it seems to me there have been a few times teams have lowered their prices because sales weren't good. 

 

Or - Maybe they could have all customers fill out something that says what they think the price should be and that would become the basis for the price they could charge at the next stop. That way, if the food isn't tasty, they won't be able to charge as much, in theory. 

 

I think I am much more interested in this show being fair and realistic than anyone connected with the show. 

  • Love 1
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cooksdelight

cooksdelight

What if Tyler just didn't tell them how they would be graded or judged each time? Line them up at the end of the day and tell the losing team "Your food didn't meet criteria, you only made $XXX and customer comment cards reflected that your food was the least popular"

That would keep everyone on their toes and things would be fair. Of course, that would take away all the drama and angst, and stupid challenges that this show seems to thrive on.

  • Love 1
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GaT

GaT

The only solution I can think of, and it isn't ideal by any means, is to have Tyler or some other food truck expert give the teams a range that they can sell each item for  - "Your quesadilla can be priced between $4 and $10, your fish taco can be priced between $3 and $8." Chances are the teams will go for the top of the range, because people will pay it, but it would make it a bit more realistic.  And it seems to me there have been a few times teams have lowered their prices because sales weren't good. 

 

 

 

I think number of items would work. If one truck sells burgers & another sells fish tacos, if they just counted how many of each the trucks sold, it would tell them whose food was more popular. Then to make sure the trucks don't start selling things for a penny to makes sales, the show could either set a price that all the trucks have to use, or tell them they have to make a certain % profit. 

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Wings

Wings

(edited)

 

If they base the winner on profits, they will have teams that will charge very high prices because people will pay them.  If they base the winner on the number of items sold then they will have teams that make really small portions and charge very little for them.  Neither case reflects real world food truck operation.

 

 

This does reflect the real food truck operation.  Food trucks come to my town every Friday night.  One truck sells hot dogs and burgers others steak sandwiches, Greek gyros, Caribbean fare, empanadas , BBQ.  And there is an ice cream truck that cleans up on these hot nights. 

 

Their prices vary wildly.  The hot dog/ burger is the cheapest and you see families with kids in line.  Their profit is all about volume.  The steak sandwich truck may not sell as many but their higher price brings them the same profit margin, most likely. 

 

Restaurants on the same block operate the same way.  A gourmet fusion place next to a spaghetti joint both survive and profit with a different audience. 

 

Money in sales is the way to judge, not only their food but their business sense.  Are they going for volume or high priced items appealing to a more sophisticated diner?    

Edited by wings707
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Totale

Totale

(edited)

Since they have to do all the advance work of finding locations and getting food and filming permits and onscreen releases anyway, why not set the trucks all up at one place, charge the customers a flat fee to walk onto the grounds and give them like ten or twenty tickets good for food, then let the trucks determine their own menus and set their own prices.  "Our grouper special is 20 tickets, but you can try our quesadilla for 8, and our homemade lemonade is two tickets, same as the truck next door is charging for water".  Let them make up special one or two ticket tasters or even give out free samples if they want, but all the food product they buy with the seed money at the beginning of the day is all they get, so when they run out they're done - no shopping.  Team with the most tickets at the end of the day is the winner.

Edited by Totale
  • Love 2
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bobbyjoe

bobbyjoe

I think there should be a $20 price cap for any item sold.  Even $20 is pushing it as a realistic price for a food truck. 

 

How about a surprise speed bump where an actual authority on food truck vending drops by and secretly analyzes the food and prices.  If that judge deems a team is majorly overcharging what they could realistically sell that item for on the street, that team loses everything they've taken in from sales of that item.  Do this once on the show, and I bet you'd have teams a whole lot more reluctant to try and sell $30 tilapia.

 

[bTW, anybody who'd pay $30 for tilapia off a food truck seriously needs to have their head examined.]

 

On another note-- Good god, it's looking pretty likely Food Network is going to have its second "yee haw, I'm a phony rootin' tootin' chuckwagon cowboy" winner in a row on their big comps. 

 

Stop it Food Network, please, please, stop.  Or else change your damn name to the Chuckwagon Channel.

  • Love 2
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MortysCleaningLady

MortysCleaningLady

I think there should be a $20 price cap for any item sold.  Even $20 is pushing it as a realistic price for a food truck. 

 

How about a surprise speed bump where an actual authority on food truck vending drops by and secretly analyzes the food and prices.  If that judge deems a team is majorly overcharging what they could realistically sell that item for on the street, that team loses everything they've taken in from sales of that item.  Do this once on the show, and I bet you'd have teams a whole lot more reluctant to try and sell $30 tilapia.

 

[bTW, anybody who'd pay $30 for tilapia off a food truck seriously needs to have their head examined.]

 

 

 

Or a surprise visit from the Board of Health -- realistic and fun!

  • Love 2
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needschocolate

needschocolate

I think number of items would work. If one truck sells burgers & another sells fish tacos, if they just counted how many of each the trucks sold, it would tell them whose food was more popular. Then to make sure the trucks don't start selling things for a penny to makes sales, the show could either set a price that all the trucks have to use, or tell them they have to make a certain % profit. 

But then they would have to regulate the size of the items too.  Generally, a hamburger is a meal and two tacos is a meal.  So if people were eating meals, the taco truck would sell twice as many items.  Then the burger truck would make sliders instead and they would sell 3-4 times as many items. 

 

If they had some sort of price regulation, they wouldn't have to care about the number of items sold.

 

This does reflect the real food truck operation.  Food trucks come to my town every Friday night.  One truck sells hot dogs and burgers others steak sandwiches, Greek gyros, Caribbean fare, empanadas , BBQ.  And there is an ice cream truck that cleans up on these hot nights. 

 

Their prices vary wildly.  The hot dog/ burger is the cheapest and you see families with kids in line.  Their profit is all about volume.  The steak sandwich truck may not sell as many but their higher price brings them the same profit margin, most likely. 

 

Restaurants on the same block operate the same way.  A gourmet fusion place next to a spaghetti joint both survive and profit with a different audience. 

 

Money in sales is the way to judge, not only their food but their business sense.  Are they going for volume or high priced items appealing to a more sophisticated diner?    

 

Except on the show, customers are willing to wait in long line and pay hefty prices because they get the chance to be on tv or get a story to tell at the water cooler the next day. They may charge different prices in the real world, but they wouldn't last long selling $15 quesadillas or $30 tilapias.

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In Pog Form

In Pog Form

I hope MIddle Feast wins it all. And I hope Tyler lets them stay true to their food next week without any more ridiculous challenges.

Next week: Teams must sacrifice a goat and create a pentagram made out of blood before they can join Tyler's satanic sex orgy in Del Boca Vista. It's a cherished local tradition.

  • Love 1
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bluepiano

bluepiano

(edited)

Because if they don't do something, people will be charging $50 for a hamburger and people who want to be on TV will pay it.

 

Something seems to have changed in the show this year, because in seasons past trucks often struggled to get enough patrons, and they had to lower prices to get business. This season, wherever the trucks show up they have lines around the block, composed of people who are committing to buying food in order to be part of a TV show.  Hence the ridiculous price gouging by Lone Star. 

 

That incident when they didn't have the grouper says it all. In the real world, without a camera on him, I'd like to hear what that guy would've really said when offered the chance to pay $30 for tilapia, (Maybe 3x what it would've been at an actual, not on TV food truck).

 

They should at least be as honest as "Kitchen Nightmares" when GR says "word's got out we're in town, so the restaurant is packed. They're not pretending that they're filming a normal night. (And when you lack the integrity of a Gordon Ramsey TV show, you know you're in trouble.

 

I hope that we're in store for an underdog win by Middle Feast, because I feel like this entire season the deck has been stacked for Lone Star Chuck Wagon. They cook Tex-Mex, so where have the challenges taken place? Texas and a bunch of other southwestern and southern states where their cuisine is well known and the go-to eat out food for huge numbers of people. Kudos to Middle Feast for making it to the final two having to serve food that in most of the locations has been very foreign. (And now they are in Florida, but on the non-Jewish west coast). This season has been a travesty.

 

Edited by bluepiano
  • Love 2
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xaxat

xaxat

Something seems to have changed in the show this year, because in seasons past trucks often struggled to get enough patrons, and they had to lower prices to get business. This season, wherever the trucks show up they have lines around the block, composed of people who are committing to buying food in order to be part of a TV show.  

 

I really wonder how much the producers have helped teams get locations. In the St. Louis episode one of the trucks set up outside Busch Stadium. The area around new sports stadiums is the business equivalent of a "no fly zone". The team controls everything. The buildings, the businesses in those buildings, the parking and many times security through some kind of a Business Improvement District.

 

There is zero chance a truck could just drive up and set up shop.

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cooksdelight

cooksdelight

I wonder if this show has fallen so far off that they recruit people to come and get food, perhaps even comping them their meals? Because I agree with you, I don't remember so many people lining up as there was in this episode.

Xaxat, I didn't know that about sports stadiums. Interesting. And now I'll be watching these shows even closer to see this type of thing happening. I remember in earlier seasons they'd often have trouble setting up somewhere, but now it seems as if all the velvet ropes have parted.

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