S07.E01: Family Face-Off: A Family Affair

[HalcyonDays]

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Episode synopsis: Six family teams kick off the Great Food Truck Race with a funnel cake eating contest at Six Flags theme park in Los Angeles. After leaving the park, host Tyler Florence gives the families their first challenge: create the ultimate theme park bite, with the winning team earning $200. On day two, the teams take part in a bidding war for a prime selling spot on the grounds of Six Flags. These first time food truckers quickly realize operating a food truck is much more than fun in the California sun as they continue on the road to the grand prize of $50,000!

[NYGirl]

I thought I heard one of the contestants say that she was with her best friend.  I thought they had to be family.  I am rooting for the Italians because they are from Staten Island, however, that Jersey Shore guy is really annoying.  I'm glad the grilled cheese guys caught up and actually made a profit.  The food I'd like to try is the southern girls.  That Fortune Cooking wife was very nasty to the Hawaiians.

[mlp]

They seem to have played it very loose with the definition of family.  Several teams have people who aren't actually related to the others.

I recognized Tom the minute I saw him but I can't quite place where I saw him before.  GGG I think but I'm not positive.  

The southern soul food truck is ugly.  I wonder why the other trucks have vibrant scenes and that truck has just graduated shades of purple.

[arime]

I recognized Tom from Cutthroat Kitchen. I think he might have been on GGG too. 

[Skyfall]

 

They seem to have played it very loose with the definition of family.  Several teams have people who aren't actually related to the others.

I recognized Tom the minute I saw him but I can't quite place where I saw him before.  GGG I think but I'm not positive.  

The southern soul food truck is ugly.  I wonder why the other trucks have vibrant scenes and that truck has just graduated shades of purple.

I think the team's give concepts and the network brings them to life.

 

They seem to have played it very loose with the definition of family.  Several teams have people who aren't actually related to the others.

I recognized Tom the minute I saw him but I can't quite place where I saw him before.  GGG I think but I'm not positive.  

The southern soul food truck is ugly.  I wonder why the other trucks have vibrant scenes and that truck has just graduated shades of purple.

I think 2 member each at least had to be family paid its the first time each truck had family members thus family version.

[xaxat]

The editing on this show is awful. I know they are trying to develop the drama, but "It was so slow, but then we. . . " is getting repetitive and unbelievable.

I do like that they are going with profit/loss and not revenue to determine the winners this season.

That little map looked so sad considering how little they will be traveling compared to previous seasons. 

[spiderpig]

Add me to the "I've seen Tom before" group.  I hope he cooks better than he drives.

I really miss the concept of telling the truckers at the end of the episode what their next destination would be - and it was something like Casper, Wyoming or Lawrenceville, Kansas.  Places that would require some research on the truckers' part to figure out where to set up shop.

Not Oxnard.

[GaT]

3 hours ago, xaxat said:

I do like that they are going with profit/loss and not revenue to determine the winners this season.

 

I don't understand how going with profit/loss is any different than what they've been doing, is whatever they're doing why 3 teams were in the negative numbers?

[xaxat]

I might have missed it, but it seemed like they weren't doing their usual "seed money" for the teams, where each team gets the same amount to spend on food. So teams were able to buy whatever they wanted but at the same time had to ensure that their budget would allow them to make more in revenue than the cost of their food. 

Some teams ended up spending more money shopping than they made in sales, so the went negative.

[Lamb18]

9 hours ago, GaT said:

I don't understand how going with profit/loss is any different than what they've been doing, is whatever they're doing why 3 teams were in the negative numbers?

I think in the past it was based solely on revenue without any consideration of cost. It sounds like now that it's based on net income, subtracting costs from the revenue.

[GaT]

47 minutes ago, Lamb18 said:

I think in the past it was based solely on revenue without any consideration of cost. It sounds like now that it's based on net income, subtracting costs from the revenue.

I thought that was how they did it before, every time someone had an accident with their truck, they always took the money from them (like they did in this episode), & the only money they had to buy supplies was the money Tyler gave them & what was in their box, so I'm still confused.

EDITED: I missed @xaxat post above, so I think I get it now. I must have missed that they didn't get seed money. But now my question is, if they didn't get seed money, where did they get money to buy supplies?

Edited August 29, 2016 by GaT

[illini1959]

They got seed money at the beginning. I don't remember how much, but they were all careful about their budget while shopping.

[xaxat]

Thanks.

Shows how much attention I was(n't) paying.

ETA Do you remember how much? I'd like to figure out how many customers they actually served.

Edited August 29, 2016 by xaxat

[IrishPirate]

I heard $300 in passing--when some of them were shopping, they were saying things about being "close to the limit" and the totals showing on the cash registers were between 200 and 300.

[DeLurker]

Is a grilled cheese on a waffle iron a big selling point?  Looked like it was standard issue bread so I am flummoxed by what the appeal would be.

[Skyfall]

I'm still confused why they forced them to eat funnel cakes.

[spiderpig]

2 hours ago, Skyfall said:

I'm still confused why they forced them to eat funnel cakes.

That was gross.  I hope FN is prepared to foot the cheese team's cardiology bills.

[BW Manilowe]

4 hours ago, Skyfall said:

I'm still confused why they forced them to eat funnel cakes.

Getting the key to their food truck was contingent upon them finding which funnel cake (I think the plate) the key was hidden in/under.

The teams all got $300 in seed money for last night's round.

[GaT]

12 hours ago, illini1959 said:

They got seed money at the beginning. I don't remember how much, but they were all careful about their budget while shopping.

Then I'm still confused LOL. I don't understand how this season is different & how 3 trucks ended up in the negative.

[spiderpig]

2 hours ago, GaT said:

Then I'm still confused LOL. I don't understand how this season is different & how 3 trucks ended up in the negative.

Fortune Cooking got dinged paying for damaged vehicles (did they say how much?)  The Jersey Italian truck committed to $400 upfront for the space inside Six Flags, yet they finished #1 didn't they?  I'm not sure what went on.

[tomorrowgirl]

Do the contestants not get any instructions on how the equipment in the truck works?  It seems like every year there is a problem with the pilot light or some other equipment and the people have no idea how to get things working.  Some contestants are already familiar with food trucks, but for others, it's the first time using one.

Tyler looked like he finally understands how to get a closer shave.

[illini1959]

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Then I'm still confused LOL. I don't understand how this season is different & how 3 trucks ended up in the negative.

Yeah, not sure what went on, either. I remember Tyler handing each of them a packet before they took off.

Like spiderpig said, one was dinged for damages done to other vehicles, someone (same truck?) got a parking ticket. Either the Jersey Italian truck made a TON of money in the park or they made SOME money and the other trucks made next to nothing. It was looking like most of them weren't making much of anything, but we all know how editing is.

I'll need to pay more attention going forward.

[biakbiak]

It was the Jersey team that got the parking ticket that they said wiped out the first day total which is why they said they gambled big on the park.

[Christina]

I also heard $300 seed money. So, the teams were given $300 to shop. Assuming that the teams spent the entire amount, they were $300 in the hole before selling their first item. The Italian team sold $68 dollars on day one, but had a $68 ticket, effectively taking them back to zero. The Fortune Cookie team had property damage to other trucks which put them in the hole even farther. The other teams were complaining about their lack of sales on day one, with the Hawaiian team not attempting to bid on the Six Flags option because they hadn't sold anything and were still in the hole $300. The Italian team won the bid with $400, so they now had to earn $700 to break even, but apparently sold quite a bit more than that.

To determine the rankings, this season they took total sales minus expenses to come up with the profit of each team. They had to earn $300 to break even, and only three teams did, plus the Fortune team had additional expenses as a result of the property damage claims. Last year, it seemed like they just used total sales. I think, however, the expenses were being paid out of the til, so it was effectively taking into consideration the expense, but it still allowed the waffle team to stay on top because their expense was much less than the other teams. They never said that, though, it was always "who sells the most" making it sound like only the total sales were considered for placement. There was the one time that they had to buy rattlesnake, and had to pay for it from their sales and someone didn't earn enough, putting them in the negative, but otherwise, they only seemed to determine placement by the total dollar amount sold. 

None of the teams stuck out to me as want to win or want to go quickly because of an annoyance factor, so that is a nice change. 

[Lola16]

Jersey Shore Vinny, his mom (who appeared on Season 1 at least), and his fame whore Uncle (who has been on every show he can get). So Vinny wants to win to help his mom open a restaurant. No experience. No knowledge. Just good old home cooking. Seems like they'll be on an episode of Restaurant Impossible next.

[chessiegal]

49 minutes ago, Lola16 said:

Jersey Shore Vinny, his mom (who appeared on Season 1 at least), and his fame whore Uncle (who has been on every show he can get). So Vinny wants to win to help his mom open a restaurant. No experience. No knowledge. Just good old home cooking. Seems like they'll be on an episode of Restaurant Impossible next.

Except that Restaurant Impossible has been cancelled.

[BW Manilowe]

I didn't hear how much the property damage fine is this season, but they showed a marathon of a previous season before the new ep & at least 1 of the old eps involved docking a truck for property damage. The fine for that season was $250, according to Tyler when he went over the truck totals & announced the fine in that old ep (he said the $250 covered the deductible); so I suppose the fine for property damage this season would be comparable.

[Pallida]

The woman who pushed the truck mentioned gas costing money, so I wonder if they are factoring in operating costs. It'd be an interesting twist to see how teams decide to stay or leave a spot. 

[Lola16]

5 hours ago, chessiegal said:

Except that Restaurant Impossible has been cancelled.

Yea, I know. Doubt Jersey Shore Vinny knows. And there's a host of other "rescue" shows that they can apply to once they find out.

[GaT]

8 hours ago, Christina said:

I also heard $300 seed money. So, the teams were given $300 to shop. Assuming that the teams spent the entire amount, they were $300 in the hole before selling their first item.

Sounds like this is what's different this season, I don't think the seed money was counted before, they didn't have to make it up before they could show a profit.

[Jersey Guy 87]

On 8/29/2016 at 5:57 PM, DeLurker said:

Is a grilled cheese on a waffle iron a big selling point?  Looked like it was standard issue bread so I am flummoxed by what the appeal would be.

That's what they were selling.  They apparently tried to be interesting with the cheese (although monterey jack is pretty pedestrian) but they were using regular old bread sold sliced by the loaf.  And no real variation in grilled cheese - add bacon, add tomato, add something.  Give a choice of cheeses.  It was barely a step above Wonder Bread and Kraft singles.

[Skyfall]

 

Getting the key to their food truck was contingent upon them finding which funnel cake (I think the plate) the key was hidden in/under.

The teams all got $300 in seed money for last night's round.

I understand that, but why make them eat funnel cakes? Or even have the stupid game anyway? Something much more interesting is hiding the key in the truck and make them search for it.

[NewDigs]

The eating funnel cake thing was stupid, imho. Really unnecessary. 

And it seems that we've already had practically a season's worth of mishaps just this week. Parking tickets, truck damage, pilot light mystery, groceries left behind, parking problems, crying and more!

Are seasoned bread crumbs that much more expensive than plain? And banana wontons do absolutely nothing for me. But, like @NYGirl, the Southern Girls served the most interesting and appetizing, to me, food.

Edited September 2, 2016 by NewDigs

[BW Manilowe]

4 hours ago, Skyfall said:

I understand that, but why make them eat funnel cakes? Or even have the stupid game anyway? Something much more interesting is hiding the key in the truck and make them search for it.

The funnel cake thing was kinda stupid; a time waster to try to spread the teams' selling time out more. But then, if I remember right, the waffle grilled cheese team found their key last but managed to stay in the game anyway.

[TDT]

On 8/30/2016 at 5:45 PM, chessiegal said:

Except that Restaurant Impossible has been cancelled.

It has..? I think Mystery Diners is as well(Thank God lol)

[Girl in a Cardigan]

I've only seen this show in passing, so I'm not totally caught up on how teams win or lose, but it's still fun to watch. I was a bit confused why no one headed toward the beach or Venice or outside a studio, but instead ended up parked on corners with no people. I can only assume that territories were clearly laid out for them, but we weren't privy to them.

A long time ago, I used to work with one of the "Cheese Twins," so I'm excited to see them doing well so far on the show. They have their own fancy cheese business, so I'm a little confused why their initial offering was so pedestrian, but hopefully, they step it up in Oxnard (LOL).

[Fostersmom]

Six Flags must be a sponsor, hence the stupid funnel cake thing and them letting a food truck in the park 

[MajorWoody]

On August 29, 2016 at 5:57 PM, DeLurker said:

Is a grilled cheese on a waffle iron a big selling point?  Looked like it was standard issue bread so I am flummoxed by what the appeal would be.

After several episodes, it is quite obvious The Cheese twins make a low end, usually burned, lousy grilled cheese sandwich, and to make matters worse, actually use packaged, low end boiled ham in their sandwich. They are nothing but reality TV FameWhores seeking a show, and latched onto the Grilled Cheese angle even though it is apparent they have no idea how to make a good GC. 

[spiderpig]

5 hours ago, MajorWoody said:

After several episodes, it is quite obvious The Cheese twins make a low end, usually burned, lousy grilled cheese sandwich, and to make matters worse, actually use packaged, low end boiled ham in their sandwich. They are nothing but reality TV FameWhores seeking a show, and latched onto the Grilled Cheese angle even though it is apparent they have no idea how to make a good GC. 

They must be stopped at all cost!

(but then we're left with the Jersey creeps and weird, annoying, clueless, horribly-coiffed Mama)

Message to Tyler:  Swim away!  Save yourself!

[mlp]

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(but then we're left with the Jersey creeps and weird, annoying, clueless, horribly-coiffed Mama)

It gets worse.  FN just announced that Vinny and Mama will soon have a travel show of their own.  Shudder.

[spiderpig]

51 minutes ago, mlp said:

It gets worse.  FN just announced that Vinny and Mama will soon have a travel show of their own.  Shudder.

(hurries to remove FN from cable Favorites list)

Who's running this dog and pony show anyway?  It's becoming worse than HSN.

[mlp]

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Who's running this dog and pony show anyway?

Read it and weep

http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/food-network-bob-tuschman-deirdre-ohearn-cooking-channel-1201684940/

I read an interview with Didi O'Hearn after she was hired and she said she intended to draw viewers by using celebrities.  She has followed through and we've seen a proliferation of D list people with even less credibility than Katie Lee.  I guess it doesn't matter on shows like Guilty Pleasures where the "celebrities" (many I've never heard of) are just talking about dishes they like, not judging, but it actually makes me mad when I see people who have nothing whatsoever to do with food judging legitimate chefs on shows like Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay. 

[spiderpig]

2 hours ago, mlp said:

Read it and weep

http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/food-network-bob-tuschman-deirdre-ohearn-cooking-channel-1201684940/

I read an interview with Didi O'Hearn after she was hired and she said she intended to draw viewers by using celebrities.  She has followed through and we've seen a proliferation of D list people with even less credibility than Katie Lee.  I guess it doesn't matter on shows like Guilty Pleasures where the "celebrities" (many I've never heard of) are just talking about dishes they like, not judging, but it actually makes me mad when I see people who have nothing whatsoever to do with food judging legitimate chefs on shows like Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay. 

Mission accomplished, Didi.  You've taken something that appealed to a target audience and turned it into something none of them (us) want to watch.  Kathleen Finch - you're a fool.

The dumbing-down of America continues at breathtaking speed.

Thanks for the link, mlp.

[jumper sage]

So the worst team won?  Those guys just showed us that cutting cost by using inferior products is the way to go.  I have noticed that teams that use fresh ingredients are quickly out.  Not a good look for the food truck industry.

Edited September 26, 2016 by jumper sage
spelling

[spiderpig]

6 minutes ago, jumper sage said:

So the worst team won?  Those guys just showed us the cutting cost by using inferior products is the way to go.  I have noticed that teams that use fresh ingredients are quickly out.  Not a good look for the food truck industry.

That's what I thought. I make Mr. pig's lunch daily for a fraction of what these guys charge, and I use quality ingredients (I like to think) creatively.

The two finalists seemed to propigate the old rep of food trucks as roach coaches.

[biakbiak]

2 hours ago, jumper sage said:

So the worst team won?  Those guys just showed us the cutting cost by using inferior products is the way to go.  I have noticed that teams that use fresh ingredients are quickly out.  Not a good look for the food truck industry.

It wouldn't surprise me if that is the reason they went to people who haven't had food trucks the last several seasons.

[TDT]

And believe it or not ,the"Grilled Cheese Twins" now have THEIR own Food Network show,called "Big Cheese" which has just premiered..

Edited October 1, 2016 by TDT

[spiderpig]

3 hours ago, TDT said:

And believe it or not ,the"Grilled Cheese Twins" now have THEIR own Food Network show,called "Big Cheese" which has just premiered..

 

3 hours ago, TDT said:

And believe it or not ,the"Grilled Cheese Twins" now have THEIR own Food Network show,called "Big Cheese" which has just premiered..

The end of civilization as we know it...

[Lola16]

4 hours ago, TDT said:

And believe it or not ,the"Grilled Cheese Twins" now have THEIR own Food Network show,called "Big Cheese" which has just premiered..

they are soooooooooooo boring! who is gonna watch that?

[Jersey Guy 87]

On 9/30/2016 at 8:12 PM, TDT said:

And believe it or not ,the"Grilled Cheese Twins" now have THEIR own Food Network show,called "Big Cheese" which has just premiered..

A show dedicated to Wonder Bread and Kraft imitation cheese slices?