The Great Food Truck Race - General Discussion

[bluepiano]

On ‎7‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 2:51 PM, BigBingerBro said:

Personally, I prefer sandwiches or wraps or kebobs from food trucks and not bowls of food.  I think of Mac & Cheese as a comfort food you sit on the couch and eat while binge-watching some mindless series.  With that said, as nice and quirky as they were, I won't miss the Mac & Cheese people.  

The Nola team is starting to irritate me as they seem like they are the least cooperative trio.

It was touching that the Frank & Slide guy got to see his family, but it almost seemed a bit unfair that they were able to get those extra big sales due to that.  

In the trendy city where I live, more trucks are getting away from the traditional sandwich or wrap and doing bowls and larger plates. What helps make that possible is that many of these trucks sell outside bars, where people then take the food inside. Essentially they become the kitchen for places that don't have kitchens. 

As I posted earlier this season, Nola Creations is more laser focused on winning than any team I can remember. They are not in it for the "experience," or to bond with their teammates, or to become buddies with the other teams. They are in it to win it.  Which can make them come across as dour or unfriendly. Their leader/head chef has made it clear he doesn't believe anyone else can cook at his level. 

Regarding unfair advantages, a couple of seasons back there was a team of Mormons, and their standard tactic was to hook up with the Mormon Church in whatever town they were in. And it was out west, where most Mormons live, so it was like they had family everywhere. Then there was a team that was a military family, and they tried to hook up with local veteran's groups. So this show has never frowned on people using any advantage they can.

Edited July 11, 2019 by bluepiano

[Giuseppe]

17 hours ago, bluepiano said:

Personally, I prefer sandwiches or wraps or kebobs from food trucks and not bowls of food.  I think of Mac & Cheese as a comfort food you sit on the couch and eat while binge-watching some mindless series. 

Funny because I'm sort of the opposite. I feel like I can get sandwiches and wraps anywhere. If I go to a food truck, I want something unique, like BBQ shredded pork on top of french fries with melted cheese and scallions on top (ugh, that was so good).

Someone a while ago asked about the things around Rolling Indulgence's necks...well I'm trying to figure out what the hell their logo is. It looks like a wave or a tail of some sort with disco lights on it? I have no idea what it is or how it relates to their name, lol.

[Hellga]

18 hours ago, bluepiano said:

So this show has never frowned on people using any advantage they can.

And I don't see anything wrong with that.  In real world, people can choose to patronize a business for any number of reasons - because they like the product, because they like the owner, because of convenient location or hours or for million other reasons.   

[Chyromaniac]

5 hours ago, Giuseppe said:

well I'm trying to figure out what the hell their logo is. It looks like a wave or a tail of some sort with disco lights on it? I have no idea what it is or how it relates to their name

It’s basically just a big stylized arrow. To me, it’s reminiscent of illuminated signs that maybe a 50’s style diner would have- just a big block with the name on it, and an arrow swooping down towards the entrance.

[Giuseppe]

17 hours ago, Chyromaniac said:

It’s basically just a big stylized arrow. To me, it’s reminiscent of illuminated signs that maybe a 50’s style diner would have- just a big block with the name on it, and an arrow swooping down towards the entrance.

Ah, I see it now, though I don't think it's designed very well...it really looks like a whale tail or something.

Anyhoo, carry on.

[Christina]

I've been following a few of the teams on Instagram, and now dislike the leader of Sol Collective more than I did on the show, where I found her annoying but harmless, and like Darren(Derrick?)  Darrell from Nola Creations even more.

Sol's leader used to, or maybe still does, work at O Magazine and someone asked her, actually that person kind of implied, that she cooked for Oprah and she clarified that she worked for the magazine not as a personal chef for Oprah. The way she did it was pretty arrogant and bitchy. It was completely and unnecessarily rude and she must have realized it because she deleted it. So, I didn't really hold it against her; sometimes things come across worse than intended. But, I ended up unfollowing their truck account (I didn't follow them personally) because I found her too annoying and a bit judgmental. She was very appreciative of the other teams helping her out when she was alone, though.

There is very good vegan food yet none of the cooking shows ever seem to show it. I don't know if it's the time restrictions or something else, but they never make it far serving vegan or vegetarian food on any of the competition shows.

Deciding to not utilize animal products is what I would expect from a vegan business but turning to the tarot cards came across as stupid. You're a vegan truck, that's all there is to say. Then, "We will use cashew in place of cheese and no one will even know!" Yes, they will. Maybe not that it is cashew but it is not cheese. In fact, I don't know anyone who can't taste the difference. Then, they claimed "Barbecue isn't the meat, it's the sauce," and that's blasphemy. They did get one woman to say she likes eating healthy sometimes as she walked away with the chickpea burrito but otherwise, I think that challenge put them at a serious disadvantage for the area. My sympathies have been seriously strained, though.

Darrell from Nola Creations seems to come across on the show as a hardass. When it's time to compete, it's time to compete. He's pretty funny and laid back on Instagram for the truck (again I don't follow him personally.) For example, he joked with the Brunch Babes that he was going to start a food truck called Brunch Boys and their uniforms were going to be speedos. The Madea truck family were doing something with their church and they all reposted it, but he made a very gracious comment to them as part of the repost. Their truck has many more followers than the Madea truck and it looked like he reposted it on his personal account, too. I think he is different when he's not focused on his work, which he takes extremely seriously.

The Madea Food Truck couple had their first grandchild born while they were on the race. There was a comment that made me think it was the person who left from the Sol truck and that is why she wanted to leave, but unless she also had her first grandchild, that was probably just a mistake. 

All of the teams are very nice to each other on Instagram and it seems like they all truly like each other. Apparently, one season has already been filmed and is in editing but another one is filming right now. They are constantly posting to Instagram where they are heading so I don't think social media posts are not allowed. 

On 6/25/2019 at 4:23 PM, biakbiak said:

As noted above I think there is not really anything the show can do about feeding them locations because of how the reality of Food Trucks have changed since the show began and municipal rules and regulations have finally caught up with food trucks in general.

This is what I've taken from the posts of the current trucks filming. There was one place where they were asking for ideas of where to park, but the others were always like, "We're on the way to XXXX. We'll be at the blahblahblah on Date." It's still going on and I'm wondering if the social media posts may have to stop when they get to the final four, or something, to not give anything away. It seems like they always have the final two parked in locations previously determined.

I thought that following the teams may have been why this season just isn't exciting me, but it sounds like it applies across the board so there is some spark missing from past seasons. 

Edited July 13, 2019 by Christina
Fixed name, hopefully.

[Hellga]

I know that vegan food can be fabulous (I *love* meat, but I have had absolutely delicious vegan dishes and regularly make a few, especially in the summer), but so many vegans are supremely annoying and holier-than-thou, and I do believe it's the attitude that gets vegans the negative rap, not the food they choose to eat.  

9 hours ago, Christina said:

Apparently, one season has already been filmed and is in editing but another one is filming right now.

I know there was one time I tried to figure out how to follow the trucks during the actual filming to see if any will be in NYC or wherever I might happen to be travelling - but I couldn't figure it out.  Oh well, I don't really care for being on TV, and there is certainly no shortage of great food around. 

[Hellga]

This episode was kind of tedious.  I had a hard time concentrating on the episode.  Maybe because they spent half the episode or more on them driving around and complaining about not having any customers.

I also thought the prize for winning a challenge being having to split sales with another truck 50/50 was stupid. 

And I honestly was surprised by how few people voted on the dessert challenge.  If $200 was "wise choice" vs $25 per vote, it means were there 7 votes or fewer for the winning team and even fewer for the other three.  Which means at most 25 people paid $5 to judge the competition.  I would think something staged by a major TV production would bring more traffic.  25 sales is hardly successful for an office/church/school bake sale.

Edited July 15, 2019 by Hellga

[mlp]

47 minutes ago, Hellga said:

And I honestly was surprised by how few people voted on the dessert challenge.

I was too and I would have made the wrong decision.  $200=8 votes at $25 per vote.  I would have assumed there were a lot more votes in the cans.  Of course, they were there and could see the traffic and I wasn't.

I hated to see the Idaho guys leave.  I liked all of them.  I don't like the NOLA crew and I'm just meh on the team in light blue.  I've noticed that their spokesman (light blue team) is the only one who usually says "I" or "me" when talking about what they're doing and all the other teams have consistently used "we."  

One of the Brunch Babes was driving with a cell phone in her hand and even said something about making a lot of calls.  Grrrr.  Even so, I hope they win.

[suebee12]

Am I the only person who is bored by this season? When The Great Food Truck Race began, I could not wait for the next installment...now? Who cares? It sure isn't about food. Let's catch and move a gator, let's throw a javelin(and badly at that!). I loved it when there were detours and speed traps, etc. Now I am not sure I am even going to finish this season. So sad!

[Brookside]

1 hour ago, mlp said:

  I've noticed that their spokesman (light blue team) is the only one who usually says "I" or "me" when talking about what they're doing and all the other teams have consistently used "we."  

I've noticed this too.  I can't imagine having to work for him.  After his TV exposure, I bet his already evident narcissism will be off the charts.

[spiderpig]

My DVR cut off just as Tyler was announcing their next destination.  They're already in Ft. Lauderdale, so where are they headed.  Miami?  The Keys?  Havana?

[Suzysite]

3 hours ago, spiderpig said:

My DVR cut off just as Tyler was announcing their next destination.  They're already in Ft. Lauderdale, so where are they headed.  Miami?  The Keys?  Havana?

Miami

[cameron]

Brunch babes use the term " Crickets" a lot.  Must be associated with the Michigan area that they are from.  Really not familiar with the term besides the one associated with the insect.

[Hellga]

2 hours ago, cameron said:

Brunch babes use the term " Crickets" a lot.  Must be associated with the Michigan area that they are from.  Really not familiar with the term besides the one associated with the insect.

Here in the Tri-State area (NJ/NY/CT) it is quite common

[chessiegal]

I'm in the Mid-Atlantic and use the term all the time.

[cameron]

12 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

I'm in the Mid-Atlantic and use the term all the time.

Interesting have lived in Ct, Md, and Va and have never heard anyone used that term.  Must have skipped my generation.  Going to have to call my grandson and chat him up on the subject.

[chessiegal]

2 minutes ago, cameron said:

Interesting have lived in Ct, Md, and Va and have never heard anyone used that term.  Must have skipped my generation.  Going to have to call my grandson and chat him up on the subject.

Well, I'm old - 68.

[cameron]

7 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Well, I'm old - 68.

We're in the same age group.  Where are you in the Mid Atlantic area?

[chessiegal]

1 minute ago, cameron said:

We're in the same age group.  Where are you in the Mid Atlantic area?

I grew up outside Philadelphia but moved to Maryland (outside DC) in 1978. I use it in a situation where you ask a question and get no answer, you say the response is "crickets", as the only thing you hear are crickets.

[cameron]

7 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

I grew up outside Philadelphia but moved to Maryland (outside DC) in 1978. I use it in a situation where you ask a question and get no answer, you say the response is "crickets", as the only thing you hear are crickets.

Grew up in Baltimore, and have also lived in Ca, Illinois, Southern Ct, and Alexandria Va. and have never heard that term used before this show.  I wonder if its a more of a regional term as different area have terms for soda, etc.  Either that or I have lived a very shelter life.

[MerBearHou]

Crickets and radio silent are used here in Texas!!

Hated to see the Idaho guys go.  I'm in agreement -- I'm far less invested this time around and I'm not sure why.  I actually like the trucks and the lack of any jerks in the bunch.

[LittleIggy]

For me, the thing that comes to mind re: the “crickets” thing is a sound effect (crickets chirping) used to signify something being empty.

[cameron]

3 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

For me, the thing that comes to mind re: the “crickets” thing is a sound effect (crickets chirping) used to signify something being empty.

I always think that crickets make a lot of noise - that's why I am having a hard time with the expression.

[Sew Sumi]

Think of it as no human is speaking, so all you hear are the crickets.

[Mauison]

I'm in Hawaii and have heard of the term "crickets" before, as in silence or no communication.  But I don't think I ever heard it used in a conversation in real-life, just on television shows or movies.

This episode was a mess IMO.  I knew the teams would be terrible at the javelin challenge.  Then they couldn't find any customers on the first day.  For the shake challenge, I would've taken the $25 per vote also, figuring they must have gotten more than 8 votes.  And announcing the winner of the week and winner of the challenge could've been done better.  Tyler should have announced the Brunch Babes as the winner of the challenge and of the week, and go from there.

Someone mentioned the advantages prior food trucks had on the race and a few seasons ago, the winner, Aloha Plate, won because they had a large Hawaiian following in every city they went to.

[cameron]

13 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

Think of it as no human is speaking, so all you hear are the crickets.

That makes more sense.  Personally, I say the place is empty.

[srpturtle80]

On 7/15/2019 at 8:24 AM, cameron said:

Brunch babes use the term " Crickets" a lot.  Must be associated with the Michigan area that they are from.  Really not familiar with the term besides the one associated with the insect.

I live in West Michigan where the Brunch Babes are from and while I get the reference it’s not something I hear regularly!

[OoogleEyes]

I think that their food is ridiculously expensive. $15 for two sliders and french fries? Um....no thanks. No wonder no one is buying!

[nottopbravo]

On ‎7‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 10:59 PM, Hellga said:

And I honestly was surprised by how few people voted on the dessert challenge.  If $200 was "wise choice" vs $25 per vote, it means were there 7 votes or fewer for the winning team and even fewer for the other three.  Which means at most 25 people paid $5 to judge the competition.  I would think something staged by a major TV production would bring more traffic.  25 sales is hardly successful for an office/church/school bake sale.

and

On ‎7‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 11:55 PM, mlp said:

I was too and I would have made the wrong decision.  $200=8 votes at $25 per vote.  I would have assumed there were a lot more votes in the cans.  Of course, they were there and could see the traffic and I wasn't.

I too was puzzled by the "Food Truck math" when I first heard it.  I came here to see if others had heard the same thing I did.

The only thing that made sense to me was Tyler misspoke.  For a large TV production to only have 25 or so people to participate is kind of unbelievable.  And the trucks seemed to be pushing out the food.  So for 1 food truck to have only 7 customers is hard to believe.

What I think Tyler meant to say was (paraphrasing): "You can take $200 or take $25 dollars for every vote you scored over your next closest competitor."

And even at that, it's a mouthful.

[akr]

2 hours ago, OoogleEyes said:

I think that their food is ridiculously expensive. $15 for two sliders and french fries? Um....no thanks. No wonder no one is buying!

$10 for two donuts! 

[mlp]

3 hours ago, nottopbravo said:

What I think Tyler meant to say was (paraphrasing): "You can take $200 or take $25 dollars for every vote you scored over your next closest competitor."

That would make more sense but it seems like a mistake should have been caught during editing.  If you're correct, that would explain why they took the $200 because the other option would require 9 votes more than the next highest team to be a better deal and they were probably less sure of that.

[Sew Sumi]

3 hours ago, nottopbravo said:

and

I too was puzzled by the "Food Truck math" when I first heard it.  I came here to see if others had heard the same thing I did.

The only thing that made sense to me was Tyler misspoke.  For a large TV production to only have 25 or so people to participate is kind of unbelievable.  And the trucks seemed to be pushing out the food.  So for 1 food truck to have only 7 customers is hard to believe.

What I think Tyler meant to say was (paraphrasing): "You can take $200 or take $25 dollars for every vote you scored over your next closest competitor."

And even at that, it's a mouthful.

The trucks theoretically served 25 portions. The guests were supposed to sample all the offerings and vote for their favorite. 

[Hellga]

I think they only had 30 minutes to make those desserts?  25 is probably the most they could reasonably make in that short a time...  so maybe it's not that bad.  but then why would  Tyler even ask that question?  Unless Tyler believed the competitors to be super naive or super bad at math?

Edited July 16, 2019 by Hellga

[bluepiano]

On 7/16/2019 at 8:34 AM, nottopbravo said:

The only thing that made sense to me was Tyler misspoke.  For a large TV production to only have 25 or so people to participate is kind of unbelievable.  And the trucks seemed to be pushing out the food.  So for 1 food truck to have only 7 customers is hard to believe.

When she said we'll take the $200 I thought that was crazy, as the winner must've had way more than 8 customers. So yeah, the whole thing didn't make sense. It seemed like there were about 20-25 Navy people alone.

But it was really a big nothing, because we never learned if it was the bonus that pushed Brunch Babes past Frank & Slides. I suspect that they already had more sales than Frank' & Slides, so the amount of the bonus was meaningless. I think that if winning the bonus saved them from elimination Tyler would definitely have said that. The fact that we never heard anything about the difference in sales between the last two trucks makes me think it wasn't close.

Edited July 18, 2019 by bluepiano

[Sew Sumi]

Tyler did say that it was a "good choice" for the BBs to choose the $200. He definitely implied that taking the $25 favorite vote would have cost them.

[Yeah No]

On 7/15/2019 at 8:24 AM, cameron said:

Brunch babes use the term " Crickets" a lot.  Must be associated with the Michigan area that they are from.  Really not familiar with the term besides the one associated with the insect.

For those too young to remember (or anyone that didn't watch certain TV shows), the etymology of the term "crickets" to signify an empty room, or nobody showing up, no response or just ordinary silence came from the Looney Tunes cartoons of the 20th century.  When Bugs Bunny or another cartoon character would do a floor show then wait for applause the music would stop and it would get very silent to show that nobody was clapping.  The joke was that the show was a flop.  They used the sound effects of crickets to show it was so silent you could actually hear the sound of crickets chirping.

I notice that the expression is actually increasing in popularity in recent years, which I find curious since it goes back several decades and by now most people that use it don't know where it came from. 

I also often wonder if younger people understand that the cha-ching noise associated with racking up sales is the sound of an old mechanical cash register.  I am old enough to remember those cash registers so the sound is familiar to me, but I am sure most young people have never actually heard one in the flesh and might not even know where the sound comes from originally.

Edited July 21, 2019 by Yeah No

[Brookside]

On ‎7‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 8:03 AM, cameron said:

Interesting have lived in Ct, Md, and Va and have never heard anyone used that term.  Must have skipped my generation.  Going to have to call my grandson and chat him up on the subject.

"Chat someone up" seems to have skipped an ocean!  Where I'm from it means to come on to someone.

[cameron]

4 hours ago, Brookside said:

"Chat someone up" seems to have skipped an ocean!  Where I'm from it means to come on to someone.

Actually means to talk on the subject where I'm from.

[rhofmovalley]

Young people will never know the joys of slamming a phone down on someone.

I wonder who picked last week's selling location for day one.  Whoever it was should be fired!

[Hellga]

12 hours ago, Yeah No said:

For those too young to remember (or anyone that didn't watch certain TV shows), the etymology of the term "crickets" to signify an empty room, or nobody showing up, no response or just ordinary silence came from the Looney Tunes cartoons of the 20th century.  

Thank you!  I had no idea where that expression came from.   

2 hours ago, rhofmovalley said:

Young people will never know the joys of slamming a phone down on someone.

I wonder who picked last week's selling location for day one.  Whoever it was should be fired!

I wonder if some cities are just tough.  Here in my area there are a some very successful food trucks but they have been in the same spot for years, so people purposefully come to them just like them would to a brick-and-mortar restaurant,  Or they have a "circuit" where people also know where to find them and expect them.  Otherwise, unless you are at an event where food trucks are expected, or in an area already popular with food trucks - I just don't know how you would attract business.  I personally tend to think of where I am going to eat and what I want to eat before I head somewhere, so getting me to randomly stop for food when I don't expect it at all would be super difficult.  Most people walking around either have a place to be and can't waste 20 mins to wait for food or they are tourists and they have a place they want to try in mind, or they are not hungry because they already ate... so I don't know how these trucks make it at all, actually, unless the show helps with recruiting people to come and try the food, or they are in cities well used to food trucks so people expect to see them and are interested in trying a new one...

[mlp]

I agree with all you say, Hellga, assuming a "normal" street scene but people walking by these trucks must be able to see cameramen and so on and realize something different is in progress.  Then there's the allure of maybe getting to be on TV.  Even if I didn't want to buy any food, I think I'd stop for a minute just to see what was going on.  It seems odd to me that so many passersby aren't even curious.

Edited July 22, 2019 by mlp
correction

[rhofmovalley]

I was at a filming of an episode (all footage of me was cut) and I found out because a truck I followed (not one of the competitors ) posted that filming would be taking place at this time and at this location. The crowd wasn't huge but probably more than would have just happened by. I presume it would still be the same with social media being used to generate traffic. Maybe that particular location wasn't easy to get to or it was filmed at an awkward time. The filming I was at was on Easter, for example. 

[Hellga]

Easter would be super poor timing, I would think.  Unless you go to the area where most people don't celebrate, everyone will be with their families either at home or at restaurants...

I don't like how the challenges have become about gimmicks and not about cooking.  Stacking dominoes, really?  Why not have them cook something?  Sure, slow roasted pork is not an option for the competition, but there are plenty of food options for Miami!

[Hellga]

Not sure  whether the drrrrama between NOLA and Brunch babes was for real or manufactured for the show.  

I really feel this show is getting to the same end as every other show out there on the famous diagram...

[Hellga]

I am a bit sad for Rolling Indulgence, but I guess it's been clear for a while that it will come to NoLa and Brunch Babes.  I am rooting for NoLa in the final.  And I hope the challenges are related to food and not some silly games!  And it better be fish!  The final city is Key West. 

[rustyspigot]

Can I root for those vegan losers to sideswipe the finalists? Nobody makes good television. Cast better show.

[Gramto6]

I actually am rooting for Brunch Babes, NOLA seems so conceited and sure they are the "best" that I think they need to be taken down a notch.

[LittleIggy]

NOLA pissed me off by claiming they had exclusivity over a public street. I don’t like their mean-spiritedness.

[mlp]

I hope the Brunch Babes win.  I like all of them and they haven't done anything sketchy.  Any good will I had for the loudmouth NOLA crew disappeared when I saw the head guy actually lying to potential customers by telling them the BB's doughnuts were made from frozen ones.  That was low and I give the woman with the doughnuts credit for not rising to the bait.