The Great Food Truck Race - General Discussion

[Maya]

9 hours ago, mlp said:

How exactly would Tyler (or anyone else) go about shutting down other people's social media sites?  Telling them they couldn't use it would be one thing but claiming to have shut them down is another.

I thought the same thing. Maybe he was just trying to be dramatic, but it made him look stupid. 

[Maverick]

 This was definitely an odd episode.  Waffle Love were super downers in their talking heads, so I assumed they had been eliminated and couldn't muster the façade producers want from axed contestants.   One of them mentioned a falling out after originally appearing on the show and it almost seems like they got into an argument that wasn't shown.  What was wrong with the one guy's eye at the end/in the talking heads?   Did they get into a fight?   Something else was clearly going on with that team.   

 It was also weird how Tyler was about the damage.  They've always played fast and loose with how accidents impact the game, but generally it's a fix amount deductible.  This time he made it sound like they had to pay for all the damage but didn't say how much but that it "cost dearly".   Yet they still didn't get eliminated.   Exactly how much more did they sell than NOLA to still be able to be safe?  

 NOLA was defending their loss by saying their prices are humble and consistent.   Humble is fine as long as you're making a reasonable profit but consistent is bad business, especially in a food truck.   The market is different everywhere and you don't sell something for the same thing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge that you do in a small town.  Also, as one team pointed out ingredient costs are WAY higher in San Francisco and you have to price accordingly.  They can try to be noble about it but it was just bad business strategy.  

[mlp]

1 hour ago, Maverick said:

What was wrong with the one guy's eye at the end/in the talking heads? 

In their original season, he explained that he was born with a damaged nerve and couldn't completely open or close his eye.  Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think he said that on the show.  I think someone posted a comment from Twitter here where he said he was getting a lot of questions about his eye so he was explaining.  I can't quite remember but his eye was definitely like that long before this season.

[Maverick]

Ah, thanks for letting explaining.  I'm clearly not paying a lot of attention.  Maybe it's something worsened by stress and that's why it was more noticable because they were clearly on edge in this episode. 

[xaxat]

Given that the trucks were all at the same location, those sales numbers were crazy. 6k, 4k, 3k, the bottom three less than 2,500. And NOLA must have really bombed considering that the penalty given to Waffle Love didn't make a difference. (Also, Tyler? Mirrors are cheap, labor is expensive.)

I suspected Waffle Love was going home because they looked so defeated in their talking heads. When the accident happened, I was sure of it.

With the exception of Waffle Love (whose menu I can make at home) I think all of the teams offer an appealing menu. These are definitely the most skilled trucks we have seen. 

Pretty sure I wouldn't eat a food truck ceviche. 

1 hour ago, Maverick said:

NOLA was defending their loss by saying their prices are humble and consistent.   Humble is fine as long as you're making a reasonable profit but consistent is bad business, especially in a food truck.   The market is different everywhere and you don't sell something for the same thing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge that you do in a small town.  Also, as one team pointed out ingredient costs are WAY higher in San Francisco and you have to price accordingly.  They can try to be noble about it but it was just bad business strategy. 

Yeah, it looks like NOLA really misjudged the market. Although I went back and looked at the seafood prices and they didn't appear to be that expensive. NOLA really should have gone with a menu that emphasize fresh and wild caught seafood. I doubt the shrimp was $35 a pound, but even if it was the store had wild, fresh prawns for $18 a pound. $8.99/lb. fresh, wild snapper! Not only are these easy substitution for a New Orleans theme, putting "wild, fresh" on your menu board in San Francisco should easily get you an additional 3-5 dollars per serving. 

Although they didn't lose because of their pricing. Lime was actually less expensive. They just sold a ton more food.

[Gramto6]

43 minutes ago, xaxat said:

 

Pretty sure I wouldn't eat a food truck ceviche. 

 

That would be a hard NOPE for me too!!

[LittleIggy]

I wish, instead of wasting time on stupid challenges, they would show a graphic for each team of their menu items and the prices. 

[seacliffsal]

NOLA will get an increase in attention (and hopefully business) due to being back on the show.  I thought their food looked really good and wish they had priced their food more competitively.  Maybe because sales seemed slower on the first day they thought they would increase the volume of their sales in order to increase the overall total.

I was glad that they couldn't use their social media as the competition then becomes about the food and pricing rather than SM popularity.  The ridiculousness of allowing them to be able to rely on SM was demonstrated last week when Aloha was charging $75 a serving.  I hope Tyler continues to limit SM use.  Maybe first day no SM, second day they can use it.  A poster above asked how Tyler could shut down their SM, perhaps they receive their phones from production who is then able to disable some of the functions?

I think that teams will be impacted by their choice to go back to stores or not.  Aloha didn't have any more protein for the wine challenge and were lucky that Waffle sold them some chicken.  And, there have been previous episodes/seasons when a team doesn't go back to the store and that decision sent them home, so we shall see...

[Maverick]

 I forgot about Aloha getting their chicken from Waffle Love.   I would have been annoyed if they had one.  It was one thing to try and but some uncooked protein off another truck, but it looked like they got their already fried chicken and just put their sauce on it.   

 As to how they stopped the SM, I assume Production can monitor accounts and hashtags and if they see anything posted by the teams it's an automatic penalty.   

[LittleIggy]

I wouldn’t want red wine sauce on fried chicken.

[Eolivet]

I wondered if Lime sold more because of their "taste the truck" option for $125, which they actually showed at least one person ordering. I kept thinking that would be a good option to feed a large group.

I'm a fairly new viewer, but it was interesting they didn't actually sell in Napa, and went back to San Francisco. I guess if it was during the pandemic last summer, there probably weren't that many tourists, and maybe they didn't want a repeat of Alaska's customer-free locales.

It was 92 degrees there? Not exactly "the coldest winter I ever spent ..."

Edited June 16, 2021 by Eolivet

[MajorWoody]

This season is shaping up to be much better than Alaska, although that was a really low bar to reach. 
 

i am curious as to why they didn’t provide totals for NOLA and the Waffle dudes. That whole accident fee seemed very sketchy. Even if the damages was limited to a side mirror, it is still several hundred dollars to replace. They made it sound like it was more damage, and I find the whole thing suspicious, 

 

I also find the huge differences in money amazing. . If their numbers are legit, the winner made almost 3x what the loser made. 

[mlp]

5 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

A poster above asked how Tyler could shut down their SM, perhaps they receive their phones from production who is then able to disable some of the functions?

I hadn't thought of that.  You may be right.

[bluepiano]

10 hours ago, Maverick said:

It was one thing to try and but some uncooked protein off another truck, but it looked like they got their already fried chicken and just put their sauce on it.   

 

I was really surprised that Tyler didn't bring that up. He praised the dish but they didn't even cook the chicken, so that seems like cheating. 

[biakbiak]

Tips go into the totals and Tyler mentioned that everyone on Marina Green knew they were penalized so it’s entirely possible that their prices weren’t crazy exorbitant, though clearly higher than Nola, but people just tipped them really well because they felt sorry for them.

[LittleIggy]

Why would tips count towards the total?

[emmawoodhouse]

6 minutes ago, LittleIggy said:

Why would tips count towards the total?

I didn't realize they were allowed to accept tips in the first place. 

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, LittleIggy said:

Why would tips count towards the total?

Because they have had a tip jar on the counter and it’s always been the part of total they made in other seasons that I have watched (haven’t watched any of the snow seasons). We have seen in previous seasons them making change from the tip jar and also counting from it for the totals. Usually in food trucks the tips are split across the board, so it’s not even a weird front of house/back of house difference of wages that often exists in some cities, in SF both tipped employees and non tipped employees make the same minimum wage. 

Now that I think about it have we seen cash exchange hands on this season? At the time this was filmed so many places moved to card only (even though that is illegal in SF) and I don’t remember anyone handing over actual cash like in past seasons.  But regardless tipping has been allowed in past seasons and I can’t imagine why it wouldn’t be this season.

edited because I was curious and the episode was still on my dvr and no cash was shown but iPads with the square attachment we’re present with all teams.

Edited June 18, 2021 by biakbiak

[LEILANI2]

So the Waffle truck got a 100 order and still came in 2nd to last.  I wouldn't be surprise if Waffle Love is out next week, their menu is boring to me.

Edited June 21, 2021 by LEILANI2

[Aulty]

Those stupid kick-off challenges at the start of the episodes are doing my head in. Test them on something more relevant for Fod Truckers like fixing the truck, changing a tyre or enticing sign wirting.

[magenta]

Does anyone know if the contestants are given a chance to buy their truck

 

[mlp]

During the Redwood Forest bit, I wondered if the contestants had trackers or phones with them in case someone got really lost.  

Waffle Love delivering to a nursing home was a made for TV moment.  In real life, there is no way that half of a facility's staff comes out to accept a lunch delivery.

I was sorry to see the Israelis leave.  I liked them.  I hope the Lime Truck ends up winning.

[Grizzly]

I liked the bait and switch of the judges for the trail mix. Could have really tripped up some teams. Kids have more sophisticated taste buds these days. The mother and daughter must be real fitness buffs, did you notice their arms?

Now that you mention tips being part of the till, it makes more sense why the sellers were so enthusiatic. It turned me off when they would scream about an order, especially the Middle Feast woman. Act like you've sold some food before.

 

[jcbrown]

4 hours ago, Grizzly said:

It turned me off when they would scream about an order, especially the Middle Feast woman. Act like you've sold some food before.

 

Yeah, I figured they were going home because the editors really turned her shrieking up to eleven this episode. It was quite irritating.

[xaxat]

I wonder how much Food Network pays the incumbent food trucks to leave the food parks so they can film there.

I am so confused about Waffle Love's nursing home order. Did they just start cold calling people? Was it a friend? In addition, WL is probably the last truck I would order for delivery. The waffles get cold, loose their crispiness and the whipped cream melts.

Boy, I would not be randomly blowtorching a space with propane/gas lines.

I'm not sure if any other teams are doing it, but it looks like the only way you can see the prices for Seoul Sausage's menu it to use your phone on their QR code. Hard pass for me. Write it on your board.

[emmawoodhouse]

48 minutes ago, jcbrown said:

Yeah, I figured they were going home because the editors really turned her shrieking up to eleven this episode. It was quite irritating.

I figured they were toast when production paid them any attention at all. MF had pretty much been ignored up until last night.

[LittleIggy]

I guess I wasn’t paying attention, but how did the teams have enough of their trail mix ingredients for the specials they were tasked to make? For the challenge they just had those jars of ingredients they collected at the stations.

[biakbiak]

15 hours ago, mlp said:

During the Redwood Forest bit, I wondered if the contestants had trackers or phones with them in case someone got really lost.  

 

It was a tiny area and as you can see from the overhead footage they had for some of the teams they had drones in addition to the camera crew so I doubt it was a concern. 

Edited June 22, 2021 by biakbiak

[biakbiak]

5 hours ago, xaxat said:

wonder how much Food Network pays the incumbent food trucks to leave the food parks so they can film there.

 

Both the food park locations (Marina Green they most likely got a filming permit) that they have used usually are not nearly full capacity with trucks particularly during weekdays during CoVid. They shot them pretty closely so it’s possible they still had other trucks open.

Edited June 22, 2021 by biakbiak

[biakbiak]

2 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

but how did the teams have enough of their trail mix ingredients for the specials they were tasked to make? For the challenge they just had those jars of ingredients they collected at the stations.

They didn’t state it very well but they just had to use the ingredients from the table. I mean even in the trail mix challenge they didn’t use the ingredients they actually “found”.

Edited June 22, 2021 by biakbiak

[LittleIggy]

9 hours ago, biakbiak said:

They didn’t state it very well but they just had to use the ingredients from the table. I mean even in the trail mix challenge they didn’t use the ingredients they actually “found”.

What table? Where did they get the ingredients for the specials?

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, LittleIggy said:

What table? Where did they get the ingredients for the specials?

The initial challenge. They all had maps to search for tables where they “found” their ingredients and taste to decide if that’s what they wanted to do (or end up with if that’s what they found)! When they found the table with the profile they went back to their food trucks which had been stocked with the ingredients they found and those same ingredients were provided later. There was no actual foraging, they found tables with glass jars which were left on the tables.

I don’t imagine the lunch rush was crazy at SparkSf but Waffle House went halfway across town to deliver their dishes which even in covid traffic and unloading could take an hour + so their placement didn’t surprise.

Edited June 22, 2021 by biakbiak

[LittleIggy]

IIRC, the teams had jars with them in which they put ingredients they wanted to use from the tables they found. They weren’t restricted to any one table but could pick and choose.

[emmawoodhouse]

11 minutes ago, LittleIggy said:

IIRC, the teams had jars with them in which they put ingredients they wanted to use from the tables they found. They weren’t restricted to any one table but could pick and choose.

That's how I saw/understood it as well. I guess production supplied the trucks with enough provisions to create their specials. Those little jars they had wouldn't have been sufficient for the task.

[GeorgiaRai]

On 6/15/2021 at 8:02 PM, mlp said:

In their original season, he explained that he was born with a damaged nerve and couldn't completely open or close his eye.  Actually, now that I think about it, I don't think he said that on the show.  I think someone posted a comment from Twitter here where he said he was getting a lot of questions about his eye so he was explaining.  I can't quite remember but his eye was definitely like that long before this season.

Yes, I remember this being shared during the original season.

Unpopular opinion: I'd eat at the Waffle Love truck.   Repeatedly. 

[Grizzly]

14 minutes ago, GeorgiaRai said:

Unpopular opinion: I'd eat at the Waffle Love truck.   Repeatedly. 

I'm such a plain eater, their truck is the only one I would eat at. So I am rooting for them.

[Kathy]

Me too.  How about a burger or pizza truck?

[Lurk]

On 6/22/2021 at 11:47 PM, emmawoodhouse said:

That's how I saw/understood it as well. I guess production supplied the trucks with enough provisions to create their specials. Those little jars they had wouldn't have been sufficient for the task.

I figured that production must have given them some quantity of the ingredients they had chosen in the forage challenge to use for their specials. For the forage challenge, I remember seeing them dump out the contents of their collection jars and sort through them.

Would have been more interesting forage challenge if they'd been tasked with getting 1 or 2 ingredients from each table. Then they would take the whole jar from the table and be the only one that could use that ingredient.

[silverspoons]

On 6/24/2021 at 11:52 AM, GeorgiaRai said:

 

Yes, I remember this being shared during the original season.

Unpopular opinion: I'd eat at the Waffle Love truck.   Repeatedly. 

I live near a waffle love location and truck. The waffles are okay but not wow for $10. It is just a hard sweeter small waffle with strawberries and cream or nutella.  I would take my mom maybe once a year to their location (they have eat in locations in Utah) but since they did not require masks to go inside even during the height of COVID I could not being my 75 year old mom inside.  I have not been since 2019. I found the recipe., it is simple and I bought some of the special sugar needed to make the waffles and they are very easy to recreate. 

Now I wonder how they are making the waffles on the race. We see them going to these small grocery stores in SF. How are they getting the massive amount of pearl sugar they need? Only one grocery store in my city in Utah sells it and it is very expensive and if I bought every bag they had it would not be enough for 1 day on the truck. 

Next the batter should be made the day before, but if you do not have an day, at least 2 hours before minimum. How do they find that much pearl sugars and then make the batter and have it sit  hours before using? I have wondered if they let them buy the sugar before hand and deduct it or something? I would think that would be unfair but I just do not see any other way they are getting ingreidents. 

Now I would think they should be able to win with such a easy to make item and food price point. Once the batter is made (again do not know how they work the letting it sit overnight) , and cut straberries, they could make 16 waffles orders in 5 minutes. No truck making meats and rices and sauces could work that fast plus the cost of the meats is so much higher. 

I feel like if the whole race is in SF, the are holding out one big customers or group till the finale to win. We saw in the last season they called  members of their church to come out and I feel like they have to have plenty of church connections in CA. During COVID one my child;s Utah school classes  doubled with Mormons families from SF area sending kids to school iin person in Utah. There are plenty of connections. Of course I really do not want to see a win like this. I want to see them say $10 waffles and sell 700 and win. My guy says Food truck race wants the redemption arc for them. 

[Aulty]

7 hours ago, silverspoons said:

I live near a waffle love location and truck. The waffles are okay but not wow for $10. It is just a hard sweeter small waffle with strawberries and cream or nutella.

Now I wonder how they are making the waffles on the race. We see them going to these small grocery stores in SF. How are they getting the massive amount of pearl sugar they need? Only one grocery store in my city in Utah sells it and it is very expensive and if I bought every bag they had it would not be enough for 1 day on the truck.

Sounds like Belgian sugar waffles (Liege waffles) - they are soooo goood. Thanks for letting us know, that definitely raises my opinion on the Waffle truck.
I don't know about the original recipe, but there are plenty of recipes that don't require the batter to rest over night (although thats always better flavourwise).

I have a hunch that the trucks are allowed to bring some dry ingredients with them and the shopping trips on the show are mainly for fresh ingredients like meat, dairy and veg. Plus it seems they don't have to get oil/fat for the deep fat fryers either. I doubt the Hawaiian and Korean trucks would be able to always get all the spices they need to achieve authentic flavors in regular supermarkets or at Cosco. If they had to start the show with zero ingredients it would also make the first shopping trip of the season very expensive.

Edited June 26, 2021 by Aulty

[Fostersmom]

On 6/24/2021 at 1:52 PM, GeorgiaRai said:

Unpopular opinion: I'd eat at the Waffle Love truck.   Repeatedly. 

 

On 6/24/2021 at 2:08 PM, Grizzly said:

I'm such a plain eater, their truck is the only one I would eat at. So I am rooting for them.

This is me. I don't like spicy, I don't eat any seafoods, I like really, really boring foods. I'd pretty much be the Waffle Love truck only too. I remember them annoying me the first time around, but they aren't too bad this time. 

[Kathy]

That was funny, Aloha dissing on the Waffle Love still being there in the competition and then Aloha loses to them.

[Maverick]

 I figured Aloha would win the whole thing because like last time they seemed to be relying on their Hawaiian contacts, which drove huge totals.  That didn't seem to help them the past couple of weeks which is shocking after Waffle Love's blunder.  

 I'm curious about the commissary they had to go back to.   I would have stayed.on the truck.  Come to.think of it, have we seen them shop this season or have they just talked about going to the store?

[biakbiak]

4 hours ago, Maverick said:

Come to.think of it, have we seen them shop this season or have they just talked about going to the store?

Yes we have seen them shop multiple times at Gus’s Market which is fairly close to Sparks the food truck place that they have set up most frequently.

Edited June 28, 2021 by biakbiak

[Maya]

8 hours ago, Maverick said:

   I'm curious about the commissary they had to go back to.   I would have stayed.on the truck.  Come to.think of it, have we seen them shop this season or have they just talked about going to the store?

I think they are all required to go shop if they run out of food, so maybe it’s the same if you leave all your food somewhere! 

I think Waffle Love will win it all. 

[Chyromaniac]

Just a few thoughts this week:

1) I’m shocked that Aloha wound up winning the sales challenge, given how dead their location seemed (not to mention that their parking location was almost totally obscured by a barbed wire topped fence).

2) Funny that in a Sonic sponsored challenge, Waffle basically served a Hardee’s (Carl’s Junior) menu item.  I hope their waffle bun held up better than the fast food one.

[mlp]

I thought all the little bites the teams made for the first challenge looked good.  They sort of showed that experienced teams produce much better food than wannabes.  

I was surprised that the Aloha truck did worse than the waffle guys even though they did have a rather bad location.  I thought they might win the whole thing when this started.  

I'm hoping that either the Lime truck or Seoul Sausage wins.  I like both crews and their food but I like the Lime truck's menu a little better.

[GeorgiaRai]

I was pleasantly surprised to see Waffle Love stay another week!

That said, I wish they'd (voluntarily or by force via one of the challenges) branch out a bit - not in real life, as it looks like their model works for them, but on the show.  A place featured on DDD made a dressing-based waffle topped with turkey, mashed potatoes & cranberry sauce, and one topped with chicken wings & served with a sauce made from syrup and hot sauce - so waffles can be creative!

I feel like we get less footage of the WL guys because, really, how many times do we need to see them close the waffle iron & slice strawberries?  

I like them and hope they pull out a win, but would definitely like to see them push themselves like the other teams seem to be doing. 

[GiandujaPie]

I'm disappointed that Aloha is gone, but that location they picked the first day really seemed dead. I know that at the time they filmed this, San Francisco was still mostly closed up, with not many office workers for challenges during the weekday and tourists on the weekends. I wish I had known that they were filming there when they did as I would have tried to go into the city LOL. 

All of their little beach bites looked really good and actually pricing it at $2.50 each made it more likely that people would buy at least 2 or more since it's easier to just pay $5 or $10 instead of anything with cents. And in San Francisco you can definitely charge a lot more as people will definitely be willing to pay. 

I think Waffle Love will be the next to go. Their waffles look good initally but I keep thinking that they would get soggy really quickly under the weight of all the sauces and whipped cream. 

[Bumblebee84047]

On 6/26/2021 at 4:45 AM, silverspoons said:

Unpopular opinion: I'd eat at the Waffle Love truck.   Repeatedly. 

I live in Utah, and eat at their brick and mortar locations frequently.  Their food is delicious, and their chicken and waffles is heaven!  I'm hoping they add the chicken and waffle sliders to their regular menu.