The Great Food Truck Race - General Discussion

[RealityCheck]

A new season of the GREAT FOOD TRUCK RACE premieres Sunday, June 18th at 8PM ET/PT with host Tyler Florence.

Quote

For the first time in the show’s history, industry pros are being pitted againxt alented up-and-coming rookies.  Nine teams from across the country with specialties ranging from Jamaican tacos to modern Pakistani street food to elevated vegan dishes must must prove their culinary expertise, marketing savvy and selling skills in Los Angeles, the Epicenter of Food Truck Culture,

The pro teams are:

Da Bald Guy - Honolulu, Hawaii (James Martin, Missy Rabaino, Ali’i Pukahi)
Lisa’s Creperie - Atlanta, Georgia (Lisa Thiffault, Ally Marlow, Miranda Moore)
D’Pura Cepa - Miami, Florida (Jose Carnot, Janshanic Santos, Louis Del Rio Rubio)
Paisani - Boston, Massachusetts (Ryan Palmer, Matthew Minichiello, Tommy Southwick)

Food truck first-timers are:

2 Girls Jamaican Tacos - Brooklyn, New York (Shelly Flash, Bri Labossiere, Elijah McPhie)
4 Hens Creole Kitchen - St. Louis, Missouri (Brandi Artis, Brittany Artis, Zendrix Berndt-White)
Khana - Detroit, Michigan (Maryam Khan, Al Jane, Jake Nielsen)
The Block - Indianapolis, Indiana (Terry Anthony, Carl Harris, Crystal Kilgore)
The Easy Vegan - Denver, Colorado (Taylor Herbert, Alexi Mandolini, Matt Heikkila)

Edited May 14, 2023 by RealityCheck

[Grizzly]

I like that none of them have home court advantage.

[Skyfall]

I am tired of Cali/LA! First this show has just planted roots there and now I see that BBQ Brawl is coming to Cali...

[tinkerbell]

So, right off the bat 2 teams had trouble with their trucks. This is ridiculous. The show should be able to ensure that everything is in working order before they start.

I did like that the team who got eliminated was the team who was harassing and smack talking another team. Though I suspect there could have been a lot more of that going on, and the episode was edited to paint them as the instigators.

[Gramto6]

The Pisanos (sp) actually started the whole thing by going down the line with a couple of their dishes showing the waiting customers "How great their food was compared to the others". So I think the losing team was just giving some of what they got. They even gave the Italian truck a sample of their food to taste and the blue team guy on camera said he wouldn't eat "that" and promptly threw it in the trash.  So I'd say they were equal in the "smack" category.

Edited June 19, 2023 by Gramto6
added on to post

[Trey]

Who got sent home?

I couldn't watch a whole two hours of the show.

[Maya]

42 minutes ago, Trey said:

Who got sent home?

I couldn't watch a whole two hours of the show.

The Block (the chicken wing truck). Not sure I believe they sold less than the crepe ladies, but who knows what really happens with the creative editing. 

[Whimsy]

1 hour ago, Gramto6 said:

The Pisanos (sp) actually started the whole thing by going down the line with a couple of their dishes showing the waiting customers "How great their food was compared to the others". So I think the losing team was just giving some of what they got. They even gave the Italian truck a sample of their food to taste and the blue team guy on camera said he wouldn't eat "that" and promptly threw it in the trash.  So I'd say they were equal in the "smack" category.

Meh. This happens every season. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. 
 

Im glad The Block truck left because the main guy was exhausting to me. He was always dialed up to 100.  

I guess it’s fair that all of the trucks at least have experience in the food industry, even if not all on food trucks.  When I read the description of this season, I thought it was food truck pros against people who weren’t even really chefs/cooks. 

The wife of the main woman on the taco truck (still don’t know anyone’s name) looks very familiar.  I thought maybe she had competed before, but then realized she’s on a non-pro truck.  
 

I hope all the teams calm down. There’s always some shit talking by one or two teams, but it seems way more this time.

 

[seacliffsal]

I was shocked that The Block went home as they sold out both days, but I guess it's more of an issue of not knowing how much product to sell.  I think it's also an issue of not going to get more supplies after selling out.  The two mistakes they made were not going to buy more food after selling out and not taking advantage of the challenge money for switching locations.

IMO the crepes don't look that good although the sweet/dessert crepe looked a lot better than the savory one.

Other than the crepes, I thought all of the food looked really good.  I kind of figured that the Puerto Rican truck and the Jamaican truck were safe as they didn't feature them that much.

But a two-hour episode?  A bit long for me.

2 hours ago, Gramto6 said:

The Pisanos (sp) actually started the whole thing by going down the line with a couple of their dishes showing the waiting customers "How great their food was compared to the others". So I think the losing team was just giving some of what they got. They even gave the Italian truck a sample of their food to taste and the blue team guy on camera said he wouldn't eat "that" and promptly threw it in the trash.  So I'd say they were equal in the "smack" category.

I think it started earlier, because there was smack talk while driving to the first location on the first day.  The Block wasn't going to let them change lanes and were doing some smack talk, so I have no idea how that rivalry began.

[Grizzly]

The commercials for this season turned me off so much, I can't even hate watch. Thanks for keeping me up to date.

[cameron]

2 hours ago, Whimsy said:

Meh. This happens every season. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. 
 

Im glad The Block truck left because the main guy was exhausting to me. He was always dialed up to 100.  

I guess it’s fair that all of the trucks at least have experience in the food industry, even if not all on food trucks.  When I read the description of this season, I thought it was food truck pros against people who weren’t even really chefs/cooks. 

The wife of the main woman on the taco truck (still don’t know anyone’s name) looks very familiar.  I thought maybe she had competed before, but then realized she’s on a non-pro truck.  
 

I hope all the teams calm down. There’s always some shit talking by one or two teams, but it seems way more this time.

 

She was a contestant twice on Masterchef and is now on this show.

Edited June 19, 2023 by cameron

[Ellee]

2 hours ago, Maya said:

The Block (the chicken wing truck). Not sure I believe they sold less than the crepe ladies, but who knows what really happens with the creative editing. 

Typically the cost of repairs comes out of sales, No?

[mlp]

2 hours ago, Whimsy said:

m glad The Block truck left because the main guy was exhausting to me. He was always dialed up to 100.

Agreed.  He was way too loud and just obnoxious.  I thought that truck's sales were going fairly well so I wondered if the accident they caused cost them money.  It seemed odd that there was no follow up about that.  Tyler didn't even mention it at judging.  

I liked the women in the crepe truck who seemed to be conducting themselves like adults and I thought their crepes looked good.  That doesn't seem like a food a lot of people are going to associate with food trucks though.  I doubt they'll make it very far.

[tinkerbell]

2 hours ago, Whimsy said:

Im glad The Block truck left because the main guy was exhausting to me. He was always dialed up to 100

I agree. he was too loud, too aggressive, and talked too much.  

 

I was thinking the woman with the Jamaican taco truck looked familiar - the one with the short white hair.  Sure enough: 

https://masterchef.fandom.com/wiki/Shelly_Flash

I was wondering - when a team sells out all their fod - can they go back and sell something else?  I'm thinking, pick up ingredients for a drink or a dessert that can be made quickly, and go back to selling?  cause that's what I would do, rather than just stop.  

Edited June 19, 2023 by tinkerbell

[BryroseA]

…back to another season. I just can’t quit hate-watching this show and remembering how much I liked the first few seasons. 
 

I *HATE* that the producers keep leaning into the smack talk/ginned up competition between trucks. I don’t want to hear teams yelling at each other or putting each other down, and you know a lot of that is coming from behind the camera. 
 

I am, however, relieved that the actual quality of the food seems high this season. Lots of those opening dishes sounded AMAZING & no one is doing “stuff on a waffle” or “stuff on Mac & Cheese” type truck.
 

🙏🙏🙏🙏 producers - good food and fun, friendly competition. It would work, I promise!

[Maverick]

This season is not off to a great start.   So tired of being stuck in LA.   I get they're not going to do a cross country trip ever again, but can't we pick something other than a limited part of SoCal? 

 Not liking most of the teams.  The Crepes team seem ok, but are obviously Dead Truck Rolling.  Didn't like the woman on the Pakistani truck.  At one point she was saying something about how another team didn't deserve to be there.   She just came off with a bad attitude.  There's also some internal strife on that truck and it's apparently going to end up with the guy bailing because some of the talking heads about the argument didn't include him.  I missed it but what is the relationship between those three?

 The Block truck was exhausting and I'm glad they're gone.  They were way, way too over the top.  Can't stand people who are always on.  I don't mind a little bit of a rivalry on this show but that Block/Pisanani feud had no context.   Something must have been said/happened before the first challenge because Block was going after them right out of the gate.   It was odd because it seemed fairly one-sided until they started selling.  To Pisani's credit, they didn't flip out after the accident and was actually trying to calm the Block's driver down.

 Despite selling out, Block lost because as they noted their food costs were so high.   They also couldn't have put out that many dishes.  There were only 4 wings in those packs and the  butcher only brought out 6 or so from the back.  

 I'm annoyed with the Hawaiian food truck.   They seem nice enough, but I'm not looking forward to another season of watching a team handily in week after week using the "coconut wireless".   And it will be even worse this season since they're staying in one place, so the same people will keep coming and jacking up their totals.   I fear this is going to be as anticlimactic as the season with the Bahn Mi truck.

 

 

Edited June 19, 2023 by Maverick

[Colorado David]

yeah agree with the other posters, i am not digging the personali,ties for these teams. i do like the different varieties of the foods, so it will be interesting to see how this pans out. what do we have - pakistani, jamaica, italian hawaiin, creole, southhern chicken (well that was quick), vegan, kind of surprised we have no asian tho.

Edited June 20, 2023 by Colorado David

[Gramto6]

I suppose the Hawaiian could lean into Asian if they wanted to. 

[Salacious Kitty]

5 minutes ago, Gramto6 said:

I suppose the Hawaiian could lean into Asian if they wanted to. 

Asian is woven into Hawaiian cuisine. Especially Japanese.

[Whimsy]

15 hours ago, cameron said:

She was a contestant twice on Masterchef and is now on this show.

Thanks.  I don't watch Masterchef, so maybe she just reminds me of someone else.

I also wanted to mention the hair flying around in the trucks.  Especially the big beard and the guy with the blue hair.  All I could think about was how much of their hair was going to be in the food.  Blech.  This group, in particular, should know better since they all work in kitchens. 

The youngest Boston guy reminds me of a young Matt Damon.  I can't stop seeing that lol. 

 

[Gramto6]

10 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Asian is woven into Hawaiian cuisine. Especially Japanese.

Exactly! That was my point, I think the producers may have expected the Asian influence in the Hawaiian food so didn't place an Asian truck in the race for that reason.

[Salacious Kitty]

4 hours ago, Gramto6 said:

Exactly! That was my point, I think the producers may have expected the Asian influence in the Hawaiian food so didn't place an Asian truck in the race for that reason.

They could have gone Filipino. 

[Lurk]

I'm glad The Block went home. Like everyone's said they were just too much. Also, I noticed that they showed the dinged up "shelf" on the truck after the crash but at judging, the shelf looked fine. 

Also, more shenangins in editing when the group went back to the store for water and ice for lemonade it showed them in the store with a huge cart full of food and then back to the truck with just the ice and water. 

I noticed that the crepe truck has their own special logo crepe cups yet everyone else has plain red checker paper dishes.

 

As usual, I think the prices they charge are insane. The Block was selling 2 wings (4 normal "wings), a scoop of guacamole, a few chips and some corn mess for $20? To me, that didn't even seem like a cohesive dish or meal. More like 3 appetizers in a bowl.

[LEILANI2]

Glad I discovered this yesterday on Discovery +.  I've watched every season except the last one because it just irked me they didn't make the Senorita's put their hair up.  It was not something I was going to get over so I stopped watching after the first episode.

So far I'm rooting for the Hawaiian truck and I don't find crepes appealing so they can go anytime.

[Ellee]

Senoritas … was trying to come up with their name but didn’t bother to look.  I felt like the Crepe girls were being treated like being the new Senoritas right away. 

[meep.meep]

As usual I focus on the shallow:  I can't believe that guy dyed his beard and mustache blue!

At least all these folks can cook.  In the past they've always included at least one doomed to be first out because of how bad their food was.  They were all doing well in the signature dish challenge.

 

[Maverick]

6 hours ago, meep.meep said:

As usual I focus on the shallow:  I can't believe that guy dyed his beard and mustache blue!

 Me either.   Did no one tell him he looked like he just blew a Smurf?

[Salacious Kitty]

1 minute ago, Maverick said:

 Me either.   Did no one tell him he looked like he just blew a Smurf?

How did I miss this guy? What team is he on? 

[meep.meep]

I think he is on the creole truck.  He also was wearing huge round earrings.

 

[Starry-Eyed]

I really can't stand the main woman from Khanda.She made really harsh, unkind comments about two different teams for no on-camera reason, plus the way she talked to her team. Their food may be great, but I can't wait for them to be gone.

Brandi and her 4hens (including the blue beard guy) were a little better, but I hope they cool down the drama.

I honestly don't know what Paisano did (beside not get a rave review at the first challenge) to attract so much hate. Sure, they did try to "poach" customers from The Block, but that's just normal good-natured rivalry on this show, and it came after The Block had already razzed them a little. I was actually impressed with how calm and not confrontational they were after the accident, which convinced me that as far they were concerned all that rivalry was just for the show.

[mlp]

14 hours ago, meep.meep said:

I can't believe that guy dyed his beard and mustache blue!

His eyebrows are dyed too.  :0  It looked more green than blue on my TV.

[Maya]

7 hours ago, mlp said:

His eyebrows are dyed too.  :0  It looked more green than blue on my TV.

Mine too. He looks like he should live in Oz 🤣

[Mellowyellow]

I liked the Vegan truck. They seemed like nice, calm people and their food looks decent even to a big meat eater like me.

The Hawaiian truck winning is a foregone conclusion I think. They'll just lean on their coconut wireless like another Hawaiian team did many seasons ago. I remember thinking that team had crappy food and they still won easily.

[Lurk]

On 6/21/2023 at 5:19 PM, meep.meep said:

I think he is on the creole truck.  He also was wearing huge round earrings.

 

I missed the beard color matching his hair because those earrings disturb me.

 

[Leeds]

On 6/18/2023 at 6:13 PM, Skyfall said:

I am tired of Cali/LA! First this show has just planted roots there and now I see that BBQ Brawl is coming to Cali...

And I can name a couple of cities that would have an issue with Tyler calling LA "the food truck capital of the country."

[LEILANI2]

Glad they went home, I don't want to see her and her wife fighting every week.

Kanda is another team, I'm already tired of the hostility with the male on the truck with the owner.   Hope they go next.

 

 

 

[Gramto6]

Totally agree, the infighting is not pleasant or interesting to watch. Are all the shows going to be 2 hours? After the premier, I think 1 hour shows are more than enough.

Edited June 26, 2023 by Gramto6
deleted random period

[Maverick]

 My cable guide shows next week as two hours.  Since it's something that's never happened on the show before I'm sure they're going to milk it.    It obviously involves the Pakistani truck and the guy on it is gone (more talking heads without him this week) but we've had people walk off before.   What's the relationship between the three on that team anyway?

 The Hawaiian truck wins again.   Yawn.   They barely showed them in the second hour, other than to point out the long lines from the coconut wireless.

 It sounds like the vegan truck won the little league because of their drink.  With sliders and tacos available, I don't buy they won on their main dishes alone.  Points to them for game play.   If they're basing totals on net profits vs. sales then the food cost is also helping them in the main selling challenges.

 In the commercial for this season, they have Tyler saying "it's food truck pros versus...these guys", they cut to Paisani and Tyler says "don't worry, you guys get a truck too."   Except Paisani is one of the pro trucks so it's really weird to present them as one of the rookies and not feature any of the rookie teams in the commercial. 

[bluepiano]

I thought they said that the truck Mookie Betts picked was going to get immunity and the cash prize?  

The editing on this show is always intentionally deceptive. We were shown long lines for Paisano both days, and not many customers for the vegan truck. Then, the vegan truck comes in second and the Boston guys are in fourth place. 

Weird that this season there has been no mention of pricing, which in the past has been a major focus. I miss that element of strategy. Do you price lower to try to sell more units, or price higher to increase revenue even with less sales? That's a big part of the real business of food trucks. 

I was wondering about that in relation to the vegan truck. Their big item in terms of sales volume was the lemonade. But how much were they charging for that? That must've been a pretty expensive cup of lemonade for them to win the Little League challenge.

 

Edited June 26, 2023 by bluepiano

[Maverick]

The little league challenge was based on tickets.   Each person got 4.   I'm assuming a lot of people got their entree and side at the other 7 trucks but got their drink at the vegan truck.    I do think the vegan has an edge in profits since they don't have to buy any meat or dairy, which are high dollar items.  

 There was a pricing element this week where Tyler told them their on the fly special had to be $15 forcing them all to sell at the same price and not won on units by doing a drink or one bite sample.  

[potatoradio]

1 hour ago, Maverick said:

I do think the vegan has an edge in profits since they don't have to buy any meat or dairy, which are high dollar items.

Also, from what I've seen, they do actually make a lot of their own vegan options from things like nuts so they're not buying off-the-shelf, pricey, premade crap....lookin' back at you and rolling my eyes, Senoreatas. Speaking of those folks...if you type "senoreatas" into a search bar, the search engine wants to add "hair" to your search for you.

This is probably the first vegan truck that serves food I'd want to try and is actually, you know, making an effort to be veg-forward. They also don't come across as super judgmental or overly hipster, nor do they amp up drama for camera mugging. Big wins in my book. For now. 

On 6/22/2023 at 8:19 PM, Mellowyellow said:

The Hawaiian truck winning is a foregone conclusion I think. They'll just lean on their coconut wireless like another Hawaiian team did many seasons ago.

 

Aloha Plate. Back then, I think it was called "coconut phone," so there has been an upgrade. Sick of Da Bald Guy not buying enough freaking food. Dude, you're killing it in sales. Buy enough supplies. Good grief.

It's really going to get kinda boring if this whole race comes down to can't beat the coconut wireless. We'll never talk about it, never make a storyline about what it is, how and why it's defeating other sales tactics or connections....that would be interesting, at least.

Asking for a friend, though....can anyone get in on this coconut wireless phone? Because  a private heads up if there's a Hawaiian food truck in the area would be all kinds of amazing. Can anyone join or is there an application process? But only if the truck has enough sense to properly supply itself with enough food.

3 hours ago, bluepiano said:

I thought they said that the truck Mookie Betts picked was going to get immunity and the cash prize?  

Same. They kinda got screwed - their reward was shared by the whole squad. I thought those guys were going to be way too bro-dude-ish, but they seem OK to me. I love meatballs - would be first in line to try their recipe.  

[seacliffsal]

I am really starting to like the Paisani truck.  They have a lot of enthusiasm (watching them with all of the kids was fun) and they are willing to share supplies with other teams which may hurt them down the road.  

Am glad the creole truck went home as I really didn't like Brenda going after the customer who wanted a refund.  I guess with a 2 hour episode we had to see some infighting which is not entertaining to me (same with the Pakistani truck infighting).  

Agree with others that the vegan truck selling lemonade is what put them over the top in the Little League contest.  However, I did not appreciate that they hid their truck name/type of food.  Seems a little deceptive to me, but oh well.

Okay, I'll just say it-I had no idea who Mookie was.  But, he seemed enthusiastic and nice.  Seems like a lot of the competitors knew who he was (especially the Boston guys!).

[Salacious Kitty]

28 minutes ago, potatoradio said:

Also, from what I've seen, they do actually make a lot of their own vegan options from things like nuts so they're not buying off-the-shelf, pricey, premade crap....lookin' back at you and rolling my eyes, Senoreatas. Speaking of those folks...if you type "senoreatas" into a search bar, the search engine wants to add "hair" to your search for you.

This is probably the first vegan truck that serves food I'd want to try and is actually, you know, making an effort to be veg-forward. They also don't come across as super judgmental or overly hipster, nor do they amp up drama for camera mugging. Big wins in my book. For now. 

 

Aloha Plate. Back then, I think it was called "coconut phone," so there has been an upgrade. Sick of Da Bald Guy not buying enough freaking food. Dude, you're killing it in sales. Buy enough supplies. Good grief.

It's really going to get kinda boring if this whole race comes down to can't beat the coconut wireless. We'll never talk about it, never make a storyline about what it is, how and why it's defeating other sales tactics or connections....that would be interesting, at least.

Asking for a friend, though....can anyone get in on this coconut wireless phone? Because  a private heads up if there's a Hawaiian food truck in the area would be all kinds of amazing. Can anyone join or is there an application process? But only if the truck has enough sense to properly supply itself with enough food.

Same. They kinda got screwed - their reward was shared by the whole squad. I thought those guys were going to be way too bro-dude-ish, but they seem OK to me. I love meatballs - would be first in line to try their recipe.  

There were two different challenges. The first was the ticket challenge with the cash prize and immunity that the vegans won with the lemonade. The second was the Mookie taste challenge with the extra hour of sales time that the Paisanis won. 

It was cute seeing the Paisanis fanboying over Mookie. He started his career in Boston, helped them win a World Series. He plays with the Dodgers now, hence his LA presence. He was a very good get for FN.

[Lurk]

Ok. Anyone know the scoop on the Khana controversy coming up next? "Never happened before" couldn't just be someone quit and they continue on with 2 or a whole truck is eliminated.

[Maverick]

It's more than someone walking or a truck self-eliminating since both have happened before.   With Tyler pulling them aside, I'm guessing some conduct violation.   I'm wondering if their conflict ends up turning physical causing the guy to get booted.  

[Lurk]

13 minutes ago, Maverick said:

It's more than someone walking or a truck self-eliminating since both have happened before.   With Tyler pulling them aside, I'm guessing some conduct violation.   I'm wondering if their conflict ends up turning physical causing the guy to get booted.  

That would be interesting. Given some of their behavior or attitude towards the other trucks, maybe they took their "friendly competitive rivalry" a little too far?

[mlp]

2 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

Okay, I'll just say it-I had no idea who Mookie was.

I'd never heard of him either but I don't follow sports so............  He did seem nice.

I like the Paisani boys.  They seem like genuinely nice guys.  I was fully expecting them to win based on the editing so I was very surprised they came in 4th.  

I'll sort of miss the guy with the green beard.  He looked weird but he seemed nice unlike those two women he was with.  He amused me during the confessionals because he kept nodding like a bobblehead while the boss lady was talking.  I wasn't at all sorry to see that truck go.  

 

[Colorado David]

i'd have not not no shenanigans ths time

but ballpark does favor against vegans..... so parity? i do not wish to go down sponsorship  but feel i need to. i do love the stadium mindset but am i wrong here?? 

[Ellee]

Do you think ‘the Pakistani Superhero’ did something special for the Khana truck? 

[Leeds]

5 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

 

  

Agree with others that the vegan truck selling lemonade is what put them over the top in the Little League contest.  However, I did not appreciate that they hid their truck name/type of food.  Seems a little deceptive to me, but oh well.

 

I don't think it's necessarily deceptive, but I do think it's a shame that it was probably a smart move.  My hope is they'll have "come out" by the end and still win it all.

Edited June 27, 2023 by Leeds