The Great Food Truck Race

Last updated
The Great Food Truck Race
Genre Cooking
Reality
Presented by Tyler Florence
Country of origin United States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons16
No. of episodes103 (list of episodes)
Production
Production company Critical Content
Release
Original network Food Network

The Great Food Truck Race is a reality television and cooking series that originally aired on August 15, 2010, on Food Network, with Tyler Florence as the host. [1] Billed as a cross between Cannonball Run and Top Chef, [2] this late summer show features several competing teams of three who drive across the United States in their food trucks and make stops every week to sell food in different cities.

Contents

The sixteenth season premiered on June 18, 2023.

Format

Every season, between six and nine food truck teams compete in a race where they must cook, sell, and adapt to different challenges in the hopes of winning $50,000 (and in some cases, their own food truck). While taking a journey through a specific region or route, every week the food truck that makes the least profit is eliminated and sent home, while the rest of the food trucks continue on to the next city. They're usually given "seed money" at the beginning of each episode that goes towards grocery shopping. The teams are assigned different challenges every week for a chance to earn more money (usually in the form of selling the most of a special dish or making a version of a local delicacy for Tyler and a guest judge). They're also thrown obstacles that hinder their ability to make normal sales (for example, switching their menu to vegan food or being unable to restock supplies for the day).

In the first two seasons of the Great Food Truck Race, the competitors were seasoned, professional food truck operators who were competing for a cash prize (first season was $50,000 and second season was $100,000). In the following seasons (save for season six), food trucks were provided to novices (from home cooks to former restaurateurs) who have dreamed of owning and operating their own food truck. In seasons three, four, and five, the winning team got the money and got to keep the food truck they were provided by the show. In season six and onward, the show reverted to awarding the winning teams only the $50,000.

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesSeason premiereSeason finale
1 6August 15, 2010September 19, 2010
2 7August 14, 2011September 25, 2011
3 7August 19, 2012September 30, 2012
4 7August 18, 2013September 29, 2013
5 7August 17, 2014September 28, 2014
6 6August 23, 2015September 27, 2015
7 5August 28, 2016September 25, 2016
8 6August 20, 2017September 24, 2017
9 6July 26, 2018August 30, 2018
10 8June 9, 2019July 28, 2019
11 4November 27, 2019December 18, 2019
12 6March 19, 2020April 23, 2020
13 6March 7, 2021April 11, 2021
14 6June 7, 2021July 18, 2021
15 8June 5, 2022July 24, 2022
16 8June 18, 2023July 30, 2023

Production

Bob Tuschman, general manager of the Food Network, had gotten several pitches for a food truck themed competition show before settling on the show that would become The Great Food Truck Race.[ citation needed ] He believed it to be ideal because it combined the Survivor-style reality show competition with the rising trend of food trucks. [3] Tyler Florence was immediately on board and as the show grew and got renewed, so did the food truck scene. Florence believed the food truck trend grew in large part because of the economic slump around the early 2000s, and his show "helped invent an entirely new genre of restaurants". [4]

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References

  1. "Tyler Florence Interview". Tvsquad.com. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
  2. "Tyler Florence talks about Food Network's new reality competition". ew.com. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
  3. Eells, Josh (6 August 2010). "Food (Truck) Fight: Putting Griddle to the Metal". The New York Times .
  4. "How 'The Great Food Truck Race' Influenced America's Food Truck Scene". thedailymeal.com.