Episode 2 of The Great Food Truck Race brought 6 contestants closer to their dream of owning their very own food truck, unfortunately, that means that one of the teams was sent home packing…who could it have been.

SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!!!

The show started with the trucks traveling from California to Tucson, AZ with hopes of making it through the tough road ahead.

The remaining 7 teams to take part of episode two of The Great Food Truck Race season 5 teams are (with Twitter accounts):

Beach Cruiser (Venice, CA)
Gourmet Graduates (Providence)
Let There Be Bacon (Cleveland)
Lone Star Chuck Wagon (Houston)
Madres Mexican Meals (Norwalk, CA)
Middle Feast (Los Angeles)
Military Moms (Fort Drum, NY)

On the trip, you get to see the inside strategies that some of the trucks were planning such as last weeks overall winner Lone Star Chuck Wagon felt that a Mexican food spin on their menu would help them retain their title.

The Let There Be Bacon truck knew that Tucson holds a bacon festival every year, so they felt that their concept would do well.

Military Moms re-planned their menu, they thought their Sloppy Joes were a bit too sloppy so they knew they had to change things up.

Host Tyler Florence put a little spin on the gifting of start up cash for the week by handing out $300 to get them started, however he stipulated that $100 of it had to be put into the marketing of their trucks. Brilliant!!!

In a bizarre twist Chef Florence made an announcement to the teams that he would be helping the winner of last weeks episode with a flag they could use to help support their marketing effort.  He then proceeded to hand out flags to the rest of the teams…not quite an advantage?

 DAY 1:

The teams immediately started brainstorming their marketing plans which lead most of them to call local news stations for exposure and using social media. The Middle Feast even went out and hired a sign spinner. Lose Star started an auction for an MP3 player. Beach Cruiser decided on keeping with their beach concept and hosted a pool party.

The teams headed out to prepare for the day by food shopping and quickly made their way into town to find a place to park their rolling restaurants.

Madres Mexican Meals choose a biker bar with hopes that it would be a fun location to draw customers. Middle Feast got a late start selling due to 30 minutes of food prep time they hadn’t considered. is The Military Moms created a sign to allow customers to have a picture taken with in front of their truck and for a dollar, the team would post it on social media and tag the individual.

The was a lot of turmoil in the Gourmet Graduates truck. A lot of arguing and very little marketing.

THE GREAT FOOD TRUCK RACE TRUCK STOP COOKING CHALLENGE:

Chef Florence had directed the teams to prepare their menus with only three items. When he calls the teams to announce the cooking challenge, he informs them to make room for a fourth: a Sonoran hot dog! The teams must stop selling their other dishes until they have created a sonoran style dog for their truck and are able to sell them…another wrench…they can only sell them for $5! The team that sells the most dogs will win $500, second place gets $200 and third place gets $100.

Madres Mexican Meals struggled with hot dog sales, so they decide to stop pushing them to focus on their own dishes.

DAY 2:

THE GREAT FOOD TRUCK RACE SPEED BUMP 1:

Tyler Florence calls the teams to inform them that there is a big folk festival going on with over 20,000 people in attendance. All seven trucks were directed to head over so they could park at the same location and face off head to head.

Each of the trucks tries to use advantages to draw the crowd over the other competitors. The Middle Feast brought back their sign spinner, so Greta from Beach Cruisers jumps out of the truck in a bikini top and mega phone. In a weird twist the Gourmet Graduates took to the streets to attract customers. The problem? All three of them left the truck with nobody left to serve any customers that may have shown up.

THE GREAT FOOD TRUCK RACE SPEED BUMP 2:

Tyler calls with the day’s second Speed Bump. Each team has 30 minutes to create a jingle for their food truck. While it may not have seemed like a real world test, it was still a lot of fun to watch as each team got on stage to sing their jingles. Some were fun…others (Beach Cruiser)…well, not so much.They will all take the stage and sing for the crowd and hope this brings in customers. No prizes, but it could bring many customers to their trucks! The teams start working on their jingles and they are all struggling.

Lesson: Build A Strong Marketing Plan To Draw Customers To Your Food Truck.

TRUCK STOP RESULTS:

  • Winner ($500) – Beach Cruisers
  • Second ($200) – Military Moms
  • Third ($100) – Middle Feast

In the final hours The Gourmet Grads close up early baffling most of the other trucks, while others stay open long enough to sell their final products.

With the teams lined up to get the results from Tyler Florence he announces their totals.

  • Beach Cruisers: $3,685 ($500 from truck stop contest)
  • Lone Star Chuck Wagon: $3,238
  • Military Moms: $2,716  ($200 from truck stop contest)
  • Let There Be Bacon: $2,376
  • Madres Mexican Meals: $2,290
  • Middle Feast: $??? ($100 from truck stop contest)
  • Gourmet Grads: $???

Ultimately only $184 separated the two bottom trucks. Unfortunately because of the amount of time they spent arguing and not marketing their truck with the addition of closing early on day 2 the Gourmet Grads were sent packing.

Next week’s stop? Austin, TX.

So what did you think of the second episode of The Great Food Truck Race? You can share your thoughts in the comment section below or share with us on Twitter or Facebook.

Join us next week on #FoodTruckChat as we live tweet during the show.