Let's Get Rolling: Tyler Florence on the New Season of The Great Food Truck Race

By: Sarah De Heer

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tyler florence

FNS7 Episode 6 Camera Challenge

FNS7 Episode 6 Guest Host/Judge Tyler Florence at Food Truck Commercial Camera Challenge.

Photo by: Edward Chen/Creel Films ©2011, Television Food Network, G.P.

Edward Chen/Creel Films, 2011, Television Food Network, G.P.

We’re just hours away (10pm/9c) from the start of the third season of The Great Food Truck Race and while we've been previewing each truck on FN Dish all week, who better to kick off the new season than Tyler Florence? We caught up with him on the set of Food Truck and asked him to give us a sneak peek of what we can expect. And mark your calendar for Tuesday, August 21, at 3pm EST when Tyler Florence stops by to chat and answer questions about the new season on Twitter. Don't forget to Tweet along with us during the season premiere tonight using #GreatFoodTruckRace.

How does this season compare to last season?

TF: I’m really excited about the third season because we’re changing up the rules of the game. Instead of professional food truck operators, we’re flipping the whole thing on its side. We looked for teams that would love to have a food truck — really confident people and fantastic chefs that would really love to get into the food business. They’re going to compete for a chance to win their very own food truck and that’s the grand prize at the end of the race.

Why do you enjoy being a part of this show?

TF: I try to be part of the solution because we are giving people the courage to do this themselves and people are doing well as a legit business. I’d much rather pay $6 for a food truck meal than in a fast food chain. It’s encouraging people to be in business for themselves.

All the teams this season have more at stake. In past seasons, losing teams would just go back to their business after leaving the show. But this season they risk everything and there’s a lot of personal emotion. There were definitely some rookie mistakes made, a growth curve. I want them to be good because these are people that are really genuine.

Speaking of past seasons, do you have a favorite local or challenge? 

TF: So we’ve been coast to coast twice already. The first season we went from Los Angeles to New York and the second season we went from Los Angeles to Miami. There are so many great towns — big and small — in between, like Jonesborough, Tenn. New Orleans was an epic show because it rained the entire time and New York City is always a great city to shoot in. Last season when we gave away $100,000 on the beach of Miami, that was also pretty special.

People love the idea of food trucks being in their town and they come out by the thousands — it’s so exciting to watch. This season, we get a chance to take really hard-working professional people who have this raw entrepreneurial spirit, who want so badly to succeed, and we’re going to put them to the limit driving coast to coast to see if their food is popular everywhere.

Click play on the video below to watch Tyler’s Great Food Truck Race interview and be sure to tune in to the season premiere tonight at 10pm/9c

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