'The Great Food Truck Race' World Central Kitchen Match Challenge

This year marks the 15th anniversary of World Central Kitchen, the Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit. Founded by world-renowned chef José Andrés, WCK provides fresh meals on the front lines of humanitarian crises and natural disasters. For nearly 10 years, Tyler Florence has given his time to World Central Kitchen, supporting the mission through countless volunteer efforts.

In this special episode, the teams face their toughest speed and taste tests yet during the She-Crab Challenge. Not only will the team that wins add several hundred dollars to their till, but the truck with the highest sales for the day will have its total matched by The Great Food Truck Race and donated to the nonprofit on their behalf.

The Challenge: A She-Crab Soup-Inspired Dish

Drawing inspiration from Virginia Beach’s rich coastal history and its love of seafood, this challenge takes place at the city’s premier event, the She Crab Soup Classic. Each team must take their best-selling dish, remove the protein and transform it into a She-Crab Soup–inspired special featuring the pride of the Chesapeake Bay: crab roe (fish or shellfish eggs). The challenge puts their creativity and culinary skills to the test as they reinvent a signature dish on the spot.

The stakes are high in this challenge, which tests the teams on both speed and taste. The first truck to sell $200 of their craft special will earn $300 in their till. But there’s a twist. Along with the race to hit their sales number, the judges from the She Crab Soup Classic will also be evaluating each dish. Whichever team they decide has created the best dish will receive an extra $500 in their till.

About World Central Kitchen

As previously mentioned, WCK was founded by chef José Andrés in 2010 after a devastating earthquake displaced countless families in Haiti. Since then, World Central Kitchen has grown into a chef-led relief organization dedicated to delivering fresh meals in disaster zones and humanitarian crises around the world.

Over the years, WCK has expanded its work beyond Haiti, launching programs like Clean Cooking to replace dangerous open-fire stoves and supporting rebuilding through culinary schools. It has also continued to respond to disasters across the globe — from hurricanes and wildfires in the US to war-torn regions like Ukraine and Gaza.

Tyler's Involvement in WCK

Tyler Florence has been working as a volunteer with World Central Kitchen for nearly a decade, primarily in disaster relief efforts in his home state of California. As part of WCK’s Chef Corps, he has responded to multiple natural disasters over the years, including the Wine Country Wildfires in 2017, the 2024 Park Fires in Chico and, most recently, the LA County Wildfires in Beverly Hills’ Pacific Palisades in 2025.

And the Winner Is …

The speed challenge came down to the wire — literally right up until the last second. With time running out, two of the four remaining teams were neck and neck, racing toward their final goal of selling $200 of their crab roe special the fastest. When the final orders were placed, the result, and the first team to complete the challenge, was … a tie! Both Stop Drop N Roll and Good Fortune Co. handed their diners their final dishes at nearly the exact same second, leaving the two teams to split the $300 evenly.

With the speed challenge in the rearview, the winner of the she-crab taste competition and the team to sell the most for the day, earning a matched donation to World Central Kitchen, is … Stop Drop N Roll! The judges found their Chesapeake Crab Cake Eggroll in a smoked oyster and chipotle sauce to be "spot-on," awarding the team an extra $500. More importantly, with a sales total of $1,116, that means $2,232 was donated to World Central Kitchen on their behalf.

If you’d like to get involved with World Central Kitchen, visit their website for volunteer opportunities. Meanwhile, to see which team takes home the crown on Season 18 of The Great Food Truck Race, tune in to Food Network Sundays at 9|8c or stream the next day on Max.