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Barbecue business in Food Network contest
Voting runs through Friday
food truck
Amanda Bowman of Deep South BBQ serves pulled pork during a recent event. - photo by Jim Dean
At a glance
• To support Deep South BBQ, go to www.foodnetwork.com/foodtrucks, find Deep South in the list of finalists and vote, or text FT19 to 66789. Voting closes Friday.
A local family is hoping the public will help them win $10,000 and a chance to appear on a national television program.

Randall and Amanda Bowman's mobile restaurant, Deep South BBQ, has been nominated in a Food Network online contest centering around the network's show, "The Great Food Truck Race."

Currently in its first season, the series tracks a cross country race of seven food trucks peddling everything from French cuisine and gourmet burgers to gumbo and banana pudding.

At each stop, the trucks compete to sell the most food and earn the right to move on to the next city. The truck selling the least is eliminated.

To promote the series, Food Network is presenting a contest where viewers nominate their favorite local food truck. Deep South BBQ is among about 200 finalists from across the country vying for the most online and text votes.

The winner will receive $10,000 and a chance to be in season two of the "The Great Food Truck Race."

Everyone who votes in the contest is also entered for a chance to win a trip to New York City's Food and Wine Festival. Voting closes Friday.

Amanda Bowman said she and her husband were surprised to learn they were in contest.

"Randall got an e-mail telling him we'd been nominated," she said. "But he thought it was spam. It took him a few times of getting the e-mail to realize it was for real."

She said they have no idea who nominated their truck, but suspects it's probably one of their "loyal following of customers."

The Bowman family -- which includes 4-year-old son Cash, who his mother said is a "pit master in training" -- started their barbecue business in 2005 in California.

A couple years ago, they returned to Randall Bowman's home of Forsyth County. They began a barbecue catering outfit and early this year opened the food truck.

The truck can usually be found during lunchtime across from Leonard's grocery store on Hwy. 9 near downtown Cumming.

Amanda Bowman said she and her husband hope the community will rally to their contest cause.

She said if they end up winning, they would put the grand prize toward opening a full-size barbecue restaurant in Cumming.

"We see the truck as the first step toward that goal," she said.