Supermarket Stakeout
Supermarket Stakeout is an American cooking reality competition television series that airs on Food Network. It is presented by Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli.
Each episode begins with four chefs who have to create dishes from groceries they purchase from customers at a nearby supermarket with a budget of $500 each; the winning chef is awarded a year's worth of groceries.
Supermarket Stakeout premiered on August 13, 2019, and began airing its seventh season in July 2025.
Format
Chefs compete in a pop-up kitchen space in a grocery store parking lot. Over the course of three rounds, they must purchase ingredients from customers leaving the store, with different restrictions in each round. Additional staple ingredients are made available for chefs' use.Each round lasts 45 minutes, including ingredient purchases, then preparing and plating three servings. After each round, the chef with the least satisfactory dish is eliminated and must forfeit their remaining money.
In the first round, chefs must buy groceries sight unseen, but may purchase from as many customers as they wish. In the second round, chefs may only buy one customer's groceries, but may look in the bags before making an offer. In the final round, chefs may only buy five items, but may buy from multiple customers and inspect their bags. During the final minutes, they may enter the market and purchase one additional item of their choice, if they have the money and time to do so. The last remaining chef wins the day's grand prize – enough cash to bring their total up to $10,000 in early seasons, a year's worth of free groceries in later ones.
Occasionally, judges instead participate in the competition, including a season 6 "Judges' Takeover" tournament.