Baytown, TX Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

Under Sec. 42-153(a), mobile food vendors operating in Baytown are regulated, inspected, and permitted by the Department of State Health Services exclusively, so the city does not issue its own inspection sticker for the vehicle's food safety. Instead, Sec. 42-153(b)-(c) shifts the city's regulatory reach onto the commissary: any fixed base of operations servicing a mobile food unit other than a restricted-operations unit must itself be an approved, permitted food establishment where the truck takes on fresh water, discharges wastewater into a proper disposal system, and gets its food-contact surfaces washed, rinsed, and sanitized.

A commissary cannot operate out of a private residence (Sec. 42-153(c)(2)), and servicing must occur at an enclosed, city-approved service building; liquid waste transport by vacuum truck is expressly banned as a disposal method for mobile-unit wastewater (Sec. 42-153(c)(3)-(4)). Sec. 42-183 separately requires every approved mobile food unit to display a yearly mobile permit sticker on the rear of the vehicle. Application and fees run through Sec. 42-176 and Sec. 42-178: applicants file with the health department and pay a non-refundable fee before any permit or plan review, with standard food establishment permits tiered at $258 (low-risk), $515 (medium-risk), and $640-$773 (high-risk, based on employee count), plus a $35 plans-review fee and $120 sanitation inspection fee. Permits run through December 31 each year (Sec. 42-181) and carry a $100 late renewal fee after January 31 (Sec. 42-178(a)(3)).