Cathedral City, CA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

Chapter 5.82 of the Cathedral City Municipal Code, titled Regulations for the Operation of Food Trucks, lets a mobile food vendor locate in the public right-of-way only if every condition in § 5.82.020 is met. Under subsection A.7 the vendor must hold a valid business license from the city and a valid vendor license from the city, and must give the city a true and correct copy of the route showing each stop where food will be sold and the streets used to reach it. As a condition of issuing a vendor license, the city requires a background check on the applicant and on anyone who will operate the mobile food facility. "Operate" covers anyone who drives the vehicle to a stop and anyone in charge of making or selling food at a stop. No background check is required when the vendor operates solely at an event covered by a special use permit under Chapter 9.68.

Subsection A.8 requires a valid permit, certificate or other approval from the Riverside County Department of Health, and A.9 requires all food products to meet California labeling requirements and the vendor to obtain every required permit, including health permits. Vendors must keep a marked litter receptacle near the facility and clear trash within a twenty-five-foot radius before leaving (A.10). A vendor who works only a special use permit event pays a reduced business license fee of three dollars for each day the permit is valid instead of the regular fee schedule (§ 5.82.035). Section 5.82.010 ties the vendor definition to the California Retail Food Code, and § 5.82.030 requires compliance with all state and local laws while excusing pedestrian vendors and human-powered push carts from this chapter.