Cedar Rapids, IA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

Section 42A.03 requires a mobile food vendor to submit a completed application to the Office of the City Clerk, proof of general liability insurance including products liability coverage of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence and $1,000,000 for property damage, with a certificate naming the City as certificate holder delivered before the license issues, and the license fee set from time to time by City Council resolution. Section 42A.04 adds that each vendor must also obtain any license or permit required by county, state, or federal government, must carry the City-issued license at all times and show it on request, and will be denied a license if found to have materially violated Chapter 42A within the prior 180 days. A denial can be appealed in writing to a hearing officer within ten business days of written notice; the hearing officer decides on a preponderance of the evidence within 30 days, and the vendor cannot operate until that appeal is resolved.

Section 42A.05 makes the license non-transferable between people, between mobile food vending units, or between food stands. Section 42A.06 lets the City suspend or revoke a license, after written notice and a hearing opportunity, for misrepresentation, fraudulent statements, a Chapter 42A violation, unlawful conduct, or the operation becoming a public nuisance, and a revoked or non-renewed licensee cannot reapply for 180 days. Because Chapter 42A is capacity-limited under § 42A.07, the City may cap the total number of food truck and food cart licenses issued when public safety or congestion requires it, awarding them strictly in the order applications are date-and-time stamped as received by the City Clerk.