Columbus, IN Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

The Common Council of the City of Columbus, Indiana, treats a mobile food seller as a "food vendor" under Chapter 5.04. The definition covers any person, firm or corporation, whether owner, agent, consignee or employee, who sells food, beverage or other items for human consumption using a wagon, motor vehicle or push cart on a public street or sidewalk. Operating without a license is unlawful.

The application goes to the office of the clerk with a nonrefundable ten dollar fee. The clerk forwards it to the chief of the Columbus Police Department, who investigates and brings it to the board of public works and safety. The applicant must show who manages the business, where it will operate, the owner and operators of each wagon, motor vehicle or pushcart, the license plate number if there is one, every product to be sold, and any other place the applicant ran a food vendor business in the prior six months. The board directs the clerk to issue the license once the fees are paid and the applicant posts a surety bond payable to the city in the penal sum of one thousand dollars for each person to be hired or employed. No license issues until the vendor is licensed by the Indiana State Board of Health.

The board sets the term, no longer than one year. Every license expires December 31st and must be renewed no later than January 15th, and it cannot be assigned or transferred. Food vendors do not post the license at a fixed location; it must be made available for inspection on request. A person holding a registered retail merchant's certificate under Indiana Code 6-25 is exempt from the chapter, but still has to follow the operating rules in Section 5.04.070.

If the board finds the application unsatisfactory, the applicant has fifteen days to submit more information, then fifteen days to appeal to the Common Council, then fifteen days to go to circuit or superior court.