Haverhill, MA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

Section 191-29 of Chapter 191, Article VIII, Food Trucks, requires a license from the City Council before anyone may operate a food truck on Haverhill's public ways or in any other public place. The license carries a per-day fee of $50, but the total a single operator pays cannot exceed $500 in any calendar year, which caps the cost of running a truck on a near-daily basis. Section 191-28 defines the vehicle the license covers: a 'walk-on vehicle' where food is cooked, prepared and served in individual portions, measuring no larger than 30 feet by eight feet, a size limit that keeps the license scheme aimed at true mobile kitchens rather than larger trailers or stationary stands.

The article was adopted February 2, 2016, by Doc. 67, and an editor's note explains it was originally numbered Article VII before being redesignated Article VIII to keep the Code's chapter organization consistent. Because the license is tied to a specific approved site under § 191-30, the City Council reviews both the fee-based operating authorization and the location together rather than issuing a general citywide permit; an operator who wants to run at more than one site needs Council approval for each. The fingerprint-based background check article, Article VII of the same chapter, does not list food truck operators among the occupations it covers (only public-conveyance operators and ice cream truck vendors), so food truck licensees are not currently subject to that fingerprinting requirement.