Joliet, IL Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

Section 5-100 makes it unlawful to use a food truck within Joliet's corporate limits for direct sale or distribution of food to the public without first obtaining a special event permit from the office of the city clerk; food trucks are folded into the city's broader special-event permitting system rather than given their own license track. Before that permit can issue, section 5-101 requires the operator to prove compliance with the applicable county health department, either Will County or Kendall County depending on where in Joliet the truck is working, and to provide proof of Illinois sales tax registration.

Section 5-102 then restricts where and how long a truck can operate: it must work in conjunction with a host location, meaning a host business or property owner or manager, and cannot serve as the principal use on a vacant lot with no host tied to it. Food trucks cannot park in the public right-of-way or on public property, including on-street parking spaces, unless the special event permit expressly authorizes it, and absent a multi-day special event authorization, a truck cannot operate at any one location for more than 12 hours.

Section 5-103 layers on sales rules: sales can only be made while the truck is lawfully parked at a curb, in a private lot, or another approved location, and sales cannot be made from the street side of the truck unless the roadway is closed to vehicular traffic. The section also states that sales tax generated by food truck sales is expected to flow back to the City of Joliet.