New Britain, CT Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

Sec. 14-213(c) bars a mobile food vendor from conducting business on any street, alley, sidewalk, park or public place unless the vendor's license specifically authorizes sale in that public place, and requires the vendor to avoid parking or standing so as to cause congestion, obstruct travel or inconvenience the public, with a police officer's good-faith judgment on congestion treated as conclusive. Sec. 14-214(c) requires a written application listing each applicant's name and address, the commissary supply source and its own establishment license, vehicle plans and specifications, proof of restroom and hand-sink access within 200 feet when parked more than two hours, a signed indemnification and insurance statement covering at least $1,000,000 per occurrence, and a Connecticut State Police background check on the operator.

Sec. 14-222 sets location limits: no vending within 3,000 feet of a school at dismissal time or for a half hour after, and none within 500 feet of a restaurant, except in city-designated mobile-vendor locations; Sec. 14-222(c) names seven approved Public Way Green Zone sites, including stretches of Burritt Street, Precision Court, Wilson Street, Hartford Square, Commerce Circle, Pioneer Court and St. Claire Avenue, and caps each zone at two itinerant vendors at a time. Sec. 14-216 sets the vendor's license fee at $500 per year under the itinerant vendor fee schedule, with an exception for vendors of toys, foodstuffs and similar items at parades, bazaars and community events.

Sec. 14-224 layers on operational rules: self-contained power only, no drive-through service, service only from the sidewalk-facing side of the truck, and pre-approval from the Parks and Recreation Department to vend on park property.