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

New Haven Code of Ordinances § 17-11.6(d) makes the food truck's health and fire clearance a precondition of licensing: before the city issues a vendor license for a food truck or other conveyance containing cooking equipment, the operator must first obtain a permit to sell food from the health department and arrange a fire marshal inspection of the truck itself. That sits on top of the base application in § 17-11.3, which requires a valid Connecticut tax number, a health permit if selling food, a photograph and description of the vehicle, copies of the vehicle registration and driver's license, proof of insurance, a site plan showing distances to hydrants, crosswalks and building entrances, and the license fee set annually in § 17-201.

Size is fixed by § 17-11.13: a food truck cannot exceed 10 feet in width including awnings, 20 feet in length in metered city parking spaces, 26 feet in non-metered city spaces, and 40 feet with a trailer on private property. Operationally, § 17-11.9 bars food trucks within 20 feet of a fire hydrant or intersection, requires nightly removal of grease and food waste, prohibits dumping grease into catch basins, and limits generator noise under § 18-75. Food trucks are prohibited entirely in the Cedar Street and Sachem Street special vending districts under § 17-11.8(c), and barred from the downtown and Long Wharf Drive districts except where a district regulation specifically authorizes them under § 17-11.8(d). Vendors operating in the Long Wharf Drive or downtown districts pay a $2,500 annual parking site license fee plus a $500 electricity fee under § 17-11.19(c). Enforcement is split among the police department, health department, office of building inspection and enforcement, the fire department and the department of transportation, traffic and parking, per § 17-11.15.