New Rochelle, NY Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

Section 147-14T of the Fire Prevention Code, added by Ordinance No. 2021-172 in December 2021, covers mobile food preparation vehicles equipped with appliances that produce smoke or grease-laden vapors, such as griddles or fryers, and requires them to comply with Section 319 of the Fire Code of New York State. The rule carves out an explicit exception for vehicles without cooking or heating equipment, naming an ice cream truck as the example that does not need to comply. Every mobile food preparation vehicle permitted by the City must pass a firesafety inspection before it begins operating, and then undergo an annual firesafety inspection each year afterward to keep operating.

The permit itself is one of the activities listed under § 147-13, which requires anyone operating a mobile food preparation vehicle in New Rochelle to obtain a permit from the Fire Commissioner, with the fee set in Chapter 133, Fees. Before that permit issues, § 147-11B requires the Fire Commissioner or an assistant to inspect and approve the vehicle, and where other City departments' rules also apply, such as health or vending regulations, joint approval from those departments is required as well. The permit is not transferable, and any change in the vehicle's use requires a new permit under § 147-11A.