Norfolk, VA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

Section 42-39(b) makes a vendor license mandatory before any food truck operates in a designated parking location or elsewhere in the public right-of-way, and Section 42-39(b)(3) makes that license personal to the vendor: it cannot be leased, sold, or transferred to anyone else. The vendor license carries its own fee, set by the city manager under Section 42-39(b)(4), on top of any other fee the code requires. Section 42-39(c) separately requires a business license, or a special event business license, from the commissioner of the revenue, and Section 42-39(c)(2) blocks issuing or renewing that business license if the applicant has skipped a health-code summons or hearing or has not paid a fine tied to a vending violation.

Health and fire safety run on their own permits: Section 42-40(a) requires a food truck vendor to hold a valid health permit from the department of health before operating at all, and Section 42-40(b) adds a fire safety permit and an annual fire inspection whenever the truck's cooking or heating creates a fire hazard. Section 42-41 requires the vendor license, business license, health permit, and any fire safety permit to be conspicuously displayed on the vehicle at all times, and Section 42-42(a) lets the department of health and the fire marshal conduct regular inspections of the truck.

Section 42-46(a)(4) layers on a financial requirement specific to food trucks: automobile liability insurance of at least $1,000,000 per incident for injury or death and $100,000 for property damage, naming the city as an additional insured.