Owensboro, KY Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

Owensboro Municipal Code § 16-4 defines a mobile food unit as a self-propelled, wheeled food establishment such as a food truck or ice cream truck, and a mobile food unit vendor as the itinerant merchant running it. Licensing is per unit: each separate mobile food unit needs its own license, and every application must include a certificate of insurance, proof of health department approval, and the required fee. The fee schedule sets a mobile food vending permit at $250.00, plus an additional $400.00 downtown entertainment district permit for vendors who also want to operate within the entertainment district created by Ordinance 28-2013.

Licenses run 12 months and vendors must reapply, fees included, each year. Vendors must carry liability insurance naming the city as an additional insured, with minimums of $25,000 for injury to one person, $50,000 total for injury to multiple people, and $10,000 for property damage. Operational rules layered onto the license include staying at least 15 feet from any driveway or building entrance without the owner's written permission, staying out of residential zones except to briefly serve a flagged-down customer between 10:00 a.m. and 8:30 p.m., staying 1,000 feet from a school absent written permission, and operating city-wide only between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. Parks and recreation department permits are separately required for vending on city park land.