Puyallup, WA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

PMC § 5.65.010(6) defines a "food truck" as a motor vehicle or trailer used to prepare and serve food from a curbside location or private property, and specifically distinguishes it from a "mobile vendor," the pedal-cab and prepackaged-goods category covered by the rest of Chapter 5.65. A food truck that complies with the city's food truck program guidelines and holds an active food truck license is exempted from most of Chapter 5.65's mobile vendor licensing requirements, and instead operates under those guidelines and/or Chapter 20.70 PMC, the zoning code's temporary uses chapter.

Under § 20.70.012(3), temporary food businesses located within designated parking areas in commercial (C), mixed-use (MX) and manufacturing (M) zones are capped at 30 days of site occupation per year, though the development services director can exempt temporary food stands sited outside driveway and fire-lane areas from that time limit. Even though food trucks sit outside most of Chapter 5.65's specific vendor rules, § 5.65.140 still makes violating either the chapter or the adopted food truck guidelines enforceable. All food vending is additionally subject to Tacoma-Pierce County health department regulations under § 5.65.090, which applies chapter-wide to food handling, equipment and vehicles.