Salinas, CA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

Sec. 060 of the Salinas Municipal Code requires a vendor permit before anyone maintains, manages, or operates a food truck, ice cream truck, or nonmotorized pushcart, or otherwise conducts business as a vendor, anywhere in the city. The application goes to the city on a city-provided form with all required information and fees, and no permit issues until the applicant already holds a valid City of Salinas business license and, where the county requires one, a Monterey County Department of Health permit. A separate permit is required for every distinct vehicle or pushcart, even under common ownership, so an operator running three trucks needs three permits.

The city engineer or a designee reviews each application against fixed criteria: accurate and complete paperwork, payment of all fees, and a signed affidavit that the applicant has not been convicted of or pleaded no contest to a crime of moral turpitude, a drug-related misdemeanor or felony, or an obscenity or indecent-exposure offense within the prior five years. Owners and operators of ice cream trucks, nonmotorized pushcarts, or vendors selling prepackaged dairy or water-based frozen products face an added hurdle: a criminal background check through Live Scan fingerprinting conducted by a Department of Justice-authorized entity, and a permit will not issue if that check turns up a moral-turpitude or drug-related conviction within five years.

Permits are personal and non-transferable; selling or assigning one voids it immediately. Each permit runs one year and can be renewed for an additional one-year term by reapplying and paying the required fee before expiration. Where a permit specifies a particular parking or vending location, the holder may not use any other spot, and a pushcart permit conditioned on a fixed location must note the health, safety, or welfare basis for that restriction. Designated-location permits are capped citywide at fifty-two spaces; trucks not vending from a designated location, ice cream trucks, and pushcarts are exempt from that cap.

Violating the article can draw a misdemeanor charge of up to $1,000 and six months in jail, or administrative citations starting at $150 to $250 for a first offense under Sec. 160, and permit revocation under Sec. 170 is appealable to the city manager within ten days under Sec. 180.