St. Joseph County, IN Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

Chapter 117 of the St. Joseph County Code of Ordinances, titled St. Joseph County Food Establishments, is the local law for food trucks. 01 defines a mobile retail food establishment as a retail food establishment that is readily movable, and the definition names the forms that count: it has wheels, is on skids, is mounted on a vehicle, is a marine vessel, or is otherwise readily movable such as a pushcart or trailer. 02 sets the permit rule. It is unlawful for a person to operate a mobile retail food establishment in St.

Joseph County without first obtaining a valid permit from the health officer, the permit must be posted in a conspicuous location in the establishment, and a separate permit is required for each establishment a person operates. No permit issued under the chapter is transferable between locations, operators or owners. C. 7-24, the Indiana retail food sanitation rule, are entitled to obtain and hold a permit, and an establishment permitted by the health officer is treated as registered under IC 16-42-1-6. The permit period for a mobile retail food establishment is a term of no more than one calendar year's continuous operation, which differs from fixed restaurants, whose permits run from January 1 to January 31 of the following year.

04 covers fees. Payment of a permit fee is required before any establishment can operate, the fee schedule is set by the Department of Health under IC 16-20-1-27 rather than written into the ordinance, and subsection (D) adds two mobile-specific rules: fees are collected for any vehicle that can pull to a location, set up, and prepare or grill food, and all vehicle license plates for each mobile retail food establishment vehicle must be on file at the Department of Health for the mobile permit to be valid. C. 7-24. Chapter 117 was adopted by Ordinance 49-05 on May 10, 2005 and most recently amended by Ordinance 22-25 on April 8, 2025.