Union, NY Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

Section 151-27 of the Town of Union Code bars anyone from peddling food items, goods, wares or merchandise at a specific location in the Town outside the corporate limits of any village, or selling them from any booth or stand, without a license. Regularly established retailers are exempt for sales at their own place of business. Section 151-29 repeats that it is unlawful to perform merchandising as a temporary or transient merchant without a license in force.

Section 151-28 defines a temporary merchant as a merchant or vendor who picks a specific location and erects or parks a cart, tent, wagon, truck, trailer stand or similar temporary structure there. The category includes roadside stands for farm products, food wagons, Christmas trees and nonperishable goods, excludes farmers' markets on Town premises or approved through site plan review, and applies to sales conducted for three days or less. The merchant must hold written permission from the owner of the location.

The application, filed under oath with the Town Clerk, asks for sixteen items (§ 151-31), including the number and kind of vehicles, a vehicle description with the vehicle identification number and plate number, a letter from the property owner, and a certificate of insurance with the Town named co-insured. The application must be on file at least seven days before a license issues.

All applicants proposing to sell food must obtain a food-handler's license from the Broome County Health Department (§ 151-32(A)). The Town Clerk issues the nontransferable license naming the business and location, subject to Building Department approval of the location (§ 151-32(J)). Fees are set by Town Board resolution (§ 151-34). The Building Inspector/Code Enforcement Official is the enforcement official, and any member of the Broome County Sheriff's Department can issue violation notices (§ 151-28). Exemptions in § 151-30 include qualifying charitable organizations.