Warren, MI Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

City of Warren Code of Ordinances Chapter 24, Article III governs ice cream vending vehicles, the only mobile food vending regulated by name in the city's code; there is no separate 'food truck' licensing article. Section 24-51 defines an 'ice cream vending vehicle' as any vehicle used for carrying and selling ice cream, snow cones and similar confectionary products, including but not limited to cotton candy, popcorn, caramel corn and peanuts, upon public streets or parks. Section 24-53 requires every ice cream vending vehicle to be licensed in accordance with Chapter 18, the city's general business licensing chapter.

Section 24-54 layers on vehicle-specific equipment: signal lamps mounted as high and widely spaced as practicable, showing two alternately flashing amber lights to the front and two to the rear at the same level, visible for at least 300 feet in normal sunlight, and actuated only while the vehicle is stopped or about to stop to vend. The vehicle must also letter on itself, or display a sign on, both front and rear warning approaching motorists to stop and proceed with caution when those lights are flashing (§ 24-54(b)).

Section 24-55 requires drivers overtaking or meeting a stopped, light-flashing ice cream vending vehicle to come to a complete stop before proceeding with caution, a school-bus-style stop requirement. Because Article III's scope under § 24-52 is limited to residential streets and one-half mile roads, a vendor planning to operate on a major thoroughfare or in a commercial lot outside that scope should confirm with the city clerk's licensing office whether Chapter 18's general vendor provisions apply instead.