Waukegan, IL Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

Waukegan divides mobile food vending into two classes under § 14-482: a Class I unit is a motorized vehicle or trailer, and a Class II unit is an unmotorized cart. Either a mobile food preparer, who cooks and serves food from the unit while traveling the public ways, or a mobile food dispenser, who serves only prepackaged food, drinks, or whole produce, must hold a mobile food vendor license under § 14-481 before operating, and the license runs for one year. To apply, § 14-483 requires a copy of the vendor's current Lake County, Illinois Health Department license, a diagram showing the unit's size and cooking facilities, and a specification of whether the applicant seeks a dispenser or preparer license.

A separate license and fee (set under § 14-1101) is required for each mobile food dispensing unit a vendor operates, though a food establishment already licensed in Waukegan does not pay an added fee for its mobile unit, provided it still meets every other requirement of the division. 00 per occurrence, name the City of Waukegan as an additional insured, and require the insurer to give the city 30 days' notice before the policy lapses or is cancelled; failing to maintain that coverage is itself grounds for suspension or revocation.

Under § 14-485, three violations of the division's operating conditions within a single operating season trigger immediate revocation, and a revoked vendor cannot apply for a new mobile food vending license for a full calendar year afterward.