West Palm Beach, FL Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Food Truck Permits (2026)

City Code Chapter 22, Article VI defines "peddler" at Sec. 22-251 broadly enough to reach mobile food trucks: anyone who sells food, meats, fish, vegetables or provisions from a wagon, automotive vehicle or other conveyance qualifies, whether traveling door to door or parked in one spot. Sec. 22-271 makes it unlawful for any peddler, including a food truck operator, to do business in the city without first obtaining an identification card from the police department. Under Sec. 22-272, the police chief must investigate every application; he may refuse to issue the card to anyone convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude within the preceding five years, and the department may charge an administrative fee set by city resolution rather than fixed in the code text.

Once issued, Sec. 22-273 requires the vendor to exhibit the card at all times upon request of any citizen, not just police, so an operator who cannot produce it on demand is out of compliance. Separately, food truck operators who also hold a certificate of registration face a parallel revocation track: the mayor can pull that certificate under Sec. 22-275 for fraud, misrepresentation, a dishonesty-related felony or misdemeanor conviction within the last ten years, or conducting business in a way that breaches the peace or menaces public health, safety or welfare.

The police identification card (Division 2) and the mayor's certificate of registration operate independently, so losing one credential does not restore the other, and a vendor whose card is pulled must reapply and pass a new moral-turpitude screen before selling in the city again.