Loudoun County, VA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)

H of the Loudoun County Zoning Ordinance treats a mobile vendor as an accessory use and sets the operating rules for carts, trailers and vending vehicles countywide (outside the incorporated towns, which run their own codes). Vendors may only run during the normal business hours of the principal use or temporary special event they're attached to, though a cart on an active construction site can operate during construction hours. D allows more, or the vendor is tied to a farmer's market (temporary), convention/exhibition facility, amphitheater, or outdoor/major recreation use, which have no numeric cap.

Anyone vending on private property must first get the property owner's or authorized agent's written consent, and the cart plus any attached seating has to be cleared from the site every single day: leave it overnight and the whole setup is reclassified as a principal use, triggering every standard that applies to permanent structures on that lot. Before opening, a vendor needs a County-issued transient business license and Health Department approval. Site rules bar carts from occupying parking spaces the principal use needs to meet its minimum requirement, require a level paved or gravel surface with safe pedestrian access, and forbid locating in any fire lane, travel lane, entrance or exit.

No audio amplification is allowed. Trash receptacles are mandatory, and the operator must keep the area within 5 feet of the cart free of grease, trash, paper, cups and cans; liquid waste or grease can never go into tree pits, storm drains, sidewalks, streets or the County's sanitary sewer system.