Birmingham, AL Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)

Article C of Chapter 14 (§§ 12-14-41 through 12-14-55), adopted by Ord. No. 14-128 in 2014, governs mobile food vehicles and pushcarts operating in Birmingham's public rights-of-way. Section 12-14-44 requires a permit for any vendor using the right-of-way, while a vendor working solely on private property skips the permit but still needs a business license and decal from the revenue department. , and the Greater Birmingham Street Food Coalition, which reviews the application and recommends it to the public safety committee and then the city council under § 12-14-45.

Applicants pay a $150 (food truck) or $40 (pushcart) nonrefundable application fee, and annual permit fees under § 12-14-48 run $300 for a food truck or $80 for a pushcart in the general area, rising to $500 or $100 for access to the premier downtown area, prorated by calendar half-year. , with 30 minutes allowed for setup and breakdown on each end. Vendors cannot operate within 150 feet of an open restaurant's front door or a K-12 school's lot line, within 500 feet of a licensed fair, festival, or special event, or use amplified sound, lights, or noisemakers to attract customers; generators are capped at 80 dBA. Every vendor still needs the county health department's food permit and a city business license on top of the traffic engineering permit.