Bloomington, IN Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)

The Common Council regulates pushcart food vending under Bloomington Municipal Code Chapter 4.30, administered by the city controller's office. An applicant must list the products sold, hours of operation and proposed locations, then prove Monroe County Health Department food-service approval, Indiana Secretary of State business registration, an employer identification number, and liability insurance of at least $100,000 per occurrence/$300,000 aggregate for personal injury and $25,000/$50,000 for property damage before a license issues (§§ 4.30.040, 4.30.050, 4.30.090). License fees run from $25 for a one-day license to $350 for a full year (§ 4.30.060); churches, schools, and benevolent and fraternal organizations are exempt from the fee, as are honorably discharged veterans under Ind. Code 25-25-2-1.

Once licensed, a pushcart under § 4.30.130 cannot locate in a City of Bloomington-owned parking lot without board of public works approval, within 50 feet of a ground-level food or beverage establishment's façade or outdoor seating area during that business's posted hours, in any street, median strip or alleyway, within 15 feet of a fire hydrant, or within a one-block radius of a permitted special event. Carts may only sit in the commercial general, commercial arterial, commercial downtown, industrial general, business park and institutional zoning districts, and on the B-Line Trail only between Dodds and 2nd Streets, 3rd and 4th Streets, or 6th and Fairview Streets. Section 4.30.140 bars operation on public property between 4:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. Operators must display the license, keep separate trash and recycling receptacles, avoid amplified sound and light-producing attention devices, and keep any generator noise under 70dBA measured 25 feet away (§ 4.30.150).