Burleson, TX Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)

Section 14-404 of the Burleson Code of Ordinances, titled outdoor retail sales, is the rule that governs vending from a sidewalk in the City of Burleson. Subsection (a) makes it unlawful for any person to peddle, hawk, sell, solicit, or take orders for any services, wares, merchandise, or goods on parking lots, streets, rights-of-way, medians, or sidewalks within the city. The list of examples is broad and includes magazines, encyclopedias, tools, photographs, flowers, candy, plants, animals, electronics, and statutes. The ban also reaches any other location at which the city has not issued a certificate of occupancy for the activity conducted, so a vendor cannot avoid the rule by moving onto private land that lacks an approved use.

Subsection (b) exempts three situations from the article: a city-sponsored or authorized festival or carnival; a sidewalk or parking lot sale conducted by a merchant whose permanent place of business is immediately adjoining the portion of the sidewalk or parking lot used; and the sale of Christmas trees between November 15 and December 25. Food trucks operating on private property follow a different track in § 14-240. A food truck park needs a specific use permit approved by the city council plus a certificate of occupancy and a council-approved site plan.

Outside a park, the owner of a property with a food truck operation site must obtain a food truck operation site permit from the neighborhood services department before allowing a truck to operate, and that permit is valid for a maximum of six months. Each food truck must also report to its designated commissary at least once per day and keep a servicing log.