Burlington, NC Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)

Section 24-41, part of Chapter 24's mobile food vendor article adopted by Ordinance No. 2014-07A, sets the operating conditions food trucks and pushcarts must follow once permitted. Subsection (5) is the sidewalk and street rule: vendors must be parked on private property with the property owner's permission, and may not park within any public street, right-of-way or sidewalk, unless the street has been closed for a special event or the vendor is operating under the separate location standards in Section 24-42, which sends districting and siting questions to the Unified Development Ordinance's Standards for Specific Temporary Uses.

Subsection (2) limits hours of operation to between 7:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. except during special events, and requires the truck to be removed after hours and stored in a legal location. Subsection (6) requires vendors to properly dispose of waste and trash, bars use of city trash receptacles, requires the area within ten feet of the truck to be kept free of grease, trash, paper, cups or cans, and flatly forbids releasing liquid waste or grease into tree pits, storm drains, sidewalks, streets or the city's sanitary sewer system.

Subsection (7) bars audio amplifiers or similar devices to attract public attention, subsection (8) bars tables, chairs or other outside structures, and subsection (9) limits advertising on the truck or pushcart to the business name, logo and items for sale. Any violation of these operating conditions is enforced under Section 24-44, which sets a one hundred dollar civil penalty per violation and allows the city to pursue unpaid penalties as a civil debt.