Coconut Creek, FL Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)

Sidewalk food vending is effectively a closed door in Coconut Creek. Section 16-4(a)(2) of the code says no person, natural or corporate, can conduct any business from within the public or private rights-of-way within the city limits. It then names the conduct: the sale of food of any kind, goods, wares or merchandise from a vehicle, whether motorized or not, regardless of the number of wheels, or on foot. That wording reaches food trucks, push carts, bicycle vendors, and a person walking with a cooler.

Subsection (a)(1) extends the prohibition to all zoning districts. Operating on private or public property is prohibited unless the code otherwise notes, and the notes are narrow: Sec. 16-3 allows temporary mobile vending only in the B-2, B-3 and B-4 districts and commercial modules of PUDs or PCDs, at ongoing construction sites, and at sites named in a special event permit.

The City Commission wrote its reasons into Sec. 16-1(b). It found that the purpose of the public street and sidewalk is for vehicles and pedestrian traffic, and that the prohibition of street and sidewalk vending is necessary to protect the public health, safety and welfare of the traveling public. Chapter 16 defines a public street or public sidewalk as any street, right-of-way, swale, paved surface or sidewalk owned by, dedicated to, or subject to an easement granted to the public, so a swale in front of a house counts.

One exemption appears elsewhere. Sec. 16-20(d) lets farmers and growers sell products produced on the same property, in A-1 Agricultural District zoning, from wayside stands, but it still says no sales may occur from public or private rights-of-way. Selling food inside a permitted business is not affected. Anyone wanting a temporary sales day needs a special events permit, with a $75 application fee under Sec. 16-20.