Columbia, SC Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)

Chapter 11, Article VII, Division 3 governs sidewalk vending carts. Section 11-253 restricts permitted merchandise to a specific list: hot dogs, sausages, hamburgers, tacos, burritos, baked potatoes, bagels, pastries, candy, prepackaged sandwiches, chips, biscuits, popcorn, nuts, pretzels, ice products, ice cream, milk products, frozen yogurt, non-alcoholic hot and cold beverages, flowers, and related items, and only the merchandise approved for that vendor's specific location. , leaving a cart unattended, storing or leaving a cart overnight on any street or sidewalk, selling food for immediate consumption without an available litter receptacle, leaving a location without removing all trash from the vendor's sales, placing items anywhere but in, on or under the cart, using tables, crates, cartons or racks to expand selling capacity, soliciting drive-up customers in vehicles, selling anything outside the licensed merchandise, using loud or amplified sound to attract customers, vending without the required insurance, and letting the stand lean against or hang from a building without the owner's permission.

Section 11-260 further limits advertising on a cart to the product name, vendor name, and posted prices. These rules trace to Ordinance No. 2002-066, adopted August 21, 2002, which rewrote the division in full and remains the current text of Division 3.