East Orange, NJ Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)

East Orange treats sidewalk carts the same as truck-based mobile food vending under Chapter 118, Article IV. Section 118-26(B) is explicit: no person may park a food vending vehicle on a public roadway or street, or operate a cart on a public sidewalk, in any area other than the locations the City designates elsewhere in that section, meaning a cart cannot simply set up on any sidewalk block. Operating hours are set citywide by § 118-20, amended by Ordinance No. 23-2022 in August 2022: Sunday through Thursday, 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Beyond the citywide window, § 118-20(C) lets the City assign each vendor an individual hourly schedule, published within 20 days of the ordinance's 2022 enactment and refreshed every April 1. A cart vendor still needs the same underlying mobile food vendor license as a truck under § 118-21, including the $500 annual fee, insurance and Department of Health certificate, since Article IV makes no separate, lighter-touch category for pushcarts. Vendors who set up outside the assigned parking spots or designated cart areas, or outside their assigned hours, are subject to the same enforcement and penalty provisions that apply to truck-based vendors under the article.