Gilroy, CA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)

Gilroy City Code Section 16B.3 sets thirty numbered standards sidewalk vendors must follow. Vending devices must stand at least 18 inches tall, no selling off a tarp or cloth on the ground, and vendors must keep a minimum 48 inches of sidewalk clear, excluding the curb, so pedestrians, including wheelchair users, retain an accessible path of travel. Easy-ups, tents or shade structures are barred unless the vendor's permit specifically authorizes them, and signs beyond what is affixed to the vending device itself are prohibited. Generators, deep fat frying and wood-fired cooking devices are banned outright for fire, smoke and slipping hazards.

Every food vendor must display a valid Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health permit in plain view on the device, and every vendor, food or merchandise, must display their city sidewalk vending permit issued under Section 16B.7. Vendors must supply a trash receptacle, clean up within a 20-foot radius before leaving, and cannot use city trash cans. Stationary vendors must stay at least 15 feet from a storm drain and 25 feet from an ATM, keep at least 5 feet or half the sidewalk width open to pedestrians, and set back 3 feet from the curb where parking is angled. To limit noise near residences in mixed-use areas, Section 16B.3(a)(28) confines vending to the same hours the adjacent businesses on that street operate. Trailers cannot vend from a sidewalk under California Vehicle Code Section 22500(f).

Section 16B.4 separately bars stationary vending in exclusively residential zones, within 300 feet of a certified farmers' market during its hours, within 400 feet of a school on school days from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and within 600 feet of a nightclub from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.