Miami Beach, FL Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)

City Code Sec. 70-5 flatly bars the sale, keeping, storage or offering for sale of any food from open-air stands in the city, and requires that any such sale happen only within the confines of an enclosed building, except in areas the city manager has specifically designated and approved. The section defines 'food' broadly under Sec. 70-41(c) as all articles used for human consumption as food, drink, confectionery or condiment. Enforcement runs through Sec. 70-6(b): a code compliance officer who finds a violation issues a notice of violation, and the violator can either pay the civil fine or request an administrative hearing before a special magistrate within 20 days.

Civil fines escalate from $50 for a first offense, to $100 for a second, to $250 for a third and subsequent offense, and the special magistrate has no discretion to reduce those set amounts. Failing to appeal within the 20-day window is treated as an admission of the violation. An unpaid fine can be recorded as a lien on the violator's real or personal property, enforceable like a court judgment, and the city may foreclose on that lien two months after recording if it remains unpaid.

The related peddling ban, Sec. 70-4, separately makes it unlawful to peddle goods, wares or food door-to-door or street-to-street except in areas the city manager designates, reinforcing that ad hoc food sales outside a licensed storefront are tightly restricted citywide.