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

Section 9:7-14 of the Plainfield Municipal Code covers the street food vendor. No one can sell, solicit the sale of or offer sandwiches, hotdogs, drinks or other edibles of similar nature, excluding ice cream, ices or similar products, from a basket, pushcart, motor car or other conveyance, or on foot, without a food peddler's license. The license is issued in the name of the principal only and does not include any assistant. The fee is $255.00 per annum, the license year runs June 1 through May 31, and the form is the general peddler's form marked "food peddler." A temporary license for a special one-day event such as a parade or other public or civic function costs $25.00 per day, limited to the day of the event, and the Chief of Police can waive fingerprinting for it.

Where a vendor can stand is limited by § 9:7-13. No peddler, solicitor, food peddler or ice cream peddler is granted a permit to work within the City's central business district, or within 1,000 feet of the perimeter of any public school during daylight hours when school is in session. The district is defined by street boundaries including Sanford Avenue, East Front Street, Richmond Street, East Fifth Street, Watchung Avenue, East and West Seventh Streets, Madison Avenue, the Central Railroad of New Jersey right-of-way, New Street, West Front Street, Washington Avenue and the Green Brook, covering both sides of those streets. The restriction does not apply to special one-day events within the district.

The usual peddler steps apply: fingerprinting by the Police Division before issuance (§ 9:7-6), a license that need not be issued until 2 weeks after the application (§ 9:7-7), and a license carried at all times while working (§ 9:7-10). Vendors who do not go door to door work Monday through Saturday, 8:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M., while food and ice cream peddlers can work Sundays and after 8:00 P.M. at public events (§ 9:7-11). Stationary food trucks are handled separately in § 17:9-30A of the land use chapter, which needs zoning approval, Fire and Health approvals, a police background check and a City Clerk license, and which leaves carts and push carts that travel from place to place under § 9:7-1 et seq.