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

The chapter (RMC 11.20, adopted by Ord. No. 1625 in 2019) defines a sidewalk vendor as anyone selling food or merchandise from a pushcart, stand, display, pedal-driven cart, wagon, showcase, or rack, or from one's person, on a public sidewalk or pedestrian path. A stationary sidewalk vendor works from a fixed spot; a roaming sidewalk vendor moves and stops only to complete a sale. Before setting up, an operator must hold a sidewalk vending permit issued under Chapter 5.28, a business license under Chapter 5.04, a valid California Department of Tax and Fee Administration seller's permit, and a permit from the San Bernardino County Health Department, and must keep all of them displayed in a visible spot at all times. Vendors must also carry general liability insurance in amounts set by the city's risk manager, naming the city as additional insured.

Section 11.20.020(D) lists twenty specific bans. A vendor may not sell in residential zones between 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m., leave a stand unattended, store or park a stand overnight on any public street, sidewalk, or park, or sell food for immediate consumption without a litter receptacle on hand. Trash from the cart cannot go into public trash cans, and the display cannot be enlarged beyond what the permit application describes. Vendors cannot solicit drivers in vehicles, sell items outside their license, or run loudspeakers or amplified sound to draw customers. Location rules bar operating within fifty feet of a fire hydrant, twenty-five feet of a transit stop, or fifteen feet of a driveway, and require four feet of clear sidewalk and ten feet of clearance at entrances, exits, and ADA paths. Stationary vending is barred citywide in residential zones, inside city parks with an exclusive concessionaire open for business, within fifty feet of a residential zone inside a park, in park parking lots, and within five hundred feet of a certified farmers' market or swap meet during its operating hours. Advertising is limited to the vendor's name, product name, and posted prices.