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

Village of Ridgewood Code § 156-18, Minimum sanitary standards, lists the baseline conditions every food establishment, vehicle or other place that stores, handles, prepares, sells or distributes food must meet. Subsection U is a flat location rule: no food may be stored, displayed, sold or exposed for sale from or on the sidewalk, entrance, passageway or other surface outside of any building. That bars a merchant, restaurant or even a licensed mobile vendor from setting up a table, cart or display case on the public sidewalk to sell food, even where selling from a vehicle itself is otherwise licensed under § 156-15A.

The same section, in Subsection V, separately bars storing or leaving bottles or other beverage-delivery containers standing in any public place in the Village. Both rules are enforced by the Division of Health alongside the chapter's other minimum standards, such as the 45°F maximum for perishable storage in Subsection B and the requirement that all countertops and tabletops be constructed of nonabsorbent materials in Subsection D. vehicle or other place,' a licensed food-truck operator who steps outside the truck to display or sell food on the sidewalk beside it is out of compliance even while the vehicle license itself remains in good standing.

Enforcement runs through § 156-22, Violations and penalties, which applies the Chapter 1 general penalty of up to a $1,000 fine, up to 90 days in the county jail, or up to 90 days of community service.