Rock Hill, SC Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)

Sec. 11-342 authorizes city council to issue "revocable permits for street vendors who sell goods or offer goods for sale on public property," and those permits can be pulled for failing to follow any attached term or condition. Sec. 11-343 sets the application requirements: before a permit issues, the vendor must already hold all necessary state and local permits, including a county health department permit, sign permit, business license, transient merchant license, zoning approval and Rock Hill Fire Department approval, and must carry insurance the city requires. The application must include a drawing or photo of the proposed unit; any later change to the unit needs city approval first. The permit fee, set in Appendix A to the Code, is paid in full at application and is nonrefundable.

Sec. 11-344 governs day-to-day operation. A vendor's unit must be self-contained, limited to 25 square feet of right-of-way, with at least a five-foot pedestrian path kept open at all times. Vendors must post a $200.00 damage deposit the city can draw on for cleanup or repair, remove the unit at the end of each business day, and pick up trash within 50 square feet of the unit. Cooking equipment needs Rock Hill Fire Department sign-off, and no electrical cords or generators run without written permission. Vendors may operate only at locations city council has designated, assigned each May 1 by a lottery drawing among applicants, and downtown special events take precedence over an assigned vendor location for their duration.