Cobb County, GA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Sidewalk & Mobile Vending (2026)

Cobb County Code § 78-97, part of the mobile food vendor subdivision (§§ 78-95 through 78-99), governs any vendor whose retail food establishment is readily movable, motorized, or towed, as defined in § 78-95. Subsection (a) is the operative sidewalk rule: no mobile food vendor may conduct business or operate in the public right-of-way, full stop, unless invited or permitted under subsection (d). Subsection (b) narrows where a vendor can legally sell instead: only at a mobile food vendor event (an assembly of two or more compliant vendors) or a private event closed to the general public, where the property owner or designee gives the community development agency director written consent covering the dates, times, and specific location.

For any operation the county itself authorizes on public property, subsection (d) requires an authorized individual, an official, department head, director, manager, or employee with oversight of that property, to invite the vendor, confirm insurance, and forward written consent to the community development agency director. 00 liability policy from a Georgia-licensed insurer, naming the county as additional insured, with 30 days' written notice before cancellation. Subsection (e) requires a county-attorney-approved indemnity agreement releasing the county from claims. Subsections (f) through (i) round out the conduct rules: no sound, music, or announcements to attract customers, compliance with the county noise ordinance (Code ch.

50, art. VII); no leaving a vending unit unattended or stored on an open site outside vending hours; compliance with all other health and safety law; and food or non-alcoholic beverages only. Before any of this applies, § 78-96(a) requires both a business license and a food service permit from the Cobb and Douglas Public Health Department. Because county ordinances reach only unincorporated territory, the rule has no effect inside Marietta, Smyrna, Kennesaw, Acworth, Powder Springs, or Austell, each of which enforces its own vending code.