Asheville, NC Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Sec. 7-14-2(d) classifies mobile food sales as a short-term temporary use, capped like other temporary uses/structures at 180 days per calendar year on any one property, and requires a temporary use permit under Sec. 7-5-3 before setup. Subsection (d)(3)e allows temporary mobile food vendors, pushcarts or stands in all nonresidential zoning districts, but excludes the downtown area within the Central Business District that corresponds to the Downtown Design Review Overlay District, and the Biltmore Village Historic District. until midnight to limit late-night impacts on neighbors.

Sales must be conducted at least ten feet from every public right-of-way. A mobile food operation also needs an approved mobile food service permit from the Buncombe County Health Department, subject to inspection, and a copy of both the county health permit and the city permit must be displayed on the mobile kitchen in clear view of patrons. Every mobile food sale vehicle must leave the site each night, or be parked where it cannot be seen from the public right-of-way, so a truck cannot function as a permanent fixture on a lot.

Because mobile food sales are a temporary use, the operator files for the permit through the planning and development department, and the same 180-day annual cap and one-permit-per-lot limitation that governs other temporary uses in Sec. 7-14-2(c) applies.