Bonita Springs, FL Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Article III of Chapter 12 covers transient merchants, defined in § 12-52 as anyone engaged in the temporary business of selling or exhibiting goods from any motor vehicle, wagon, truck or trailer, or from a hotel or motel room or a lot or parcel of land. Temporary means continuous selling for less than one year's duration. Section 12-54 sets the location rules. A vendor cannot operate on private property without the written consent of the owner or lessee, and that consent must be in the physical possession of the vendor. A vendor cannot operate on any property where the use would violate city zoning regulations. And the right-of-way of any road, street or highway under the city's jurisdiction is off limits, as chapter 34 prohibits.

The permit itself comes through the county tax collector. Section 12-55 requires a sworn written application listing the applicant's home and local address, the location where business will be conducted in the city, the last three places of transient business, a two inch by two inch photograph taken within 60 days of filing, and fingerprints. If the business sells food, proof of an operating permit from the county health department under county code section 16-14 must be presented before a permit issues. Section 12-57 requires a $5,000.00 surety bond from applicants who are not county residents, or city residents representing a business located outside the city. Under § 12-60 the tax collector issues the permit only after the zoning department approves, the sheriff reports no fraud or moral turpitude convictions and the processing fee is paid. A denial can be appealed by requesting a hearing within 15 days.

Section 12-53 exempts sales at festivals, fairs or special events sponsored or permitted by the city, businesses sponsored by an established shopping center that agrees in writing to act as surety for the contract period and 180 days after, and bona fide charitable, religious, youth, scientific or educational fund-raising. An editor's note points food vendor provisions to Land Development Code § 4-206 et seq., which was not part of the volume read for this page. City parks are closed to vending under § 28-35 except for licensed concessionaires or those authorized by the city.