St. Louis County, MO Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Chapter 812 of the St. Louis County Code, the 'Street Vendors' ordinance, applies only 'to the area of St. Louis County outside incorporated cities, towns and villages' (Section 812.020). The county's roughly 88 municipalities, including Florissant, Chesterfield, Ballwin, Kirkwood, University City, Wildwood and Maryland Heights, set their own mobile-vending rules inside their own limits. Within unincorporated territory, anyone selling food or beverages from a motor vehicle needs a street vendor license from the Department of Revenue, Division of Licenses, and the vehicle must pass a Department of Public Health inspection before the license issues.

Location and manner of sale are tightly controlled. Section 812.090 makes it unlawful to 'park or stop a vending motor vehicle on any street, road or highway, when not engaged in transacting its business, except for an emergency,' and requires vendors to stop 'at the extreme right hand edge of a street or roadway.' Section 812.130 adds curb rules: the vehicle must be 'parked at the right curb when legally stopped,' kept 'at least 8 feet from any other vehicle that may be parked on any street,' customers 'served only at the curb side,' and the vehicle 'shall not be parked within 100 feet of any intersection.' Section 812.150 layers a countywide curfew onto the whole chapter, banning sales 'from 10:00 P.M. to 8:30 A.M.,' and Section 812.060 separately bars using a bell, gong or sound device to attract customers in that same window.

A violation of any section, including the parking and curb rules, is punishable under Section 812.160 by a fine of $25 to $500, up to a year in the county jail, or both, and the Division of Licenses can revoke the vendor's license on conviction.