Dallas, TX Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Dallas City Code Sec. 50-159 governs where a mobile food unit may operate. Within the central business district, a mobile food unit cannot occupy public or private property to serve, sell, or distribute food or beverage unless it holds both a valid CBD concession license issued under Chapter 50, Article XII and a valid mobile food unit permit issued by the Texas Department of State Health Services under the Texas Food Establishment Rules, 25 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 228.

Outside the CBD, the restriction is sharper: a "general service mobile food unit," the category defined at 25 Texas Administrative Code Section 228.221, cannot occupy public property at all, regardless of permits held. The only ways around that ban outside the CBD are a special event permit issued by the city or a city contract to operate a concession on designated public property (Sec. 50-159(c)).

A separate citywide buffer applies everywhere outside the CBD: no mobile food unit may sell, distribute, or offer for sale any goods or services within two city blocks or 600 feet, whichever distance is greater, of the grounds of any public, private, parochial, elementary, or secondary school, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on days school is in session (Sec. 50-159(d)).

These location limits sit alongside the general street-vending prohibition in Sec. 50-158, which makes occupying public property to sell goods an offense unless a specific defense applies, including operating a mobile food unit under Sec. 50-159 or holding a special event permit. On private property, Sec. 50-160 requires a mobile food unit to have both the DSHS permit and the private property owner's written permission, plus a CBD concession license if operating inside the CBD.