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

Durham regulates where a food truck can park and sell under UDO Section 5.5.2.I.2, the nonresidential outdoor sales rule in the Temporary Uses article. Paragraph a limits temporary outdoor sales to property within commercial zoning and Design districts. The text names no other district type for these sales, so a truck pitched on a residential lot is outside the rule's reach.

Paragraph b caps a parcel at one vendor at a time. The exception is mobile food vendors in the DD District, where several trucks can share a parcel without a permit. Anywhere else, a second vendor on the same parcel needs a temporary use permit issued for that vendor. Paragraph c sets the maximum area for the temporary use at 400 square feet, with a carve-out only for sales made solely of Christmas trees, pumpkins, or fireworks.

Paragraph d makes a temporary use permit the default requirement for temporary outdoor sales, then lists five exemptions. Mobile food vendors within the DD District or on construction sites are exempt. So are mobile vendors outside those two settings that occupy private property and set up once per day for a maximum of four hours. Mobile ice cream vendors, outdoor displays that comply with Sec. 7.5, Outdoor Display and Storage, and sales of home grown produce are also exempt.

When a permit is required, the general rules in Section 5.5.1 apply unless Section 5.5.2 says otherwise. A temporary use permit runs 45 days and can be renewed once for another 45 days, and no more than one permit and one renewal are issued for the same property in any 12-month period. The temporary use cannot sit in required parking, landscaping, or vegetated areas, and it cannot block pedestrian or vehicular access or fire hydrants and fire connections. Permit procedure is in Sec. 3.12, Temporary Use Permit, handled through the Durham City-County Planning Department.

Two related rules are worth knowing. A commentary note in the section says sales located in the public right-of-way are governed by the City of Durham Code of Ordinances, not this section. And Section 5.5.2.P requires tents used as temporary uses to get a permit from the fire marshal's office in addition to the temporary use permit, which matters for any truck operator who sets up a canopy or dining tent.