Edison, NJ Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Unlike larger New Jersey cities that have codified fixed vending zones (Newark and Jersey City have ward-by-ward sidewalk vending maps, and Trenton has designated downtown vending corridors), Edison has not adopted a Township-wide vending-zone schedule. The implication is that vending location is governed by the patchwork of (a) the Chapter 11 peddler/transient-merchant license condition that the operator vend only at locations consistent with the license issued by the Township Clerk; (b) Chapter 7 (Traffic) parking restrictions, which limit on-street vending duration and which prohibit blocking fire hydrants, hash-marked safety zones, and driveways; (c) Chapter 37 (Zoning) use restrictions, which limit which zoning districts permit a mobile-food operation on a private property as principal or accessory use - in general, commercial zones permit a mobile-food operation as an accessory use at a primary business (e.g., a brewery lot, a restaurant parking lot with the restaurant operator's consent, an industrial park lunch service), while pure residential zones do not permit ongoing mobile-food operations; (d) Middlesex County right-of-way rules for county roads passing through Edison (Plainfield Avenue, Park Avenue, Stelton Road, Amboy Avenue, Talmadge Road, and similar); and (e) NJDOT right-of-way rules for state highways inside Edison (Route 1, Route 27, Route 287, Route 9). Township parks and Township-sponsored events are administered by the Edison Recreation Division under separate event-vendor authorizations, which the Recreation Division coordinates with the Division of Health for the Chapter 12 Retail Food Establishment compliance and with the Township Clerk for the Chapter 11 license. There is no codified sidewalk-vending or cart-vending tier in Edison; the Township's pedestrian-environment is suburban and does not have a high-density sidewalk-vending market.