Fort Lauderdale, FL Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Chapter 23, Article IV of the Code of Ordinances confines mobile vending to three commercial zoning districts. Section 23-94 states flatly that 'vending is prohibited in the city, other than in B-2, B-3, and B-3-C zoning districts,' so a taco truck or hot dog cart cannot legally set up in a residential, industrial or most other business district no matter who owns the property. Inside those districts, an applicant for the city's vending license must still satisfy the development services department's licensing division on four points: a notarized statement or affidavit from the property owner allowing the vehicle to locate there, the vehicle's position relative to other structures on the lot, availability of a public restroom if food or beverages are served, and on-site parking that is separate from parking the zoning code already requires for the property's existing use.

Section 23-111 sets the license itself at two hundred dollars a year per vendor or per vehicle, though vendors working a single special event lasting three days or less are exempt from that license requirement. Trucks that stop only briefly to make a single sale, rather than setting up for the day, are exempt from the B-2/B-3/B-3-C zoning limit and from the street-vending ban in Sec. 23-95(3), but that carve-out never applies to a non-motorized cart. A license runs October 1 through September 30 and must be displayed at all times per Sec. 23-114; renewal applications are due sixty days before expiration.