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

Sec. 26-230(a) limits sidewalk food vending to property zoned central business ("CB"), a pushcart mobile food vendor can only set up on a sidewalk adjacent to and upon CB-zoned property, and only with the Sec. 26-233 permit. Sec. 26-236 then layers on specific operating restrictions that apply citywide. No mobile food vendor can vend within 300 feet of a church while it's holding a religious service, on any paved or traveled portion of a street, on a sidewalk where vending is otherwise barred, in a city-owned parking space, handicapped space, fire lane or loading area, or on any grass or landscaped area, except the CB-zone pushcart carve-out.

, and no cart or unit can sit unattended, stored or parked overnight on a right-of-way or sidewalk. Pushcart vendors face an additional list of fixed distances: no vending within ten feet of a building entrance or fifty feet of an open business, fifty feet of a police or fire station driveway (ten feet of any other driveway or alley), ten feet of a crosswalk, twenty feet of a bus stop sign, ten feet of a fire hydrant or fire escape, one hundred feet of another pushcart, or fifty feet of an open sidewalk café.

Motorized mobile food unit operators face a tighter but separate set: no vending within fifty feet of a restaurant's main entrance during its business hours without written permission, five feet of a driveway, sidewalk utility box, handicapped ramp, building entrance/exit or emergency call box, or ten feet of a fire hydrant or fire escape. Any officer can order a vendor to relocate for traffic or pedestrian safety, and refusing that order is itself unlawful.