Haverhill, MA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)

Section 191-30 of Chapter 191, Article VIII, Food Trucks, controls where a licensed food truck can set up in Haverhill. An applicant proposes a specific site as part of its City Council license application, and the Council may approve 'any reasonable and permissible site' only if it is reasonably designed to serve public need, will not negatively impact public health or safety, and will not hurt the quality of life at or around the site while the truck operates there. The section separately requires every licensed truck to comply with the Noise Ordinance, Chapter 182, at all times it is operating.

The most concrete restriction is geographic: no food truck may operate within the Central Business District, as that district is defined in § 11-70 of the City Code, unless the City Council grants a special-event exception. Because siting runs through the same license application described in § 191-29, a truck cannot simply relocate on its own between approved sites, since the location is part of what the Council licenses. Article VIII defines a food truck narrowly in § 191-28 as a walk-on vehicle where food is cooked, prepared and served in individual portions, capped at 30 feet by eight feet, so larger mobile kitchens or stationary carts fall outside this specific location scheme and may be governed by other Code provisions.