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

Section 147-21A sets the citywide buffer for motorized food trucks: a vendor must be parked and conducting business at a minimum distance of 75 feet from the entrance of any menu-serving restaurant, a rule aimed at limiting competition between food trucks and brick-and-mortar restaurants that Chapter 147 describes in its purpose clause as incompatible uses needing separation. Beyond that buffer, § 147-21 also limits how long a permitted truck may occupy a given space, up to four consecutive hours in a permit-only zone and two consecutive hours in a metered zone, or longer with an extended-time endorsement, and it caps occupancy at no more than two mobile food vendors on any single uninterrupted street segment.

Vendors may buy additional geographic access through the Waterfront Zone License created by § 147-8C, an extra $1,000 annual fee issued by the Department of Transportation and Parking on top of the standard business license and parking permit. That license authorizes vending within a defined stretch of the waterfront beginning 1,060 feet north of the northerly curbline of Fifth Street and extending 432 feet farther north. Inside that zone, the Director of Transportation and Parking may designate at least six reserved parking spaces for licensed vendors, available from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. daily on a first-come, first-served basis, though the Director of Emergency Management or the Chief of Police may restrict those spaces when public safety requires it.

Nonmotorized carts follow a separate zone rule at § 147-23, keeping at least 10 feet from crosswalks and hydrants and confining vending to the sidewalk.