National City, CA Food Trucks & Mobile Vendors: Vending Zones (2026)
Key Facts
- School buffer
- Five hundred feet of schools, seven a.m. to four p.m. school days
- Public thoroughfare stop limit
- Ten minutes, then move beyond three hundred feet
- Sales from public property
- Prohibited under Section 9.06.030(B)
- Driver and cook permit fee
- Thirty dollars, nonrefundable, issued by finance department
- Ice cream truck hours
- Ten a.m. to seven p.m. or one-half hour after sunset
- Ice cream truck street limit
- Streets posted thirty miles per hour or less
Summary
In National City, a food vending vehicle cannot stop or park on a public street within five hundred feet of a school property boundary between seven a.m. and four p.m. on regular school days. On public thoroughfares a stop is capped at ten minutes, and no one can sell from a vehicle while on public property.
No person shall stop or park a food vending vehicle on a public street within five hundred feet of any school property boundary in the city between the hours of seven a.m. and four p.m. on regular school days. ... A.It is unlawful to stop or park a food vending vehicle on a public thoroughfare for the purpose of preparing, selling, giving away, displaying or offering for sale any food or beverage product except for a period of time sufficient to consummate an immediate sale or sales, not to exceed ten minutes at that location or at any immediately succeeding location which is within three hundred feet of the former location where the vendor completed the immediate last transaction.B.It is unlawful to stop, park or cause any food vending vehicle to remain on any public property except pursuant to the order of a lawful authority or for the purpose of making emergency repairs to the vehicle; in no event shall any person sell or give away any food or beverage product from a food vending vehicle while on any public property.
Full Breakdown
Chapter 9.06 of the National City Municipal Code regulates food vending vehicles and does not map out designated vending zones. It works through three location rules instead. Section 9.06.020 sets a school buffer: no stopping or parking on a public street within five hundred feet of any school property boundary in the city between seven a.m. and four p.m. on regular school days. Section 9.06.030(A) limits a stop on a public thoroughfare to the time sufficient to consummate an immediate sale or sales, not to exceed ten minutes at that location or at any immediately succeeding location within three hundred feet of where the vendor completed the last transaction. Section 9.06.030(B) bars a vehicle from remaining on any public property except under the order of a lawful authority or to make emergency repairs, and prohibits selling or giving away food or beverage from a vehicle while on public property. Section 9.06.030(C) makes it unlawful to stop or park on private property to sell to anyone other than the property owner or the owner's agents, customers or employees.
The chapter sorts vehicles into prepared food vending vehicles, unprepared food vending vehicles and mobile food preparation units (Section 9.06.010). Each driver, and each cook on a mobile food preparation unit, needs a nontransferable permit from the finance department for a nonrefundable fee of thirty dollars, in addition to the Title 6 business license (Section 9.06.070). Each vehicle must display a valid certificate of inspection issued after inspection by the health officer; the certificate is valid for six months, while mobile food preparation units are inspected at least four times per year on a three-month certificate (Sections 9.06.080 and 9.06.110). Vehicles carrying cold perishable foods need mechanical refrigeration that holds forty-five degrees Fahrenheit or colder (Section 9.06.050).
Ice cream trucks carry added limits under Section 9.06.115: sales only on streets with speed limits of thirty miles per hour or less, none within seventy-five feet of an intersection, none within two hundred feet of another ice cream truck that has already stopped to vend, and only from ten a.m. to seven p.m. or one-half hour after sunset, whichever occurs first.
Violations & Fines
Chapter 9.06 prints no penalty clause of its own, so the general rule in Section 1.20.010 applies: violating a mandatory provision of a city ordinance is an infraction unless an ordinance makes it a misdemeanor, with a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars for a first violation, two hundred dollars for a second violation within one year, and five hundred dollars for each additional violation within one year. Each day is a separate offense. Owners, managers and operators answer for their employees' violations (Section 9.06.140).
Frequently Asked Questions
How long can a food truck stay in one spot on a National City street?
Can a food truck vend near a National City school?
Can a food truck sell in a private parking lot in National City?
What permits does a National City food truck driver need?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in National City
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